Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2021/01/24/the-bizarre-internet-mystery-of-an-avril-lavigne-song-that-doesnt-exist.html
…
4 Likes
This song was played in the Sinbad movie “Shazaam”
27 Likes
The point is that every song on every lyrics site on the internet is a scrape from another lyrics website, all going back to one non-English speaker being paid $0.20/hour to transcribe some in one pass from an AM radio.
Every time I’ve tried to use one the lyrics are clearly nonsensical, and when I cross check with songs I know were published with their lyrics, the result of the same.
14 Likes
That’s the point. Lyrics sites always copy lyrics from similar sites.
The best way to find out if a competitor site has stolen your lyrics is to put a fake song into your database and see if, after a few days, you find it on other sites.
It’a solution also used by mapping companies. They usually add a made-up small road to the map of a city and then see if some other player in that market features that street on the map. If it happens, they sue for copyright infringement.
24 Likes
So if Avril Lavigne records it, does she have to pay a songwriter royalty?
20 Likes
This reads like material for a William Gibson novel like Pattern Recognition.
12 Likes
That was my thought too. Fake song to catch thieves.
4 Likes
Well, now I am mildly depressed upon realizing that Avril L has indeed been around for ‘at least 20 years.’
Fuck.
25 Likes
At least we were having fun, right?
22 Likes
During some of it; yes, absolutely.
Some of the last 25 years has been some straight bullshit, though …
14 Likes
On the bright side there haven’t been many Avril songs for a while.
12 Likes
Y’know, I can’t ever recall hearing any, within my little bubble.
I just heard of her, and knew that many people were annoyed by her popularity.
Hence my surprise upon looking “that kid” up and realizing she’s now 36 years old.
13 Likes
Surely the answer to this little mystery is that this is the last song that the real Avril recorded before she died and was replaced by a lookalike.
And Paul McCartney has a co-writer credit.
13 Likes
I cannot believe this passed even anyone’s casual bullshit-test.
Not just that, but I’ve seen some instrumentals have lyrics listed on lyrics sites. Songs with no words ever written for them.
I’m guessing they think they have lyrics because the bots find lyrics for unknown songs by finding lyrics on a random search that includes artist/title keywords.
3 Likes
I have been puzzling over “The Good Ship Habakkuk”, which some prankster inserted into the Whackyweedia entry for Rambling Syd Rumpo.
It never appeared in any extant broadcast of “Round the Horne”, has no lyrics, but nevertheless it features now in lists of the Rambling Syd canon.
4 Likes
Liner notes included with the album often have wrong lyrics.
2 Likes
And/or relying on users to input data for free (lots of that happened with music databases that then got monetized), which attracts trollies. I assume, given the quality of the lyrics, that this was intended as a dig at the songwriting quality of Avril Lavigne songs in general.
Hmm, so a fake song as a “trap street” for a lyric database? If so, it clearly didn’t work, given that it’s ended up permeating all the databases.
5 Likes
Could be worse. I’m pretty sure i’ve heard a solo version of Nat King Cole performing “Lullaby of Birdland”, in a similar way to the Sarah Vaughan version, but so far I haven’t known anyone who has the record, nor I can found it on internet. (there is a mashup of several songs in which nat king cole sings some verses of lullaby, but that’s not the version I’ve heard)
Funny thing is, to the guys in the trade, if I describe the song to them, they swear they have heard it too. I think I have a kind of memetic virus and I’m compelled to spread it 
8 Likes
OK, I’m in. Embrace the system. If we can’t monetize it, at least let’s play along.
Who’s with me? Crowdfund Rick Astley to record a cover!
4 Likes
