# Song Lyrics That Always Bugged You **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944 "2011-02-02T21:50:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/181 "2011-02-10T05:29:22Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I thought he was supposed to be coming up with a rhyme for “well.” 😃 I’d thought of “I’ve been through the nine tiers of Hell,” but friends tell me they hate the classical references I love to put into my songs… (Does anyone _here_ have any problem with “_Ipsos custodes_ need _custodiet_-ing”? (To rhyme with “getting.”) I thought it was rather clever…) ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/182 "2011-02-10T06:31:15Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > I’d thought of “I’ve been through the nine tiers of Hell,” but friends tell me they hate the classical references I love to put into my songs… (Does anyone _here_ have any problem with “_Ipsos custodes_ need _custodiet_-ing”? (To rhyme with “getting.”) I thought it was rather clever…) You’re far too eclectic for this crowd. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![67java89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/aeb1de/32.png) [@67java89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/67java89)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/183 "2011-02-11T07:13:39Z")
England Dan and John Ford Coley I’m not sure why I called, I guess I really just wanted to talk to you Isn’t that why most people call someone? ---
**Author:** ![tokolosh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6de8d8/32.png) [@tokolosh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tokolosh)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/184 "2011-02-11T08:34:13Z")
I love Bruce Cockburn. I really do. He’s written so many amazing lyrics I almost feel bad bringing this up. But every so often his earnestness runs away with his poeticism and produces these awful mangled trainwrecks of metaphor that just make me cringe all over for him. I picture him lying awake for the past umpty years wishing he could take the whole thing back and rewrite it properly, now that it’s much much too late. Like so: Big Circumstance comes looming like a darkly roaring train Rushes like a sucking wound across a winter plain Recognising neither polished shine nor spark nor stain And wherever you are on the compass rose You’ll never be again Where to even start? ‘Loom’? ‘Roar’? _Darkly_ roar? ‘Loom’? ‘Rush’? ‘Train’? ‘Wound’? It’s the clunky juxtapositions that bother me. But never mind that . . . Poetic license be damned. Wounds cannot _rush_. It’s a perfectly horrible visual I could so do without. I’ll give him ‘sucking,’ kind of - once you’ve known a certain kind of personality the metaphor takes on its own genius. But no circumstance, big or small, can ‘recognise’ anything - is he making it a train or a wound or a sentient entity here? And why would he expect it to recognise a ‘stain’ anyway? The ‘compass rose’ bit really bugs me too. But here’s the worst bit: Blessed are the dead for love And those who cry for peace And those who love the gift of earth May their gene pool increase Oh Bruce. That last line is so off it just embarrasses me. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/185 "2011-02-13T05:41:08Z")
Kris Kristofferson is a master lyricist, but I just don’t understand the third line in this verse of _Loving Her was Easier Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again_: “Waking in the morning to the feeling of her fingers on my skin…” (_Nice sensuous image_) “Wiping out the traces of the people and the places that I’ve been…” (_Beautifully evokes the renewing spirit of love, good_) “Teaching me that yesterday was something that I never thought of trying…” (HOWZAJIGGA WHAT???) I mean, WTF? Is the woman a time traveller? Is he suggesting he’s only been alive since today, or that he skipped yesterday altogether? What the hell man? Still one of my favorite songs though. If I’m in the right mood, it can bring tears to my eyes. All except that yesterday line of course. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/186 "2011-02-13T07:27:48Z")
Again, I love Counting Crows, but every once in a while, Adam Duritz writes a “wait…what?” line. Take this one from _Round Here_: “I walk through the air…between the rain and back again through myself where…I don’t know.” ---
**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:** [February 13, 2011, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/187 "2011-02-13T11:31:57Z")
Great Moments in Lyrical Laziness: “Cisco Kid” by _War_. > [@](#): > > We met down on the fort of Rio Grande > We met down on the fort of Rio Grande > Eat the salted peanuts out of can > Eat the salted peanuts out the can “Eat the salted peanuts out the can”? To be fair, the lyrics throughout the song are minimalist, but at least the rest of them are somewhat related to the topic and are evocative. I’m not saying that they DIDN’T eat salted peanuts out the can, but I question the need to immortalize that moment in song. ---
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/188 "2011-02-13T11:33:48Z")
The whole song _Fancy_ bugs me, if that counts… (I think Rebe MacEntire sang it) ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/189 "2011-02-14T03:59:20Z")
> [@TravisFromOR](#): > > The whole song _Fancy_ bugs me, if that counts… > > (I think Rebe MacEntire sang it) Yes, she did. But first there was Bobbie Gentry. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/190 "2011-02-14T14:35:40Z")
Listening to Thin Lizzy this morning when it struck me… _Tonight there’s gonna be a jailbreak Somewhere in this town_ Hmm…I wonder where in town the jailbreak could occur? I don’t know…maybe…at the jail!!! ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/191 "2011-02-15T05:43:53Z")
> [@multimediac17](#): > > I remember it confused a lot of people when the song first came out (in 2009) - they were like “Fergie you fool, 2008 was last year!” > > Fergie-Ferg needs to enunciate! We had a few arguments about it at our place. I still think they wrote it in 2008, and had to quickly change it to 3008 because it was late getting released or something. From the same song: Here we go, here we go, satellite radio Y’all gettin’ hit with boom boom Beats so big I’m steppin’ on leprechauns Leprechauns? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/192 "2011-02-15T07:37:07Z")
> [@sco3tt](#): > > Similar to the redundancy of “Live and Let Die”, here’s the most ear-grating lyric I’ve ever heard, from “I’ve Known No War” by the Who: > > “On the nineteenth day of a Spring day in May, Albert Speer was deleted” > > WTF Pete? Wikipedia informs me that Pete Townshend was born on May 19th, 1945, so my best guess is he was trying to tie the day of his birth to the end of the war. Not that that makes the lyric any less clumsy, but still. ---
**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:** [February 15, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/193 "2011-02-15T13:53:50Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > Listening to Thin Lizzy this morning when it struck me… > > _Tonight there’s gonna be a jailbreak > Somewhere in this town_ > > Hmm…I wonder where in town the jailbreak could occur? I don’t know…maybe…at the jail!!! Not necessarily. Maybe they’re just customizing their iPhones. ---
**Author:** ![Nadir](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nadir/32/7302_2.png) [@Nadir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nadir)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/194 "2011-02-15T15:29:40Z")
“Take another little piece 'o my heart, now baby…” -Janis Joplin ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/195 "2011-02-15T15:45:51Z")
That’s a pretty clear metaphor, though. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/196 "2011-02-15T18:43:14Z")
I have an issue with the sports imagery in The Postal Service’s _Nothing Better_: And I will block the door Like a goalie tending the net In the third quarter Of a tied-game, rivalry Can anyone point me to a sport with a goaltender (assumed by me to be hockey, since he is blocking a doorway) that is played in quarters?? Water Polo maybe? Still a nice little song, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/197 "2011-02-15T19:06:01Z")
When I played youth league soccer, it was played in quarters. Maybe he’s talking about a 10-year-old kid. ---
**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:** [February 15, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/198 "2011-02-15T19:50:05Z")
Regarding “feet b elow his knees” I remember reading somewhere that there is a verse for each memebr of the Beatles, so the whole verse is: _He bad production, He got walrus gumboot He got Ono sideboard He one spinal cracker He got feet down below his knee Hold you in his armchair you can feel his disease._ Which is about John (if the words Walrus and Ono don’t give it away). He got feet down below his knees refers to the fact that John is not on his knees but instead is on his feet, standing firm against the rest of the bands concerns about Yoko and other things that were causing a rift. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/199 "2011-02-16T07:00:01Z")
There could easily be a moratorium on any song ever again beginning with “Woke up this morning” or “I was walking down the street.” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/200 "2011-02-16T07:09:45Z")
When I was a kid, Elton John’s _Tiny Dancer_ was big (and I was a big EJ fan). In the song, Elton sings the following lines: _Jesus freaks, Out in the street. Handing tickets out to God_ Unfortunately, I never heard of the phrase “Jesus freaks” but I _have_ heard the phrase “freak out”, so my poor 7 year-old brain parsed the song like this: _Jesus freaks out in the street, Handing tickets out to God_ Which I’m sure I thought was a really deep analysis of the birth of Christianity or something. To this day I have always been amused by the image of the Son of Man acting like a newly-converted Moonie at the airport, one who accidentally ingested the “special” mushrooms. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944.md?page=11)