# lyrics that don't sound right/make you cringe **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2003, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831 "2003-05-17T03:48:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/41 "2003-05-17T22:28:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Blue Sky \* > \*\*The line is actually: > > “But, \*\* IF\*\* this ever changing world in which we live in…” \*\* You’re absolutely right, of course. The extra “in” still grates on my nerves… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/42 "2003-05-17T22:48:49Z")
Well, if you accept is as “If this ever-changin’ world in which we’re livin’,” there’s no grammatical problem at all. Mind you, I’ve heard the song many times and I have no idea what he really says. Seems like it’s mostly a matter of speculation. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/43 "2003-05-17T23:00:29Z")
I just heard this on the radio last night and was left saying, WTF??? This is so important it has to be said over and over and over and over and over again??? “Someone’s knocking at the door, somebody’s ringing the bell, someone’s knocking at the door, somebody’s ringing the bell, do me a favor, open the door and let 'em in…” Deep, man, deep. Not! ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/44 "2003-05-17T23:12:32Z")
Maybe it’s not fair to pick on these lyrics, because the whole song is so God-awful, but here’s the first song that jumped into my head: MacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark All the sweet, green icing flowing down Someone left the cake out in the rain I don’t think that I can take it 'Cause it took so long to bake it And I’ll never have that recipe again Oh, no! This song has irritated me since I was a wee, wee child. I had no idea what they were trying to say then, and I don’t now. Does anyone? ---
**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:** [May 17, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/45 "2003-05-17T23:15:23Z")
An oldie and a goodie, but this line has bothered me ever since I was a teeny tiny tot. _Why, oh why, did she have to leave and go away?_ Well, she couldn’t very well leave and stay could she? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/46 "2003-05-17T23:45:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Bob Dylan wrote some great lyrics, but even the greats come up with a clinker now and then. Witness this line from Quinn the Eskimo: > > ## quote: > > I like to do just like the rest, I like my sugar sweet, > But guarding fumes and making haste, > It ain’t my cup of meat. > > * * * > > Cup of meat? CUP OF MEAT?!?!?!? I actually always thought it was _cut_ of meat (which would sound a little better). > [@](#): > > Originally posted by Smapti > The Doors. LA Woman. > > “If they say I never loved you > You know they are a liar.” > > ## I’m surprised nobody’s pointed that one out yet. > > Jim Morrison: one of the all-time great frauds. How it is that anyone can think this clown was a litteratus is beyond me. His only claim to fame is having invented psychedelic lounge-music. My assessment of Morrison isn’t so harsh but I do think he was a rather erratic songwriter. He could write some good stuff and he could write some very bad stuff–frequently in the same song. Most of “L.A. Woman” is actually quite good (especially the opening) but then you hit THAT DAMN LINE and it sticks in your craw like a fishbone. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/47 "2003-05-17T23:51:20Z")
How about an entire song? Bobby Goldsboro’s “Honey” comes to mind. Ahh, the genius of rhyming “hugged my neck” with “what the heck”! ---
**Author:** ![shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/48 "2003-05-18T00:33:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by koeeoaddi \* > Oh and by now I’m sure someone has told the Indigo Girls that you don’t multiply by a power. You raise to a power. _Raise life to the power of twooooooo_ could have worked, I suppose. Another one for the Girls, every year I use _This Train_ when I teach Holocaust literature, and getting the kids to listen past the moaning/wailing at the beginning is a feat. I love the Girls, but the moaning in that particular song, while done for effect I understand, is a bit annoying. ---
**Author:** ![kjckjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@kjckjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kjckjc)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/49 "2003-05-18T01:43:33Z")
Most forced rhyme would be in En Vague’s Whatta Man: And yes, it’s me that he’s always choosing With him I’m never losing, and he knows that my name is not Susan Not Susan? Band members are Cindy, Maxine, Dawn and Terry. So she isn’t saying he knows what band member she is, only that of the million names he mistakes her for, Susan isn’t one of them. And also Alanis’ “Coincidences” errrr….”Ironic”…you know, because it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/50 "2003-05-18T02:37:34Z")
> [@](#): > > And yes, it’s me that he’s always choosing > With him I’m never losing, and he knows that my name is not Susan She’s saying he doesn’t call out some other woman’s name in bed - a universally established minus - or is not cheating on her. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cosmopolitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@Cosmopolitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cosmopolitan)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/51 "2003-05-18T02:43:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Most forced rhyme would be in En Vague’s Whatta Man: > > And yes, it’s me that he’s always choosing > With him I’m never losing, and he knows that my name is not Susan > > Not Susan? Band members are Cindy, Maxine, Dawn and Terry. So she isn’t saying he knows what band member she is, only that of the million names he mistakes her for, Susan isn’t one of them. I think that, around the time that the En Vogue song was released, Whitney Houston came out with a song called “My Name Is Not Susan”: The gist of the song was that she was pissed with her boyfriend for mistakenly calling her “Susan”; presumably the name of another woman he’d been seeing. IOW, maybe it’s a reference to that song. Or maybe it’s just the only name that they could find that rhymed when placed in the lyric & I think way too much. Either way. ---
**Author:** ![Philosophocles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Philosophocles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philosophocles)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/52 "2003-05-18T02:48:33Z")
In a Gadda Da Vita ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/53 "2003-05-18T02:57:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lisa-go-Blind \* > \*\* > **Yookeroo** (I hope I spelt your name correctly), that is the funniest thing ever! I’m still giggling over the mental image generated by your comment. (I guess those sunglasses on the smiley above are rather appropriate.) \*\* Why thank you 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/54 "2003-05-18T03:02:37Z")
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Blinded by the Light. I know the real words, and it’s not “wrapped up like a douche,” but it sounds so much like it that I still cringe. ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/55 "2003-05-18T03:14:09Z")
“She picked up a rock, threw it at his car Hit him in the head, now he’s got a big scar” Sublime, Date Rape I dunno, it just sounds like he got tired of writing and just tried to squeeze in anything that would sorta fit. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/56 "2003-05-18T03:16:55Z")
> [@](#): > > “And everything I can remember is in the past, it all may seem.” Another one, same band, same song: “It’s been awhile since I could stand on my own two feet again.” Huh? ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/57 "2003-05-18T03:27:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > > “And everything I can remember is in the past, it all may seem.” > > - “It’s Been Awhile” (isn’t the band Staind?) > \*\* The lyric is actually \ “But everything I can’t remember as f\_cked up as it all may seem” It still doesn’t make much sense. ---
**Author:** ![meyer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@meyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meyer)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/58 "2003-05-18T03:31:38Z")
How about Elton John - **Your Song** : “If I was a sculptor - but then again no…” Good point Elton! For this they knighted you?! ---
**Author:** ![Tinkertoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@Tinkertoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinkertoy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/59 "2003-05-18T05:20:28Z")
Little children Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas _Little children, you better not tell on me I’m tellin’ you Little children, you better not tell what you see And if you’re good I’ll give you candy and a quarter If you’re quiet like you oughta be And keep a secret with me_ Everytime I hear the start of that song I cringe. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/60 "2003-05-18T06:13:28Z")
I was going to start a similar thread to ‘honour’ this line from Sloan’s The Other Man [(scroll down)](http://www.sidekickmagazine.com/sloan/pretty.html) _Now I’m the other man No one’s rooting for me_ (So far so good, right? RIGHT?!?!?) _If I’m the other man Nature will abhor me_ … You’re a vacuum because you’re boinking another man’s woman? :dubious: ::Shakes head slowly:: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831.md?page=4)