# Ruin a favorite song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [March 13, 2021, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806 "2021-03-13T04:06:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 5
**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:** [March 17, 2021, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/81 "2021-03-17T00:32:28Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > What I think the songwriter was reaching for, and missed, was “You and I march to the beats of two different drums.” Or maybe, “You and I march to the beats of our own separate drums.” OK. So I’m not a songwriter. I am a proofreader. I would never have let that song slip through. Or you could go for the simpleer “You and I march to the beats of different drums.” You don’t really need the “two” there, and it scans better. Regardless, I’m glad song lyrics are generally not proofread. I shudder to think of “I Can’t Get Any Satisfaction.” ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/82 "2021-03-17T00:35:39Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Regardless, I’m glad song lyrics are generally not proofread. I shudder to think of “I Can’t Get Any Satisfaction.” There’s a difference between a colloquialism, and a mistake. “You ain’t nothing but a hound dog” is fine. “Between you and I” should be taken out and shot. ---
**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:** [March 17, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/83 "2021-03-17T00:40:57Z")
I do admit, the misuse of “I/me” does needle me ever so slightly. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/84 "2021-03-17T01:13:37Z")
I _really_ hate the dreamy, hippy-happy, feel-good lyrics of **Happy Together**. _I think about you day and night, it’s only right_ Seriously? Like 24/7? I’m beginning to wonder if you’re one of those obsessive-controlling psychopaths. _If I should call you up, invest a dime_ Why the hell do you call her from a pay phone? Are you a stalker and don’t want the police to trace the calls back to your apartment? Hmmm… _I can’t see me lovin’ nobody but you_ _For all my life_ Really? Absolutely no one, ever? More evidence you’re a psychopath. _Me and you and you and me_ Uhhhhhh, isn’t “me and you” the same as “you and me”? _So happy together_ _So happy together_ _How is the weather_ How is the weather?? Where did that come from? How in bloody hell is the weather relevant to anything you’ve previously said? ---
**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:** [March 17, 2021, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/85 "2021-03-17T01:23:16Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > That album cover ruins that song. That song ruins the album. And the cover you all seem to hate relates perfectly to “21st Century Schizoid Man” (the best song on the album). In my _ **opinion** _. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/86 "2021-03-17T01:44:53Z")
Cone kees tah dorrr not Cun kwiss tuh dor If you’re going to use a foreign word as the centerpiece, even going so far as to name the song that, please take some pains to pronounce it better. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/vd_uKWWgOxw/maxresdefault.jpg "Conquistador , Procol Harum , 1972 Vinyl 45RPM") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd_uKWWgOxw) ---
**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:** [March 17, 2021, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/87 "2021-03-17T01:55:34Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I do admit, the misuse of “I/me” does needle me ever so slightly. _Ever so slightly?_ The lazy confusion between subjective and objective case (I and me, he and him, she and her) is another sign of the collapse of civilization! I do my part… by singing along and loudly correcting the singer: “It’ll just be _You and ME._… objective case, dickweed!” ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/88 "2021-03-17T01:56:40Z")
_“Now you’re underneath the stairs And you’re giving back some glares To the people who you met And it’s your first cigarette”_ I’d been listening to this for literally decades thinking this was a really lame verse, and then I was amused to hear that Neil Young was once recorded saying: _“At first I wrote 126 verses to it. Now, you can imagine that I had a lot of trouble figuring out what four verses to use… I was underneath the stairs… Anyway, this verse that I wrote… It was the worst verse of the 126 that I wrote. So, I decided to put it in the song, to just to give everybody a frame of reference as to, you know, what can happen. What I’m trying to say here, by stopping in the middle of the song, and explaining this to you, is that… I think it’s one of the lamest verses I ever wrote. And it takes a lotta nerve for me to get up here and sing it in front of you people. But, if when I’m finished singing, you sing the chorus ‘Sugar Mountain’ super loud, I’ll just forget about it right away and we can continue.”_ ---
**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:** [March 17, 2021, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/89 "2021-03-17T02:12:33Z")
Wouldn’t it be subjective case there, technically, with the verb _to be_ in the form “will be” acting as a copula? I mean, it is technically “it is I” rather than “it is me.” > [@digs](#): > > I do my part… by singing along and loudly correcting the singer: > “It’ll just be _You and ME._ … objective case, dickweed!” ---
**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:** [March 17, 2021, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/90 "2021-03-17T02:42:31Z")
I’ve always thought _It_ was the subject, _be_ the verb and what will be as the object. If I’m describing my plans after work and say “It’ll just be a glass of beer and a good book”… subject, verb, object. And no, I would never say “It is I!” unless I were making an entrance in a castle. Preferably with a sword (“It is I, the fifth musketeer, here to rescue the queen!”) If _'Tis I_ were\* indeed correct, I would then structure my whole conversation differently so as to avoid the pretentiousness of it. I already do that with other sentences where “it’s correct, but I sound full of myself”. … \*check out the conditional tense, hey, see me being all proper? Oh, yeah… ---
**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:** [March 17, 2021, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/91 "2021-03-17T02:54:00Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I’ve always thought _It_ was the subject, _be_ the verb and what will be as the object. Ah, yes, but the traditional grammar rule is that “be” acts as a linking verb/copula, and both sides of the verb “to be” are supposed to be in the nominative/subjective case. In “It is I” “I” is not an object. “I” is not being acted upon: it is an equivalence. That said, yes, it sounds stuffy and stupid, but you do sometimes hear it, like when people say “this is she” instead of “this is her” on the phone (that one goes both ways, but doesn’t jar the ear quite as much as “it is I.”) ---
**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:** [March 17, 2021, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/92 "2021-03-17T03:02:55Z")
> [@digs](#): > > If _'Tis I_ were\* indeed correct, I would then structure my whole conversation differently so as to avoid the pretentiousness of it. ETA: Actually, I’m not sure I’m understanding the sentence correctly, so never mind my analysis. For the second half, though I would just say “use the colloquial construction.” Don’t tie yourself up in knots rewriting because some old fart liked Latin too much and tried to port the rules to English. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/93 "2021-03-17T03:07:19Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I _really_ hate the dreamy, hippy-happy, feel-good lyrics of **Happy Together**. > > _I think about you day and night, it’s only right_ > > Seriously? Like 24/7? I’m beginning to wonder if you’re one of those obsessive-controlling psychopaths. > > _If I should call you up, invest a dime_ > > Why the hell do you call her from a pay phone? Are you a stalker and don’t want the police to trace the calls back to your apartment? Hmmm… > > _I can’t see me lovin’ nobody but you_ > _For all my life_ > > Really? Absolutely no one, ever? More evidence you’re a psychopath. > > _Me and you and you and me_ > > Uhhhhhh, isn’t “me and you” the same as “you and me”? > > _So happy together_ > _So happy together_ > _How is the weather_ > > How is the weather?? Where did that come from? How in bloody hell is the weather relevant to anything you’ve previously said? I had always assumed they knew what a hippy-happy, feel-good song they were performing (the Turtles didn’t actually write it), and so I’ve always assumed that’s exactly what they were going for - a love-song parody. [As it turns out, “Elenore” was a parody of, “Happy Together”, so maybe not.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elenore#Background) Pity. It was a good theory. . . ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/94 "2021-03-17T03:32:17Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > I try to imagine him drunk in the afternoon, which is why he messed up what he was trying to say. Not something I need to imagine at all… ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/95 "2021-03-17T12:18:09Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Don’t get me started on songs with grammar errors for the sake of a rhyme. Like the Beatles’ early example of Yoda-speak? “It’s such a feelin’ that my love…I CAN’T HIDE!” ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/96 "2021-03-17T16:14:33Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I _really_ hate the dreamy, hippy-happy, feel-good lyrics of **Happy Together**. You may prefer [this version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooyhBDomFYk). ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/97 "2021-03-19T05:15:28Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’ve always heard that song as one of those “music up/lyrics down” types of songs. It kind of sounds breezy The music is delightful. Especially the keyboards. Which is probably why a lot of people don’t detect the despair in the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/98 "2021-04-23T08:06:11Z")
“why don’t we do it in the road” Umm!? No. Hard on the elbows ---
**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 23, 2021, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806/99 "2021-04-23T09:48:32Z")
Yeah, but on the bright side, no one will be watching you. mmm [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruin-a-favorite-song/937806.md?page=4)