# Literal complaints at lyrics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2019, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371 "2019-01-07T21:01:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/41 "2019-01-08T14:43:54Z")
I actually listened to the lyrics of Wham’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” recently. The point of the song, such as it is, is that his lover’s been going out dancing at night without him and he wants to be awakened to go out and dance too. Until the final verse, when he suggests that instead of going out, they stay home in bed. And I thought, well, that other person wanted to go dancing, so as soon as _you_ roll over and start snoring, Mister, they’ll be up and off just like every other night without bothering to wake you since you didn’t really want to go-go after all. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/42 "2019-01-08T14:44:32Z")
Madness’s Our House Our house in the middle of our street I hope you mean “in the middle of our block.” Building a house in the middle of the _street_ would be very illegal and very, very dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/43 "2019-01-08T14:47:57Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Madness’s Our House > > Our house in the middle of our street > > I hope you mean “in the middle of our block.” Building a house in the middle of the _street_ would be very illegal and very, very dangerous. It’s a British thing–houses are “in” the street, not “on” the street. (Although I suspect Madness is playing with the difference between American and UK terms to suggest the idea of the old home planted smack in the middle of the road.) ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/44 "2019-01-08T15:09:12Z")
If Scripture / hymns / Prayer Book content can be counted as “lyrics”: for a very long time, kids have been having these kind of problems with stuff generally in the “religion department”. I – as a bright, pedantic, literal-minded and no doubt very annoying child – quarrelled strongly with Psalm 107 verse 23, “They that go down to the sea in ships…” As I saw the issue: to get to the seashore, you have to travel on land – which obviously, a ship cannot do; so how in the name of goodness, can people “go down to the sea in ships”? It struck me as nonsensical; I was too young to “get” either the business of grey areas in this line – estuaries, creeks, etc., down which you can sail your ship to get onto the open sea; or the whole “poetic / figures of speech” thing, by which artists-with-words may be granted indulgence if it doesn’t totally make sense, but sounds good. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/45 "2019-01-08T15:13:34Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > It’s a British thing–houses are “in” the street, not “on” the street. (Although I suspect Madness is playing with the difference between American and UK terms to suggest the idea of the old home planted smack in the middle of the road.) I did not know that. Ignorance fought. Styx’s Come Sail Away: We lived happily together, so the story goes But somehow we missed out on the pot of gold. I always sing it: We lived happily ever after, the story’s told But somehow we missed out on the port of gold. It makes more sense, and it rhymes. ---
**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:** [January 8, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/46 "2019-01-08T15:32:32Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > “…As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti.” > > Umm, no–Serengeti National Park is over 120 miles from Kilimanjaro and is very hard if not impossible to see from there (I have been to both places). Is it possible the statement’s trying to convey that it’s Olympus, not Killmanjaro, rising above the Serengetti? The message does seem a little muddled. Sweet’s “Fox on the Run” “I don’t wanna know your name 'Cause you don’t look the same The way you did before Okay, you think you got a pretty face But the rest of you is out of place You looked alright before” So - because she had the nerve to change her looks, her name is now mud? And that her ostensibly pretty face is somehow not in accord with the rest of her? Not to mention - no longer looking any good? Being dickish, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/47 "2019-01-08T16:02:43Z")
> [@digs](#): > > If the girl that Bruno Mars wrote this for sees this: Run. Away. > And get yourself a smarter boyfriend. Or at least a more practical one… And the final line of the chorus after he lays out all the weapons and trains he’d eat for her is, “But you won’t do the same,” delivered as though this is some tragic truth. It should be, “But unlike me you’re sane.” ---
**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:** [January 8, 2019, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/48 "2019-01-08T16:23:06Z")
Springsteen, Racing in the Streets I got a 69 Chevy with a 396 Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor General car ignorance. Fuelie heads are for small block Chevies. They won’t fit. There’s no quick lyric to quote, but I always get annoyed at Tangled Up In Blue. it seems like the perspective and timeline shift all over the place, and not in a good poetic way, but in a “I forgot what I was singing about” way. And The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia really conveys the Southern Gothic feel, but it makes no damn sense! ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/49 "2019-01-08T16:35:47Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > It sounds as though he’s disappointed too. So what, exactly, was he hoping to do with his Chevy, in a wet levy? One can levy a tax, but he drove his Chevy to the levee!! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/50 "2019-01-08T17:10:11Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I did not know that. Ignorance fought. > > Styx’s Come Sail Away: > > We lived happily together, so the story goes > But somehow we missed out on the pot of gold. > > I always sing it: > > We lived happily ever after, the story’s told > But somehow we missed out on the port of gold. > > It makes more sense, and it rhymes. In a similar vein, there’s the song “Angel in Blue” by the J. Geils Band. It has the lines: _And the bees they had stung her The birds they had flown There were guys she could number But none had she known_ The line should have been: _And the bees they had stung her The birds they had flown There were guys she could number But none to count on_ The connection of number and count would have tied it together, like the birds and the bees in the previous pair of lines. I’ll grant that flown/on aren’t as good a rhyme as flown/known. But this is a band that rhymed desk/dress, down/sound, grind/mine, and him/win. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/51 "2019-01-08T17:24:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’ll grant that flown/on aren’t as good a rhyme as flown/known. But this is a band that rhymed desk/dress, down/sound, grind/mine, and him/win. Insisting on perfect rhymes is silly, IMHO. Plus I think imperfect rhymes sound better most of the time, anyway. So your lines are good with me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/52 "2019-01-08T17:27:04Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Sweet’s “Fox on the Run” > > “I don’t wanna know your name > 'Cause you don’t look the same > The way you did before > Okay, you think you got a pretty face > But the rest of you is out of place > You looked alright before” This is the type of song that’s all about the hook, and as long as the hook is ok, I don’t really give a shit about anything else. The verses are just filler. When the group of stoner kids cruising down the street in the big muscle car all shout out “FOX ON THE RUN” together, the song has served its purpose. It’s when the verses of a song are extremely wordy, _trying_ to be meaningful, but failing, that I actively consider them to be shitty lyrics. And if the song doesn’t have a good hook to make up for it, then I consider it to be a shitty song. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/53 "2019-01-08T19:34:23Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Insisting on perfect rhymes is silly, IMHO… But I do, nonetheless. Especially in church, where I “fix” them… if the previous line ended with _prove,_ and the last line ends with _love?_ Then no problem, I’ll just sing _LOOVE._ And since I’m usually processing next to the senior pastor, I get to amuse her, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/54 "2019-01-08T19:39:24Z")
_Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks, I don’t care if i ever get back_ Was it Steven Wright or Denis Leary who said, “The fuck kinda attitude is that?” ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/55 "2019-01-08T19:42:23Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > There’s no quick lyric to quote, but I always get annoyed at Tangled Up In Blue. it seems like the perspective and timeline shift all over the place, and not in a good poetic way, but in a “I forgot what I was singing about” way. While I actually love that song, yeah, there’s a lot wrong with it. I once heard an interesting discarded take in which Dylan sings the entire song in third person instead of first. I think in the take that made it to “Blood on the Tracks,” he forgot which perspective he was singing from a couple times. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/56 "2019-01-08T19:52:56Z")
> [@digs](#): > > But I do, nonetheless. Especially in church, where I “fix” them… if the previous line ended with _prove,_ and the last line ends with _love?_ Then no problem, I’ll just sing _LOOVE._ What I dislike is when the last word of a verse is meant to be sung as a melisma, and the last word for a particular verse is multiple syllables, as opposed to the other verses that end in single syllables, and the instructions have you sing the multisyllabic word as a contraction, when you could just as easily change syllables halfway through the notes. For instance if it ended with “strongest” the instructions would have you sing “strooooOOOOoooooOOOOooooooOOOOOng’st” rather than “strooooooOOOOOoooongEEEEeeeEEEst”. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/57 "2019-01-08T19:59:11Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > _Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks, I don’t care if i ever get back_ > > Was it Steven Wright or Denis Leary who said, “The fuck kinda attitude is that?” Nitpick, it is Cracker Jack no “s” ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/58 "2019-01-08T21:13:44Z")
**I’m too sexy for my shirt Too sexy for my shirt So sexy it hurts** Ya’ know, maybe you should see a doctor about that before you pass it on to someone else. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/59 "2019-01-08T21:16:38Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Springsteen, Racing in the Streets > > I got a 69 Chevy with a 396 > Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor > > General car ignorance. Fuelie heads are for small block Chevies. They won’t fit. A 396 most likely IS a small block–you can bore out a Chevy small block to a 427 if you like. There’s even a [small block 454](https://media.gm.com/autoshows/small_block/2011/public/us/en/powertrain/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2011/Nov/100M/1129_100M_Facts.html) crate engine you can still get. > [@](#): > > The largest-displacement small-blocks ever produced by GM are the LSX454/LSX454R crate engines offered through Chevrolet Performance, at 454 cubic inches (7.4L); the largest-displacement small-block for a production vehicle is the 427-cubic-inch (7.0L) LS7 used currently in the Corvette Z06. Big block Chevy engines were only introduced in '65, so a '69 was way more likely to have a small block engine than a big block, unless it was a Corvette, which debuted the big block 396 in '65. Might have had one in a Chevelle or a Camaro but in a song it’s more likely the actual model would be named if it was one of those rather than just being called a “Chevy.” ---
**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:** [January 8, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371/60 "2019-01-08T21:53:49Z")
I would like to complain (at) (to) (about) “Angie Baby” and “Jackie Blue” if I knew what hell they were about, especially the former. Sounding almost like a Python letter. (Dear _Sirs…_) (Or the ole “I’d like to complain” “You want to complain! Look at these shoes. I’ve only had them three weeks and the heels are worn right through”) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literal-complaints-at-lyrics/827371.md?page=4)