# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![dinahmoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8797f3/32.png) [@dinahmoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dinahmoe)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/121 "2003-05-21T14:02:02Z")
I always thought that line went: “assasains, cons, and rapists.” The “Jem” theme always pissed me off too. No matter how many times you use the word “truly”, I do not believe that she is indeed outrageous. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/122 "2003-05-21T14:51:19Z")
I have always hated the lyrics from Cheap Trick’s Surrender. They just don’t sound right in to my ears. ---
**Author:** ![tullius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tullius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullius)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/123 "2003-05-21T16:13:19Z")
“…And I’m proud to be an American – where **at least** I know I’m free” If the tone of this song’s supposed to be so darned patriotic, then why the “at least”? The concessive “at least” makes it sound as though the rest of the guy’s point must be really negative (“Well we may not cook as well as the French, and it may not be as clean here as in Canada, but _at least_ . . . .”) ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/124 "2003-05-21T16:31:18Z")
Re: _Drops of Jupiter_ > [@](#): > > The best soy latte that you ever had . . . and me So that’s what the line is. To my ears, it sounds more like “The best foreign object you’ve ever had in me.” Every time I hear the Eagles’ _Take it Easy_, I feel like saying “Hey, if you need to loosen your load, try sitting on the toilet.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/125 "2003-05-21T16:38:13Z")
Gee, no mention of **Take the Money and Run** by **Steve Miller?** “Billy Mack is a detective down in Texas You know he knows just exactly what the facts is He ain’t gonna let those two escape justice He makes his livin’ off of the people’s taxes” Then there’s one of my favorites from **Jailbreak** by **Thin Lizzy** : “I can see the searchlight on my trail Tonight’s the night all systems fail Hey you good lookin’ female Come here!” I actually use that as a pick up line…“Hey you, good lookin’ female. Come here.” It works like magic 😃 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/126 "2003-05-21T17:08:18Z")
I never really knew what the Beach Boys were singing in falsetto in “I Get Around,” and never really cared. But when I found out they were singing “I’m a real cool head making real good bread,” I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or groan. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/127 "2003-05-21T18:20:46Z")
lost4life, Speaking of Thin Lizzy’s ‘Jailbreak,’ don’t forget the stupidity of the song’s chorus: “Tonight there’s gonna be a jailbreak, Somewhere in this town…” Well, duh. I’ll bet it happens at the damn jail! ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/128 "2003-05-21T19:16:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Harborwolf \* > \*\*Creed. I don’t know which song. The lyric goes something like this. “…where the blind man sees…a place with golden streams.” Sure, it’s a swell rhyme and all, but it makes me think of golden showers which is not my idea of heaven. \*\* I believe it’s “a place with gold in the streets.” Makes only slightly more sense. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/129 "2003-05-21T20:24:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BuckleberryFerry \* > \*\*I believe it’s “a place with gold in the streets.” > > Makes only slightly more sense. \*\* It’s actually “To a place with golden streets”. Of course, none of them rhyme with “to a place where blind men see” ---
**Author:** ![rackman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d07c76/32.png) [@rackman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackman)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/130 "2003-05-21T21:32:26Z")
New York, New York by Frank Sinatra: I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps And find I’m **A-number-one** , top of the list, King of the hill, **A-number-one** I mean really, was there no possible superlative left, he had to use A-number-one again? ---
**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:** [May 21, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/131 "2003-05-21T21:51:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tanaqui \* > \*\*I’m pretty sure antichrist doesn’t rhyme with anarchist. Not even in the UK. Also, how can you _be_ anarchy? “I want to be democracy…” No. > > Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart. It goes: > > _You cry out in your sleep - all my failings exposed > There’s a taste in my mouth, as desperation takes hold > **Just that something so good just can’t function no more** _ > > I love the song–love the line in principle; it makes me tear up every time–but it sounds so clunky. What’s wrong with “Just that something so good can’t function anymore”? Or “That something so good just can’t function anymore,” for that matter. Heck, you can even keep the other “just.” \*\* Grammar is the gripe, I take is? I dunno. “Just can’t function no more” sounds much better to my ears. (“No more” with its open back vowels sounding so much more haunting than the front-voweled “any more.”) Plus it fits the rhythm of the song better. Plus it’s more colloquial. Plus there’s the internal “so” and “no” rhyme. It may be unconscious on the songwriter’s part, but the parallelism of “Just…so good/Just…no more” helps make the line sound “right” to my ears. “Any” ruins the feel for me, but YMMV. I would suggest any of the number of songs during the 60s which featured dead teenagers as its theme. Dickie Lee’s “Laurie” is superlative on this account. Laurie is a girl with whom our protagonist dances in the opening of the song. > [@](#): > > Last night at the dance I met Laurie > So lovely and warm > An angel of a girl > Last night I fell in love with Laurie > Strange things happen in this world Keep in mind “angel of a girl.” This is key piece of vomit-inducing punnery which we will get to later… So, said protagonist walks girl home. She’s cold. And “suddenly she [asks] for [his] sweater” in response to his questions “will I see you anymore?” They make it home, he kisses her goodnight, remembers he’s forgotten his sweater and runs back. Now, if I were him and wanted to see this chick again, wouldn’t this sweater make a perfect excuse to come around the house some other day? Anyhow. Father answers door. Boy asks for girl. Father says, kid, you’re nuts, she’s _been dead for a year!!_ A year ago today, no less. Oh my. What pathos. And the kicker > [@](#): > > A strange force drew me to the graveyard > I stood in the dark > I saw the shadows wave > And then I looked and I saw my sweater > Lying there upon her grave > > **Strange things happen in this world** ---
**Author:** ![the\_O-man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9f8e36/32.png) [@the\_O-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_O-man)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/132 "2003-05-23T13:30:19Z")
I always thought the Heart song “All I Wanna do is Make Love to You” had the worst poetry in it. The metaphor for making love referred to as: “We walked in the garden, we planted a tree…” I also cringe everytime I hear “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” I understand that they are trying to emulate the expression “There but for the grace of God go I,” but the phrase “Well, tonight thank God it’s them instead of you” always bugged the heck out of me. It just seems mean. Unless it is sarcastic (and the way Bono shrieks out that line it could be) and they are trying to shock you, it just doesn’t seem right in the song. There won’t be snow in Africa this year. Does it ever snow in Ethiopia? And how many of them are Christians anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/133 "2003-05-23T14:26:21Z")
"The Ethiopian Orthodox Church was founded by the monks Frumentius and Aedissius in the early fourth century, during the reign of King Ezana of Axum (Aksum), who converted to Christianity along with many of his people. " [http://www.imperialethiopia.org/religions.htm](http://www.imperialethiopia.org/religions.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/134 "2003-05-23T15:38:37Z")
> [@](#): > > “…And I’m proud to be an American – > where **at least** I know I’m free” > > If the tone of this song’s supposed to be so darned patriotic, then why the “at least”? The concessive “at least” makes it sound as though the rest of the guy’s point must be really negative (“Well we may not cook as well as the French, and it may not be as clean here as in Canada, but at least . . . .”) The problem with this lyric isn’t the “at least”, it’s the “where”. “An American” is not a place. Actually the whole song sucks. Damn it, I think I’ll write a patriotic song; they shouldn’t all be done by semiliterate rednecks. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/135 "2003-05-23T15:52:17Z")
_Hotel California–_“warm smell of colitas rising up through the air…” Ew. ---
**Author:** ![Leechboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Leechboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leechboy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/136 "2003-05-23T17:11:20Z")
Cutting Crew’s “I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight” has bugged me since I was eight, in fact it’s shitting me just thinking about it now. The added line of “We’re Rough!” to the chorus of Hangin’ Tough by New Kids On The Block had me slapping at my ears to get the sound away. ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/137 "2003-05-23T17:48:21Z")
Anything by Beck. Anything at all by Beck. Neat beat, but you’re not making any sense whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/138 "2003-05-23T17:51:34Z")
I’ll second “Horse with no name” This part drives me nuts: On the first part of the journey I was looking at all the life There were plants and birds and rocks and THINGS There was sand and hills and rings. Ok, first off, if you’re looking at all the life, then skip the rocks, sand, and hills. These are not alive. Second, there were rocks and THINGS? Well no sh\*t. How observant of you. And what rings? Diamond rings? Around the collar rings? Circus rings? ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/139 "2003-05-23T18:38:20Z")
“Some folk’ll never eat a skunk but then again some folk’ll, like Cletus the slack jawed yokel” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831/140 "2003-05-24T03:39:25Z")
My peeves always seem to be grammatical ones. “You know that I would be a liar if I **was** to say to you” Or “I must be sure from the very start that you would love me more than **her** ” Gaaah! For actual lyrics, Santana’s “Game of Love” makes me want to hurt myself. I don’t even know exactly what she’s saying and it still bugs me. “A little bit of this a little bit of that it started with a kiss now we’re up to that/up to bat” Wha? I mean, I’ll tolerate the lame up to bat possibility, if only because it doesn’t involve rhyming “that” with “that.” Then there’s the utterly repulsive “are you strong enough to be my man” crap from Sheryl Crow (and her convenient lifting of Violent Femmes and Steve Miller Band songs, but that’s another thread). Julie [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-dont-sound-right-make-you-cringe/175831.md?page=8)