# Lines you hate in a song you like **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2018, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654 "2018-04-18T18:09:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/81 "2018-04-24T12:19:04Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > “The one they pick’s the one you’ll know by…” Pick’s is serving as a contraction of “pick is”. . . :smack: Thank you. For 40 years I could not make sense of that line and now that you’ve explained it I can’t believe I couldn’t figure it out. Still shite lyrics, though. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/82 "2018-04-24T12:28:19Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Anyway, I hate the line in _ **Behind Blue Eyes** _: “nobody bites back as hard on their anger” since it should be “his anger.” “Their” is becoming more accepted when referring back to a singular noun. The Chicago Manual of Style and the Associated Press stylebook recently changed to making it acceptable. The Who was ahead of their time. > [@](#): > > I got an F on a college theme for two “everyone…their” type mistakes and a superfluous comma. Roger deserves to be graded just as harshly!! Theme? I’m gonna take a guess that those minor mistakes didn’t make your paper go from an A to an F. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/83 "2018-04-24T13:05:30Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > :smack: Thank you. For 40 years I could not make sense of that line and now that you’ve explained it I can’t believe I couldn’t figure it out. Still shite lyrics, though. I couldn’t understand it either but that’s because I thought it was “picked”. Didn’t even have to strain to hear the “d”, but now of course if I hear it again I will probably hear the s. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/84 "2018-04-24T13:14:34Z")
Ellie Goulding’s “Burn” sort of qualifies. The grammatical error irritates me so much that I don’t like listening to the song, but if she just sang “We’re gonna let it burn” instead of “We gonna let it burn,” then I think I’d like the song. Granted, “gonna” isn’t high-class English, either, but the “gonna” doesn’t bother me, just the part where she sings “we” instead of “we’re.” And even that wouldn’t be so bad if those words didn’t crop up in the song so god damn much! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/85 "2018-04-24T13:27:57Z")
Two current songs that I like everything about, except for the damned title line: 1. Brett Dennen, “Already Gone” - the “Bye, bye, I’m already gone” sounds more like “baaa, baaa, I’m already gone.” (In fact, I had to look up the lyrics to find out that it was supposed to be ‘bye, bye.’) If it weren’t for that, it would be a fine song. I feel kinda sheepish about that, but still… 2. The Revivalists’ “Wish I Knew You (When I Was Young)” - why, what’s wrong with right now? If there’s the hint of an answer in the song, I can’t find it. I’m loving the song as it goes _Friday night, holy ghost, take me to your level, show me the one I need the most_, and then it hits me with the title line, and I’m going _WTF?_ every time. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/86 "2018-04-24T13:58:42Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Any sentence that uses the words “your sex” as in, “I want Your Sex” and “Your Sex Takes me to Paradise”. Skeevy, objectifying . . . just icky. Add the Kings of Leon’s “Your Sex Is On Fire” to that list. Totally agree. > [@JKellyMap](#): > > Moody Blues’ concept album _Days of Future Passed_ might be overbloated and pretentious, but it has some nice songs. But then they blow it in the closing poem with the line “ **senior citizens** wish they were young.” Couldn’t they come up with a less clinical word for “old people”? I’m a big Moody Blues fan, but that “senior citizens” has annoyed me for 45 years now. Clunk. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/87 "2018-04-24T21:22:31Z")
It took me a while, but I finally came up with a contribution. From Elton John’s **Your Song** : \*So excuse me forgetting But these things I do You see I’ve forgotten If they’re green or they’re blue Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean Yours are the sweetest eyes I’ve ever seen \* Could this passage be any clunkier? and: _If I was a sculptor, but then again no…_ Wait…what now? mmm ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/88 "2018-04-24T23:04:21Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > It took me a while, but I finally came up with a contribution. > > From Elton John’s **Your Song** : > > \*So excuse me forgetting > But these things I do > You see I’ve forgotten > If they’re green or they’re blue > Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean > Yours are the sweetest eyes I’ve ever seen \* > > Could this passage be any clunkier? > > and: > > _If I was a sculptor, but then again no…_ > > Wait…what now? > mmm If I remember, the story was that his lyricist ran out of ideas, or had to go to the bathroom or something, so Sir Elton himself wrote the third verse. Which is probably why he employs a lyricist. ---
**Author:** ![Athabasca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Athabasca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athabasca)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/89 "2018-04-24T23:17:52Z")
‘I’ve never been to me’ is my pet hate. Y’all know the song, right? ---
**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:** [April 24, 2018, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/90 "2018-04-24T23:32:18Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > “The one they pick’s the one you’ll know by…” Pick’s is serving as a contraction of “pick is”. > > Anyway, I hate the line in _ **Behind Blue Eyes** _: “nobody bites back as hard on their anger” since it should be “his anger.” > > I got an F on a college theme for two “everyone…their” type mistakes and a superfluous comma. Roger deserves to be graded just as harshly!! Similarly on “LA Woman” Morrison wrote “If _they_ say I never loved you, you know _they_ are a liar.” I like The Doors a lot, but that grates. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/91 "2018-04-25T00:04:08Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Add the Kings of Leon’s “Your Sex Is On Fire” to that list. Totally agree. I always sing it as “ooooh, your snatch is on fire” which is not less squicky but at least is funnier. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/92 "2018-04-25T02:42:58Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > … > > _If I was a sculptor, but then again no…_ > > Wait…what now? Two possible meanings in my mind right away: 1. Modestly realizing that he’d make a terrible sculptor 2. Thinking that any sculpture he’d make of this person would end up too risqué ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/93 "2018-04-25T02:46:47Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Two current songs that I like everything about, except for the damned title line: > … > > 1. The Revivalists’ “Wish I Knew You (When I Was Young)” - why, what’s wrong with right now? If there’s the hint of an answer in the song, I can’t find it. > > I’m loving the song as it goes _Friday night, holy ghost, take me to your level, show me the one I need the most_, and then it hits me with the title line, and I’m going _WTF?_ every time. I don’t know the song, but wishing you knew someone when you were young, could easily mean “Too bad I ended up married to someone else instead of you”. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/94 "2018-04-25T02:51:30Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > Ellie Goulding’s “Burn” sort of qualifies. The grammatical error irritates me so much that I don’t like listening to the song, but if she just sang “We’re gonna let it burn” instead of “We gonna let it burn,” then I think I’d like the song. Granted, “gonna” isn’t high-class English, either, but the “gonna” doesn’t bother me, just the part where she sings “we” instead of “we’re.” And even that wouldn’t be so bad if those words didn’t crop up in the song so god damn much! We gon’ let it burn cuz we baaaaad. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/95 "2018-04-25T03:00:21Z")
I found my three-yell On Blueberry Hee-yell ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/96 "2018-04-25T15:07:52Z")
Cutting Crew’s (I just) Died in Your Arms Tonight has this seemingly simple line: Her diary it sits on the bedside table Except the singer pronounces the words “diary it” as if it were Ms Morgendorffer - “Daria”. There are too many syllabibbles for the meter, so he shorts it. > [@Leaffan](#): > > Similarly on “LA Woman” Morrison wrote “If _they_ say I never loved you, you know _they_ are a liar.” > I like The Doors a lot, but that grates. You know that it would be untrue You know that I would be a liar If I\*\* was \*\*to say to you Girl, we couldn’t get much higher [Jules Winnfield voice]The subjunctive, mfer! Do you understand it?[JWV] ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/97 "2018-04-25T15:33:11Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Except the singer pronounces the words “diary it” as if it were Ms Morgendorffer - “Daria”. There are too many syllabibbles for the meter, so he shorts it. Daria and diary both have three syllables. To me it sounds like it rhymes with sorry (not the Canadian way)- där-ē. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/98 "2018-04-25T16:23:01Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > Daria and diary both have three syllables. > > To me it sounds like it rhymes with sorry (not the Canadian way)- där-ē. Ha! To me it always sounds like"dowry", but that’s nothing compared to the next line: “The curtains are drawn, _the cat’s in the cradle_” Unless there’s a meaning to that phrase that I’m not aware of, it’s a clunky, obvious attempt to rhyme with “table”. > [@RTFirefly](#): > > Quote: > > Add the Kings of Leon’s “Your Sex Is On Fire” to that list. Totally agree. That one would be at the top of my list, except the OP call for lines in songs we _like_ and the thing that’s on fire is my hatred for that song and any other by that braying ass of a singer.:mad: 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/99 "2018-04-25T16:44:11Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > Daria and diary both have three syllables. > > To me it sounds like it rhymes with sorry (not the Canadian way)- där-ē. OK I’m wrong about the meter, but there’s got to be some reason he mispronounced it. I don’t know, but it does bug me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654/100 "2018-04-25T16:57:30Z")
^ I think you’re right about the meter, and that’s why he mispronounces it as having two syllables and not three. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-hate-in-a-song-you-like/812654.md?page=6)