# Lyrics that give you pause... In a bad way. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514 "2010-06-01T16:33:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/41 "2010-06-01T21:43:58Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > The only time I feel alright is the time when I’m by your side. Shortened to fit the meter, but it makes perfect sense to me. Of course it makes sense if you change it to make sense, but “by your side” is a place, not a time. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/42 "2010-06-01T21:48:13Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > My first thought was of the already-mentioned “Horse With No Name,” but for me, the line is “The heat was hot.” > Then there’s Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die,” with the ever-grammatical “In this ever-changing world in which we live in . . .” I’ve twisted my ears so it sounds like Sir Paul is singing “..the world in which we’re livin’…” ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/43 "2010-06-01T21:54:38Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > Perhaps, but you have to admit the other available rhymes in this case — chalk, balk, gawk, hawk, caulk, auk — might take your song in directions you won’t want to go. I’m trying to imagine a “fixed” version of _Suzie Q_ (by Creedence Clearwater Revival): > \* > I like the way that you **walk** > I like the way that you **caulk** > I like the way you walk > I like the way you caulk > Suz-ay Q > \* > Okay, sure, that’s probably a refreshing surprise for your audience. _They weren’t expecting **that** _. But will the young people take to it? > > No way. Home repair is for _squares_, man. Okay, is it a Mary/merry/marry thing, or is “caulk” a homonym for “cock”? Because if Suzy Q is wielding one of those, it would be a refreshing surprise indeeed! ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/44 "2010-06-01T22:05:48Z")
The whole rap sequence from Blonide’s _Rapture_ ruins a very good song. An example: \*Well now you see what you wanna be Just have your party on TV ‘Cause the man from Mars won’t eat up bars when the TV’s on And now he’s gone back up to space Where he won’t have a hassle with the human race And you hip-hop, and you don’t stop Just blast off, sure shot ‘Cause the man from Mars stopped eatin’ cars and eatin’ bars And now he only eats guitars, get up! \* ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/45 "2010-06-01T22:07:14Z")
This, just on the TV downstairs - another lyric that definitely gives me bad pause: \*Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah-ah Roma-roma-mamaa Ga-ga-ooh-la-la! \* Plus, later in the same song: _You and me could write a bad romance_ ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/46 "2010-06-01T22:35:31Z")
> [@Nature\_s\_Call](#): > > Plus, later in the same song: > _You and me could write a bad romance_ Oops, I missed **cmkeller** ’s reference to the Lady. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/47 "2010-06-01T23:27:15Z")
When I hear, “I know it’s crazy, but it’s true…” in a song, I suspect that the writer was having a bad/lazy/hungover/minutes before deadline day. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/48 "2010-06-01T23:27:23Z")
> [@winterhawk11](#): > > **Three Dog Night, “Easy to Be Hard”:** > > _Especially people who care about strangers > Who care about evil and social injustice_ > > This is the shorthand my spouse and I use to refer to any piece of music that contains tortured or otherwise labored lyrics. “Social injustice” is a phrase that does not belong in a popular song. I’m surprised that no one’s mentioned that this is from Hair and the lyrics are very meaningful in the context of the story. 😛 Meaningless trivia: In the 1979 [Milos Forman movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079261/), they changed the singer of the song and who it was being sung to. Instead of Sheila (Beverly D’Angelo) singing it to Berger (Treat Williams), it was sung to Hud (aka Lafayette, Dorsey Wright) by his never-named fiancee (Cheryl Barnes). A lot of people didn’t like the movie (I did, I loved it) but I don’t know how anyone can [hear Cheryl sing the song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj4vfrPdfdo) and not be moved by it. I just watched the whole scene and it made me cry. Again. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/49 "2010-06-01T23:30:22Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > When I hear, “I know it’s crazy, but it’s true…” in a song, I suspect that the writer was having a bad/lazy/hungover/minutes before deadline day. Who else did it besides Christopher Cross? ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/50 "2010-06-01T23:40:42Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Scandal - “The Warrior” - “Your eyes touch me physically.” Really? REALLY? His eyes are physically touching you? No, not really. Have you not heard of feeling watched, or feeling someone’s eyes on you? This song is almost _entirely_ composed of metaphors, and this is about the most prosaic one among them. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/51 "2010-06-02T00:07:32Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > When I was a kid, I used to really hate poems that used the same work to rhyme. I think I figured it was cheating. I can’t really think of an example that really stands out as bugging me. But if it was like this: > > Roses are red violets are blue > The grass is green and the sky is blue > > It made me nuts. You mean like Kid Rock’s “We were trying different things We were smoking funny things” It’s not like the remainder of the words are very good either, but that’s especially bad. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/52 "2010-06-02T00:10:48Z")
I just mentioned this in another thread a few weeks ago. “Anna” covered by the Beatles. _“Anna, you come and ask me, girl to set you free, girl”_ (it’s already a little wonky but the next line is what jars me) _ **"You say he loves you more than me, so I will set you free"** _ Huh? The Other Guy loves you more than he loves me?? . ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/53 "2010-06-02T00:12:09Z")
> [@batsto](#): > > I disagree. Any song referring to both the way someone ‘walks’, and then rhyming it with the way that person ‘talks’, is exhibiting a horrific level of lazy rhyming. Oh Susie Q, Oh Susie Q, Oh Susie Q, baby I love you, Susie Q. I like the way you walk, I like the way you talk, I like the way you walk, I like the way you talk, Susie Q. [[SHORTENED LYRICS]] * * * Lazy rhyming, sure, but it was as danceable as hell, right? . ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/54 "2010-06-02T00:19:40Z")
> [@palindromemordnilap](#): > > The Who’s _You Better You Bet_: “You better bet your life/Or love will cut you, just like a knife” > Of all the obvious forced rhymes in rock, the “life/knife” one is the most trite, narrowly beating out “self/shelf”. And the fact that Pete not only repeats the rhyme but uses the rhythm to give it extra emphasis, makes me feel like his rubbing my nose in it: “Ha, you stupid sheeple rock fan, I can put whatever jerk-off words in my song that I want and it will be played on the radio a bazillion times and you can’t do anything about it, Bwah-haa-haa!” True perhaps, but the way I remember it was: _**You better bet your life Or love will cut you, cut you like a knife**_ Which sounds much better than what you seem to recall. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/55 "2010-06-02T00:44:08Z")
Jason Mraz is a recent offender with _I’m Yours_ _Listen to the music of the moment, People dance and sing We’re just one big family And it’s our godforsaken right to be love, love, love, love, loved._ Our “godforsaken right?” Doesn’t sound like one of the more appealing ones. I wonder if that kind got left out of the constitution because of not being cute enough… ---
**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:** [June 2, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/56 "2010-06-02T01:02:07Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > That reminds me of the part in Killer Queen when Freddy sings, “Mesticulous and precise!” :smack: I think we have to let Freddy off the hook: he’s singing “_fastidious_ and precise.” ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/57 "2010-06-02T01:57:59Z")
Waiting in line for a bus pass today I heard this gem: \*You don’t know what you got until you’re missing it a lot I had to go throw it away I was wrong from the start from the bottom of my heart I apologize What I did to you was hurtful What I’m going through is hurtful What I’m going through is hurtful It is hurtful It’s hurtful Oh what I did to you (What I did to you) What I did to you was hurtful What I’m going through is hurtful I was wrong from the start from the bottom of my heart I apologize What I did to you was hurtful And what I’m going through is hurtful\* ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/58 "2010-06-02T02:03:35Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > True perhaps, but the way I remember it was: > > _**You better bet your life > Or love will cut you, cut you like a knife**_ > > Which sounds much better than what you seem to recall. It’s both. The “just” gets added in the end of the song, changing the rhythm of the line for emphasis, as **palin** said. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/59 "2010-06-02T02:34:54Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Waiting in line for a bus pass today I heard this gem: > > \\* > What I did to you was hurtful > What I’m going through is hurtful > What I’m going through is hurtful > It is hurtful > It’s hurtful > \* > > \ I’ve heard this song twice recently while I was out shopping, and it wasn’t until the second time that I realized the singer was saying “hurtful” and not “her fault”. The first time I was like “Wow, way to own up to your mistakes. You wrote a whole song repetitively blaming the ‘other woman’?” Once I understood the correct lyrics I decided that while they weren’t as sleazy and jerkish as my misheard version, they were actually even stupider and less interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514/60 "2010-06-02T02:44:48Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Grrrr…that just reminded me of the song “White Hot” by Tom Cochrane & Red Rider, where he sings “by the Somalian shore”. Since when is “Somalian” pronounced “SUM a lion”? I love that song. THAT’S what he was trying to say? My first thought when reading the OP was The Knack’s “My Sharona”. When the song was popular when I was 9, I didn’t pay attention to the lyrics. Now I cringe when I hear the line “I crave the touch of the younger kind”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-give-you-pause-in-a-bad-way/541514.md?page=4)