Fun fact for you, pals: Russians don't always think in English when listening to English songs. And you have no idea how weird that can be.
I know most of you never thought about that, but… GUYS.
“What Can I Do” [wɒt kæn aɪ duː] sounds awfully like “водки найду” [vɒtki naɪduː], which means “I’m gonna find some vodka”.
“Can’t Buy Me Love” [kɑːnt baɪ miː lʌv] is another gem, because I know a whole bunch of people who sing along to that with the phrase “кинь бабе лом” [kɪŋˈbɑːbi lom], which means “throw a crowbar to that [tough] woman”.
Don’t be alarmed, that’s just the way we hear things.
I do that even when I’m sober… T_T
Michael Jackson’s “I’m bad” sounds awfully close to “Обед” [abed], which translates as “Dinner”. So we often call this song ”The song of a very hungry man” ;)
It happens in spanish too!
“I wanna love you” sounds like “Agua en el hoyo” (water in the hole) and a lot of people sing it that way instead.
See also “This is the rhythm of the night” -> “¿Esos son Rebook o son Nike?” (Are those Rebook or Nike?)
I see this entry is revived))
I need to make another example: “Let’s twist again, like we did last summer”, the “ like we did last summer” is often sung like, “и трусы с лавсаном (and the underpants with lavsan)”. I’ve seen people singing that in karaoke. As you might have guessed, that… amplifies the fun a bit.
To conclude this part, I also need to make an honourable mention. Thanks to Taika Waititi, “VLADISLAV! Baby don’t hurt me…” has gone GLOBAL)))
In Dutch, these are called “mama appelsapjes”, in honour of the refrain in Michael Jackson’s “Wanna be starting something”, which sounds a bit like “mama apple juice”.
The real classic, however, is “ik zat alleen in een vuile kameel” (I sat alone in a dirty camel), heard in “Down under” by Man at Work.
My fave will always be the opening lines of “This Sex Is On Fire”. I genuinely have no idea what the actual English lines are, but in Dutch it sounds like
“Eeuwen geleden (Centuries ago)
Ik kom met het zout” (I come with the salt)
Doesn’t even make any good sense but it manages the get me going every time.
It gets better!! We need more stories like that ;} Other languages, anyone?
oh my god, this is a huge thing in denmark with coldplay’s yellow. the lyric “your skin, oh yeah your skin and bones” unmistakably sounds like the danish “jeg sked, åh ja jeg sked en bums” which in turns means “I shat, oh yeah I shat a pimple”. it’s gotten to the point where it’s such a beloved joke nationwide that coldplay has been informed of it and find it very difficult to play the song in denmark because people simultaneously scream the wrong lyrics and lose their shit completely
I watched a Buzzfeed video about this and now I can’t hear Sweet Dreams Are Made of This without thinking “sin jeans al mediodia” (without jeans at noon)
