# If you could change one line from a song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 22, 2016, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562 "2016-07-22T06:15:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/21 "2016-07-23T17:25:59Z")
I can’t get any satisfaction. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/22 "2016-07-24T03:18:44Z")
I am a huge Suicidal Tendencies fan, but the very last sentence of the last song of their 1994 album _Suicidal For Life_, _Benediction_, is “And remember… cool is only 3 letters away from fool!” which puzzled the shit outta me, because fool and cool are the same except for one letter… then I figured out that he mean that ‘c’ and ‘f’ were 3 letters away from each other. Then it started to annoy the shit outta me because it’s stupid because no one talks that way and it’s not clever it’s just stupid and I friggin’ hate it; the line should be “…cool is only 1 letter away from fool”. Sorry, Mike. Hey, it’s one mistake in 23 years; most people would- hell, _I’d_ love to have that kind of stat. ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/23 "2016-07-24T11:58:44Z")
Not necessarily a boy band fan, but the Backstreet Boys “As Long As You Love Me” comes up on my XM radio from time to time, and the former English teacher in me wants to scream at the line: “I don’t care who you are, where you’re from, what you did” Aaagh - it should be “I don’t care who you are, where you’re from, what you’ve done” - its grammatically correct, preserves the tense, and has assonance between “from” and “done”. It’s just better. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/24 "2016-07-24T12:20:32Z")
In _Dance With Who Brung Ya_, by Asleep at the Wheel, the chorus goes: You got to dance with who brung you, swing with who swung you, Life ain’t no forty-yard dash, **be in it for the long run, 'cause in the long run you’ll have more fun** , if you dance with who brung you to the bash The bolded line always bothers me, with the redundant “long run”. “'Cause in the long run you’ll have more fun” needs to to change to “in the end you will have more fun”. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ZCPId-2CABs/hqdefault.jpg "Dance With Who Brung Ya") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCPId-2CABs) ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/25 "2016-07-24T12:48:45Z")
Sandi Thom _Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with safety-pins in my nose_ There, fixed it for you Sandi! ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/26 "2016-07-26T17:58:34Z")
Okay, I know it’s comedy music, and OLD comedy music at that. But, still, how could anyone write these two lines Wait a minute, mister! I didn’t even kiss her… and not realize that “I never even kissed her” actually rhymes? ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/27 "2016-07-26T18:35:09Z")
> [@MonkeyMensch](#): > > From ELP’s _Still…You Turn Me On_: > > Every day a little sadder > A little madder > Someone get me a \*\*ladder. > > \*\*Arrgghh. I like ELP in a nostalgic way for the times in which I heard it for the first time. And I like this song. But, hoo boy, when that line comes up I cringe. There are a whole number of words to complete the rhyme but M. Lake just went with the first bad non-sequitur to come to mind. Oh, well. Every day a little sadder A little madder Someone emptied their bladder ? ---
**Author:** ![dataguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@dataguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dataguy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/28 "2016-07-26T21:21:12Z")
Neil Diamond - Play Me Song she sang to me Song she brang to me Every time I hear this I think, Neil, you didn’t even try, did you? How about: Song she sung to me Song she brung to me Or: Song she taught to me Song she brought to me Now, he may have had to adjust the rhyme of the next two lines, but not necessarily. But “brang”? “BRANG” Bitch, brang me a beer. Sticks in my ear every time I hear. I won’t get started on the free-association lyrics of Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers “Islands in the Stream”. Pay attention to the lyrics sometime. They are nonsense. No line has any logical connection to any other line. I’m still trying to understand how “Islands in the stream…” can come to “Rely on each other” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/29 "2016-07-26T21:34:02Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I am a huge Suicidal Tendencies fan, but the very last sentence of the last song of their 1994 album _Suicidal For Life_, _Benediction_, is “And remember… cool is only 3 letters away from fool!” Blondie doesn’t do much better: Don’t be bad A mad hatter’s beret Sometimes you look like you just made an escape Don’t be mad Or lose your medicaid cool Of course cool rhymes with fool ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/30 "2016-07-26T22:42:45Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Billy Joel, _Light as the Breeze_: “… And you turn in disgust, from your hatred and from your **love** ” Why isn’t this LUST? You \*might \*be disgusted by your own lust, but not by your own love IMO. And **lust** would not only be more appropriate, it would actually rhyme! That’s actually a cover of a Leonard Cohen song so Joel is relatively blameless, but I think the same thing each time I hear it from either of them. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/31 "2016-07-27T20:58:19Z")
Van Halen - Why Can’t This Be Love I tell myself “Hey only fools rush in **and only time will tell if we stand the test of time** ” All I know/you’ve got to run to win and I’ll be damned if I’ll get hung up on the line I don’t know what it should be, but it shouldn’t be that. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/32 "2016-07-27T21:26:10Z")
> [@dataguy](#): > > Neil Diamond - Play Me > > Song she sang to me > Song she brang to me > > Every time I hear this I think, Neil, you didn’t even try, did you? > > How about: > Song she sung to me > Song she brung to me > > Or: > Song she taught to me > Song she brought to me > > Now, he may have had to adjust the rhyme of the next two lines, but not necessarily. > > But “brang”? “BRANG” > > Bitch, brang me a beer. > > Sticks in my ear every time I hear. > > I won’t get started on the free-association lyrics of Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers “Islands in the Stream”. Pay attention to the lyrics sometime. They are nonsense. No line has any logical connection to any other line. I’m still trying to understand how “Islands in the stream…” can come to “Rely on each other” Oh my freaking god I came in just to say this one. I really like that song but BRANG?! ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/33 "2016-07-27T22:29:48Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Van Halen - Why Can’t This Be Love > > I tell myself “Hey only fools rush in > **and only time will tell if we stand the test of time** ” > All I know/you’ve got to run to win > and I’ll be damned if I’ll get hung up on the line > I don’t know what it should be, but it shouldn’t be that. Funny - that song used to so totally pick my ass over the line “It’s got what it takes.” Seriously - how can that _not_ be _the_ weakest, most pedestrian, phoned-in, hackneyed, douchily simplistic line ever? Sammy was trying to make it sound like a fucking beer commercial with that lyric. “So honey - why, can’t, I have a Strohs?” ---
**Author:** ![Tread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Tread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tread)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/34 "2016-07-28T06:04:30Z")
Tina Turner — Proud Mary And I never lost one minute of sleeping [DEL] I was[/DEL] worrying 'bout the way the things might’ve been If you were worrying, you probably WOULD lose sleep. that is why Fogerty wrote, and sang it … never lost one minute of sleeping, worrying about… ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/35 "2016-07-28T06:23:26Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Sandi Thom > > _Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with safety-pins in my nose_ > > There, fixed it for you Sandi! Nah, that hurts the meaning of the song. She’s waxing nostalgic about two separate eras ('77 and '69) that she was too young for, in a way that’s anachronistic and cherry-picking. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/36 "2016-07-28T11:12:18Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > One I’ve mentioned before, and hadn’t even noticed was “gray” for quite a long while: that song by Seal should _“compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grave.”_ I came here to post this! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/37 "2016-07-28T20:48:04Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I dunno what I would change it to. ANYTHING but “faggot” (and probably also not “cop” or “girlfriend”) A couple I have to hum to: You scumbag you maggot you cheap lousy HMM-HMM When you look into my eyes And you see the crazy HMM-HMM in my soul It always comes as a surprise When I feel my withered roots begin to grow ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/38 "2016-07-29T00:18:59Z")
It probably applies to more than one song, but it’s Pink Floyd that I’m disappointed in. There is no dark side of the moon. Just shift it to the far side. There is a far side. Not something that I can complain to most people about. Thank you for listening. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/39 "2016-07-29T00:38:09Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > It probably applies to more than one song, but it’s Pink Floyd that I’m disappointed in. There is no dark side of the moon. Just shift it to the far side. There is a far side. > > Not something that I can complain to most people about. Thank you for listening. Have you listened to.the entire album? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562/40 "2016-07-29T00:53:13Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Have you listened to.the entire album? It’s all far, really. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-change-one-line-from-a-song/760562.md?page=3)