Very few people seem to realize (or acknowledge, or care) how many grammatical errors pop up in pop music.
Just so it won't continue to drive you as crazy as it does me, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar has developed a list of songs that contain such errors. We plan to rock out to the playlist in my classroom on National Grammar Day (singing the appropriate lyrics, of course), but I thought it would be fun to correct the a few of the errors, too. Yes, I really do find this enjoyable.
I've edited the rest of the post below to include the original, grammatically incorrect, lyrics, much as it pained me to do so:
"Touch Me" by The Doors
Now, I'm going to love you until the heavens stop the rain.
I'm going to love you
Until the stars fall from the sky for you and me...for you and me.
Original lyrics:
Now, I'm going to love you until the heavens stop the rain.
I'm going to love you
Until the stars fall from the sky for you and I...for you and I.
"A Horse With No Name" by America
In the desert, you can remember your name
because there isn't anyone to give you any pain
La, la ...
Original lyrics:
In the desert, you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
La, la ...
"Lay Lady Lay" by Bob Dylan
Lie, lady, lie. Lie across my big brass bed.
Lie, lady, lie. Lie across my big brass bed.
Original lyrics:
Lay, lady, lay. Lay across my big brass bed.
Lay, lady, lay. Lay across my big brass bed.
(If the FCC was worth its salt, it would issue heavy fines to every radio station that plays this song as-is. "Lay, lady, lay"? No, thank you, Bob Dylan! I'm a married woman!)
"Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones
I can't get any satisfaction
I can't get any satisfaction
Because I try and I try and I try and I try
I can't get any, I can't get any
Original lyrics:
I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no satisfaction
'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can't get no, I can't get no
Ahh...that feels so much better. If only that was an exhaustive list!
13 comments:
YOU ARE MY HERO(INE)! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! Let's see if we can find any more--TWO words!!
Sorry; my inner editor took over, but I didn't know when you deleted a post, the fact that you deleted it showed up.
Every time I hear "Touch Me" on the radio, I think, "Dude, you were supposed to be a poet, and poets are supposed to care about language.
The lay/lie one grates on me too. When my son's teacher wrote lay, meaning lie, I corrected it and wrote a note at the bottom of the paper explaining why.
You should have used the edit function to write this so that we could see what words you corrected! I don't know the incorrect correct lyrics for many of these songs. I do know the incorrect correct lyrics for the Stones' one, but I wasn't familiar with the rest.
You truly are a nerd, my dear.
I hope you all understand what it is like in my world. Not only did I put up with Rachel for all those years I am living with the "mother of all grammar queens."
Also, I think we should all have a moment of silence for poor Matt and what he has in store for the next decades.
So, dad, are you saying that I'm the grammar queen (Mom, then, being the literal mother of all grammar queens), or are you using mother as in "extreme," therefore making mom the grammar queen?
Well done, David! It's staggering when I read grammatical errors like that from my teaching colleagues. I've even read notes from fellow English teachers that place apostrophes in plurals or use "everyday" instead of "every day." I have to restrain myself from sending how-to notes of my own!
I rest my case.
And I have to ignore poor grammar?! (Pardon the dual punct. marks.) You love it, and you know it! If only more people could love language and care about it, the world would be a much more civil place!
You have the first part right...the..."or cares" part! :) That's why we love you though!
P.S. How about a little sympathy for the little sister who has had to put up with these two as well?! If anything, people should feel sorry for me the most. Dad has lived with it for about 70% of his life...me? I have had to put up with it for 100%!!!! Yeah, my WHOLE life I have had to listen to these...
These are so funny. I love the Rolling Stones one.
I spent a good part of 2004 yelling at the radio as soon as that dumb "Invisible" song by Clay Aiken came on. "It's 'if I WERE invisible,' not 'if I WAS,'" I would rail on in my car. Never mind the fact that Clay Aiken being in anyone's room is pretty creepy to begin with.
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