# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/61 "2007-03-08T22:33:08Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] But given that Paul McCartney has much more clout with his record label than the average recording artist, and so can control his own packaging; and given that this compilation came out after McCartney had endured years of criticism for that particular line; then if he let it go out with that line _not_ printed the way he wanted it, he was rather careless. [/QUOTE] Or monumentally indifferent. I doubt the “years of criticism” affected him one little bit. ---
**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, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/62 "2007-03-08T22:56:26Z")
[QUOTE=DooWahDiddy] I totally agree with you about this song, but I think that last line you quoted is _a free ride when you’ve already paid._ [/QUOTE] She also clearly flubs this line the second time she says it, which adds to the confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/63 "2007-03-09T02:04:21Z")
Steve Earle, _Copperhead Road_, about his grandfathers’s moonshining business: He only came to town about twice a year He’d buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line He might buy a hundred pounds of sugar (or more) to make moonshine but not a hundred pounds of yeast. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/64 "2007-03-09T03:30:04Z")
[QUOTE=Cub Mistress] He might buy a hundred pounds of sugar (or more) to make moonshine but not a hundred pounds of yeast. [/QUOTE] Well, who knows… Maybe he bought TEN THOUSAND pounds of sugar to go with the hundred pounds of yeast and was making enough moonshine to blind the entire state of West Virginia? ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/65 "2007-03-09T04:42:19Z")
[QUOTE=Scupper] Sting sings, in “We Work the Black Seam”: “But deadly for twelve thousand years is carbon fourteen.” I’m not even sure what he’s talking about. I think he’s whining about nuclear power, but Carbon 14? What has that got to do with it, and how is it deadly? [/QUOTE] The point he’s trying to make is that the coal miners’ livelihood is being eradicated by the advent and availability of nuclear power, which is cleaner and cheaper than coal… but the downside is that the radioactive byproduct from nuclear reactors is deadly for many years. Now I’m not sure if carbon-14 is a byproduct of nuclear energy or not - that might be poetic licence on the non-nuclear engineer Sting’s part. But I think the lyric makes sense. To contribute to the thread, I present Sheryl Crow’s “Maybe Angels,” which features the line: > [@](#): > > I took the I-95 down to Pensacola > All I found was a bunch of holy rollers Problem is of course, if Ms. Crow did indeed travel on I-95 to Florida, about the closest she’d get is Jacksonville, about 360 miles away. Maybe she meant I-10? ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/66 "2007-03-09T06:53:28Z")
In Robert Johnson’s song “Sweet Home Chicago” he talks about going to Chicago… in the land of California. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/67 "2007-03-09T07:10:31Z")
**ABBA** , “…at Waterloo Napoleon did surrender…” Not quite. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/68 "2007-03-09T07:11:06Z")
[QUOTE=robardin] And what about _a free ride when you’re already late_? How is that ironic? Would she rather be even later, or (if she’s on a bus or train) pay for already being late? [/QUOTE] It’s a **traffic jam** when you’re already late(or a free ride when **you’ve already paid** ). ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/69 "2007-03-09T09:01:56Z")
I don’t want to mess with the King or nothing, but… “Yes, we’re all cousins that’s what I believe because we’re children of Adam and Eve” Strictly speaking we would then be siblings, not cousins. mm ---
**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 9, 2007, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/70 "2007-03-09T14:08:18Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] Now I’m not sure if carbon-14 is a byproduct of nuclear energy or not - that might be poetic licence on the non-nuclear engineer Sting’s part. But I think the lyric makes sense. [/QUOTE] I’m wondering about that figure of 12,000 years, which is double the half-life of C-14 (rounded up for poetic purposes). Makes me wonder if Sting knows how a half-life works. ---
**Author:** ![AHoosierMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@AHoosierMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHoosierMama)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/71 "2007-03-09T15:08:40Z")
Johnny Cash’s “When the Man Comes Around” has a line in it about “the father hen calling his chickens home”. Ummm… rooster maybe? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/72 "2007-03-09T15:45:56Z")
[QUOTE=JThunder] I’ve mentioned this one before, but it’s worth repeating: “Coast to coast, L.A. to… Chicago?” [/QUOTE] North coast, that. ---
**Author:** ![Fetchund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b2d939/32.png) [@Fetchund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fetchund)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/73 "2007-03-09T17:37:22Z")
The one that bugged me the most was: “Just a city boy, Born and raised in South Detroit” That would put him either in the Detroit River, or Windsor, Ontario… ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/74 "2007-03-09T20:16:42Z")
[QUOTE=AHoosierMama] Johnny Cash’s “When the Man Comes Around” has a line in it about “the father hen calling his chickens home”. Ummm… rooster maybe? [/QUOTE] The transgendered chicken community has a right to be represented in song! Who are you to judge? I know, that line always made me laugh. Johnny should have known better. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/75 "2007-03-09T22:25:51Z")
‘Africa’ by Toto contains the words: _I know that I must do what’s right Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti_ I’m _told_ that this is wrong, apparently because Kilimanjaro _doesn’t_ rise above the Serengeti. Can anyone confirm or refute? ---
**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 10, 2007, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/76 "2007-03-10T00:12:52Z")
[QUOTE=robardin] **Alanis Morrisette** ’s song _Isn’t It Ironic?_ is full of examples not of irony but simply annoying coincidences, which is not the same thing at all. [/QUOTE] True enough. And then there’s the whole meta-irony of a song named “Ironic” not being, in fact, ironic. ---
**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 10, 2007, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/77 "2007-03-10T00:25:01Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] Before you go slamming Morrison as “illiterate”–which is obvious bullshit anyway–note that two of the three Doors songs mentioned so far in this thread have lyrics by Robbie Krieger, not Morrison. [/QUOTE] Okay, you win–he was not illiterate. He was a pretentious pretty-boy and mediocre poet with minimal talent, a gigiantic ego, and the attitude of a sociopath. 😛 But literate. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/78 "2007-03-10T00:27:13Z")
[QUOTE=ianzin] ‘Africa’ by Toto contains the words: _I know that I must do what’s right Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti_ I’m _told_ that this is wrong, apparently because Kilimanjaro _doesn’t_ rise above the Serengeti. Can anyone confirm or refute? [/QUOTE] Not a clue, but :o :o :o I thought it was “rises like LEPERS above the Serengeti.” No wonder it never made sense to me. Yeah, I know. Going now. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/79 "2007-03-10T01:27:53Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] U2’s “Pride (In the Name of Love)” mentions early morn/April 4th, when the real event happened around dusk I think. [/QUOTE] Despite the tortured apologetics I’ve seen from their fans, I still think Bono’s “_Unos! Dos! Tres! Catorce!_” was a goof. This may not be exactly in the spirit of the thread, but I thought of the synthesizer solo in the Led Zeppelin song “All My Love,” near the end of which it always sounded (to me) as though John Paul Jones clearly flubbed a note or hit an extra key. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901/80 "2007-03-10T01:57:13Z")
[QUOTE=LifeOnWry] Not a clue, but :o :o :o I thought it was “rises like LEPERS above the Serengeti.” No wonder it never made sense to me. Yeah, I know. Going now. [/QUOTE] Haha! That’s like “'Scuse me while I kiss this guy” from Hendrix. I’ll have to start a thread about misheard song lyrics. There’s actually a term for that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-goofs/394901.md?page=5)