# "Come on Eileen" Um, should there be a comma? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 21, 2002, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077 "2002-07-21T08:27:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/1 "2002-07-21T08:27:40Z")
Yes, I am a pervert, why do you ask? šŸ˜ƒ Seriously, though, I have no idea what this song is about. Iā€™ve read the lyrics and they make me think that Iā€™m missing vital historical context. FTR, all Iā€™ve heard is the Save Fenris cover of the song, which probably doesnā€™t do much to enhance oneā€™s understanding of the lyricsā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Crepitus\_Fremitus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19adc/32.png) [@Crepitus\_Fremitus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crepitus_Fremitus)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/2 "2002-07-21T09:45:44Z")
\*Interjections ā€“ **Hey!** Show excitement ā€“ **Wow!** Or emotion. ā€“ **Ow!** Theyā€™re generally set apart from a sentence By an **exclamation point** , Or by a **comma** when the feelingā€™s not as strong. \* What the songā€™s about? No clue. ---
**Author:** ![jharek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9dc877/32.png) [@jharek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharek)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/3 "2002-07-21T10:19:14Z")
I dated a girl named Eileen in High School. and I did. FUnny thing is, my last name is Wright. SO if we got marriedā€¦ hehā€¦ nevermind. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/4 "2002-07-21T11:03:36Z")
> [@](#): > > With you in that dress my thoughts I confess > were on the dirty > Ah come on Eileen Heh. I think I saw this song done on VH-1ā€™s Pop-Up Video. IIRC, Eileen was a girl the lead singer (of Dexyā€™s Midnight Runners, who did the song originally and never had another hit) knew when he was younger. He flirted with her, yearned for herā€¦ but she always played hard to get, and never really was _his_ girl. The songā€™s an anthem of sorts for guys in his situation. I do see room for a deeper, more complex interpretation though. ---
**Author:** ![tetsusaru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f14d63/32.png) [@tetsusaru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetsusaru)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/5 "2002-07-21T11:30:00Z")
Wasn`t that a joke from Clerks? The guy who works in the video store is reeling off an increasingly outrageous porn titles while a mother and her astonished-looking child are standing by slack-jawed - one of the movies was Cum On Eileen.www. ---
**Author:** ![tetsusaru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f14d63/32.png) [@tetsusaru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetsusaru)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/6 "2002-07-21T11:31:17Z")
Don`t ask me how that happened. ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/7 "2002-07-21T12:03:33Z")
I hate that song. ---
**Author:** ![Dragon\_Phoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dragon\_Phoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Phoenix)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/8 "2002-07-21T12:32:51Z")
I like that songā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![QueenAl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/d26b3c/32.png) [@QueenAl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QueenAl)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/9 "2002-07-21T12:36:06Z")
The lack of a comma is for intentional ambiguity between ā€˜come _on_, Eileenā€™ and coming on Eileen. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/10 "2002-07-21T12:58:13Z")
Heck, Iā€™m _married_ to a woman named Eileen. **And** I was 16 when the song came out (or thereabouts). It is a song about lust, thereā€™s no doubt about it. But itā€™s not pornographic. Just your standard young man expressing his interest in a girl type of thing. So get your minds out of the gutter. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/11 "2002-07-21T14:15:04Z")
Man, I suggested that interpretation of this song in a thread a while back, and everybody thought I was a pervert. Not one single other person admitted ever once thinking the song was about _that_. Glad to see the board is degenerating down to my level. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/12 "2002-07-21T14:20:27Z")
I thought maybe it was a statement of defiance by someone who leans a lot: ā€œCome on, I lean!ā€ ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/13 "2002-07-21T16:28:42Z")
Well, the singer _does_ confess that his thoughts are ā€œjunk dirty.ā€ ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/14 "2002-07-21T17:20:23Z")
Donā€™t need no stinkinā€™ comma. _We are far too young and clever._ ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/15 "2002-07-21T18:51:05Z")
When I was in high school it was the puchline to ā€œWhatā€™s worse than vomit on Pat Benatar?ā€ And now that Iā€™ve shared that, I will try to forget Iā€™ve ever heard it and get on with my life. ---
**Author:** ![Myrnalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Myrnalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrnalene)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/16 "2002-07-21T19:03:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KKBattousai \* > \*\*FTR, all Iā€™ve heard is the Save Fenris cover of the songā€¦ \*\* Save **Fenris** , hah! You do know itā€™s Save **Ferris** , right? ---
**Author:** ![taggert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/96bed5/32.png) [@taggert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taggert)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/17 "2002-07-21T20:10:45Z")
This kind of song is called a ā€œbegā€ in the industry. The fellow is begging the young lady for her affections. And the set up line is not vomit on Pat Benetar, itā€™s sweat on Olivia Newton John. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/18 "2002-07-22T04:44:58Z")
**Come on Eileen** is one of the quintenssential 80s hitsā€¦and one of my all time favorites! And I think **AudreyK** ā€™s interpretation hits it right on the head, especially if you compare most of the song to what he sings about Johnnie Ray and his motherā€™s generation at the beginningā€¦ šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/19 "2002-07-22T06:29:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by taggert \* > \*\* > > And the set up line is not vomit on Pat Benetar, itā€™s sweat on Olivia Newton John. \*\* Hey, you have your Treasured High School Memories and Iā€™ll have mineā€¦ (oh, wait, I was trying to forget that one, wasnā€™t I?) ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077/20 "2002-07-22T17:42:02Z")
Just wanted to venture that I think the line is: ā€œMy thoughts verge on dirty.ā€ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-eileen-um-should-there-be-a-comma/120077.md?page=2)