(ThyBlackMan.com) For lovers of music and lyrics alike, there are few things more hilariously annoying than that of a mondegreen- or a misunderstood word or phrase resulting from the mishearing of lyrical content. Often the result of over-thinking or sheer human error, these funny little mishaps occur more frequently than most of us care to admit. That said, have you ever stopped to wonder how human hearing errors compared to that of computer hearing errors? Someone has done just that. By comparing and contrasting two separate, professional transcriptionists, to the so-called “smartest machine on Earth”, also known as “IBM Watson”, we are effectively able to gauge which is more prone to misunderstanding lyrics.
Although this “study” was not very scientific, the “researchers” did make a valiant effort to find lesser known songs that the transcriptionists “pinky-swore” they had never heard before. Without further ado here is how they each measured up…
Challenge 1: “I Knew You Were Trouble” by Taylor Swift
In the first challenge, Watson is already off to a subpar start. While the transcriptionist missed zero words, Watson missed six. According to Watson the first verse begins as such: “Once upon a time, a few mistakes igo, I was then you say, you got me a loon , you’ve gotten me. Rather than the actual words which are: “Once upon a time, a few mistakes ago, I was in your sight. You got me alone. You found me. That’s a pretty drastic difference, Watson.
Challenge 2: “Running With the Devil” by Van Halen
A relative classic, it’s hard to believe the transcriptionists had never heard this Van Halen song. Nevertheless, there were no errors coming from the transcribers but 9 errors and 15 words missing from Watson’s interpretation. Diabolical.
Challenge 3: “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John
Next they tried and Elton classic. The transcriptionist scored 3/3 with another zero-error breakdown. Watson, on the other hand, had 8 errors and missed 3 words altogether. But, I guess you don’t need to understand the lyrics to dance to them…
Challenge 4: “Ticks” by Brad Paisley
Lastly, they took on a Brad Paisley track. More of the same for each respective side, the transcriptionists managed to solidify a flawless victory with another zero-error interpretation. On the flip side, Watson once again disappoints. This time he missed 5 words and included 12 errors. Yikes.
Overall, computers have certainly made life easier. Indeed, from cell phone Siri to the Google bots that make us all seem so much more knowledgeable than we really are, what would we do without them?! Well, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the fact that we’d all learn more accurate lyrics. Elementary, my dear Watson…
Staff Writer; David Strong