# Song goofs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2007, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901 "2007-03-07T02:37:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/21 "2007-03-08T02:16:21Z")
In regards to the _Bismarck_, Johnny Horton sings of guns as big as steers and shells as big as trees. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/22 "2007-03-08T02:26:14Z")
“Only time will tell if we stand the test of time.” (Why Can’t This Be Love, Van Halen) WHAT??? ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/23 "2007-03-08T02:32:12Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] In “City of Dreams”, the Talking Heads sang “From Germany and Europe”. Really? Both places? [/QUOTE] And in their song “Cities”: “Did I forget / Forget to mention Memphis / Home of Elvis and the Ancient Greeks…” Memphis is in Egypt. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/24 "2007-03-08T02:48:44Z")
The B-52s inform us that they’ll meet us by the third pyramid about 100,000 years ago. That’s going to be a long wait. Although they also sing “Before I talk I should read a book.” ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/25 "2007-03-08T03:11:57Z")
KISS’ “Goin’ Blind” has a couple of grammatical errors: > [@](#): > > There is nothing more for you and I and > [@](#): > > Little lady, can’t you see? > You’re so young and so much different than I “From me,” dude, “from me.” ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/26 "2007-03-08T03:18:18Z")
[QUOTE=Ichbin Dubist] And in their song “Cities”: “Did I forget / Forget to mention Memphis / Home of Elvis and the Ancient Greeks…” Memphis is in Egypt. [/QUOTE] … which was home to (some) Ancient Greeks - the Ptolemies - for 300 years. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/27 "2007-03-08T03:38:06Z")
Maybe not a goof, but it’s always bothered me just a teensy bit whenever I think about it: In Stevie Wonder’s song “Rocket Love,” he compares a woman’s gracefulness to “symphonies by Bach or Brahms.” Symphonies by Bach, Stevie? Bach didn’t write any symphonies. The symphony, as such, hadn’t been invented yet in Bach’s day. In Stevie’s defense, there just aren’t that many famous symphonists whose names are one syllable and would thus scan correctly. “Symphonies by Beethoven or Brahms”? “Symphonies by Shostakovich or Brahms”? It just doesn’t fit as well. And, to be fair, Mr. Wonder could have been referring, not to Johann Sebastian Bach (which is what people usually mean nowadays when they refer to “Bach”), but to one of his sons, like C. P. E. Bach or J. C. Bach (or even P. D. Q. Bach), who have been known to write a symphony or three (albeit slight, early ones). ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/28 "2007-03-08T04:00:06Z")
I’ve mentioned this one before, but it’s worth repeating: “Coast to coast, L.A. to… Chicago?” ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/29 "2007-03-08T04:05:20Z")
This thread is not complete without mention of Paul McCartney’s _Live and Let Die_: “…but if this ever changing world in which we live in…” ---
**Author:** ![Blunt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Blunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blunt)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/30 "2007-03-08T04:19:37Z")
From Run DMC’s song King of Rock: > [@](#): > > There’s three of us, but we’re not the Beatles And no, this line didn’t reference the fact that there were three _living_ Beatles when it came out. DMC just thought there were only three members of the Beatles. Now, I’m not a fan at all of the Fab Four, and they were broken up before I was born, but even _I_ know how many people were in the band. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/31 "2007-03-08T04:22:46Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] This thread is not complete without mention of Paul McCartney’s _Live and Let Die_: “…but if this ever changing world in which we live in…” [/QUOTE] I thought that line was “…but if this ever-changin’ world in which WE’RE livin’ makes you give in and cry…” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/32 "2007-03-08T04:25:48Z")
America’s _Horse With No Name_: “In the desert you can’t remember your name. 'cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain.” Count the grammatical errors in that one. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/33 "2007-03-08T04:28:57Z")
_never mind, looked up the actual lyrics_ ---
**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:** [March 8, 2007, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/34 "2007-03-08T04:37:08Z")
[QUOTE=LifeOnWry] I thought that line was “…but if this ever-changin’ world in which WE’RE livin’ makes you give in and cry…” [/QUOTE] I’ve tried in the past to give Sir Paulie the benefit of the doubt and accept that this is the real line, but the printed lyrics in the _All the Best_ CD have “in which we live in” right there in black & white. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/35 "2007-03-08T04:42:59Z")
I think that Guns N’ Roses actually used the corrected line in their cover of the song. I always wondered if Axl might have fixed up the grammar himself. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/36 "2007-03-08T05:03:07Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] “If I was” is colloquial and the English subjunctive “if I were” construction seems to be disappearing in all but the most formal of speeches. I have noticed, though, that “if I was” seems to be more acceptable across the pond than in the US. (Not that it matters in the Doors case). Thank god grammarian’s don’t write songs, else we’d have such classics like “(I Can’t Get Any) Satisfaction” and “There Isn’t Any Sunshine When She’s Gone.” [/QUOTE] Frankly only idiots can’t understand the intended meaning of double negatives. the double negative is the proper way of constructing negative sentences in many many languages (including a whole bunch of non-standard English dialects). I will concede that there are some cases where a double negative is confusing, but these are few and far between and mostly occur in writing. The reason so many of us get twigged out by double negatives is that we’ve been taught they are wrong. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/37 "2007-03-08T05:05:30Z")
“As God has shown us, by turning stones to bread…” (_We Are The World_) ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/38 "2007-03-08T05:20:07Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] I’ve tried in the past to give Sir Paulie the benefit of the doubt and accept that this is the real line, but the printed lyrics in the _All the Best_ CD have “in which we live in” right there in black & white. [/QUOTE] Grumble. This was ignorance best left unfought. I’m gonna pretend I didn’t read this. It’s too disappointing. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/39 "2007-03-08T14:04:20Z")
This one just sounds wrong- but I’ll need a grammarian to confirm- Barry Gibb singing in “Shadow Dancing”- ‘You are the question and the answer am I’. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/40 "2007-03-08T15:51:17Z")
[QUOTE=LifeOnWry] “Only time will tell if we stand the test of time.” (Why Can’t This Be Love, Van Halen) WHAT??? [/QUOTE] Well, that was from Sammy Hagar, who (in one of his solo hists) sang about “hot, sweet cherries on the vine.” He’s got to be tied with Jim Morrison for "least literate lyricist " ever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901.md?page=3)