# 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:** 12
**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 28, 2011, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/221 "2011-02-28T08:19:29Z")
God, I could start a thread on JUST Wilco songs. For examples: “Take off your bandaid cuz I don’t believe in touchdowns” “His heart’s in a bowl behind the bank” “I am an American aquarium drinker” “You fool me with a kiss of kidsmoke from a microscopic home” ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/222 "2011-02-28T08:47:48Z")
I usually like John Lennon’s lyrics but this is just dumb: “There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done. Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung.” from _All You Need is Love_ ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/223 "2011-02-28T09:04:28Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > I usually like John Lennon’s lyrics but this is just dumb: > > “There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done. > Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung.” > > from _All You Need is Love_ Lennon’s got a lot of lines like that. What’s worse, he sounds pretentious as all hell whenever he does it, like there’s some deep meaning going on there. Granted, half the time he was just making up random lines to torque with people who tried to figure out what the songs were “about”. As for Pink Floyd, I like to think of that line as a clever cry against the declining education system. “We don’t need no education,” once you parse the double negative, becomes “We need education!” It’s a cry for help! And the poor souls can’t even properly express their needs! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/224 "2011-02-28T11:50:05Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > I was listening to **Gordon Lightfoot’s** “Sundown”, and though I’ve heard the song many times before, this time these lyrics caught my ear: > > Sometimes I think it’s a shame > when I get feelin’ better > when I’m feelin’ no pain > > Why is that a shame? Would he prefer to be feeling worse and in pain? _Feelin no pain_ is (or once was) a euphemism for being drunk. He saying sometimes he thinks it is a shame to sober up. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/225 "2011-02-28T17:08:37Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > _Feelin no pain_ is (or once was) a euphemism for being drunk. Oh yeah, I have heard that before now that I think about it. > [@](#): > > He saying sometimes he thinks it is a shame to sober up. If he thinks it’s a shame that he’s feeling no pain, the it would mean that he’s ashamed that he gets drunk to feel better. Which does make sense. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/226 "2011-02-28T17:45:49Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > There could easily be a moratorium on any song ever again beginning with “Woke up this morning” or “I was walking down the street.” Here’s my rap… “Well, I’m Wheresgeorge04 and I’m here to say…” Joe ---
**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 28, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/227 "2011-02-28T18:30:43Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > Here’s my rap… > > “Well, I’m Wheresgeorge04 and I’m here to say…” [Chiquita Banana](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFDOI24RRAE) was a rapper? Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/228 "2011-02-28T20:52:26Z")
> [@tokolosh](#): > > I love Bruce Cockburn. [snip] > 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 Thinking about it, I _think_ maybe the word “wound” should be replaced by the word “_wind_”. I think that maybe what was meant, though got garbled somehow. But that’s just a guess. > [@Mangosteen](#): > > Dylan practically invented WTF lyrics. On that note, I’ll cite _Like a Rollin’ Stone_: > [@](#): > > You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat > Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat > Ain’t it hard when you discover that > He really wasn’t where it’s at > After he took from you everything he could steal Okay, the song is about someone who used to be well-to-do now being down on their luck and dirt broke, and homeless. So the comparisons are about the former good life looking down on the poor, now finding yourself one of those poor and having to reassess your previous beliefs. Fine. I get most of the metaphors and whatnot, but this one stumps me. I know a “chrome horse” is a motorcycle, but “with your diplomat”? Who carries a Siamese cat on his shoulder? ---
**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 28, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/229 "2011-02-28T21:17:33Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > I know a “chrome horse” is a motorcycle, but “with your diplomat”? A cigar? Or a DeSoto? > [@](#): > > Who carries a Siamese cat on his shoulder? A cartoon villain? ---
**Author:** ![Tess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@Tess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/230 "2011-03-01T01:18:58Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > The point of the song seems to be saying how devoted he is and will do anything, but then the refrain puts immediate constraints on the trivial things he does all the time, “those I know by heart”. > > Um, yeah, you’re so devoted you won’t do anything commonplace. 😕 I’m probably way off, but I assumed a guy who’d cleaned up his act was promising his still-messed-up girlfriend he’d stick around but was no longer sharing her self-destructive pastimes. He’ll be there for her but won’t be joining her. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/231 "2011-03-01T03:41:57Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > You think that it might have been part of the point? That pedantry about things like double negatives is a part of society’s effort to kill independent thought? I’m not saying that that is the o sole possible interpretation or that it is the intended message, but I do believe that the intentional violation of that particular “rule” – a rule that does not apply to every register of communcation — makes the message more trenchant. I like your interpretation of the double negative. I was so bugged by those lyrics that I re-wrote them for karaoke: We don’t need their “public schooling.” We don’t need their thought-control Indoctrination in the classroom. Bureaucrats will eat your soul. State! hammers! square peg in round hole! What they sell is paving stones for the short road to Hell. What they sell is paving stones for the short road to Hell. We don’t need your “public schooling.” We don’t need your thought-control Indoctrination in the classroom. Bureaucrats: Hands off my soul! Hey, statists–we’ve scoped out your goal! We can tell, you’re paving stones on the short road to Hell. We can tell, you’re paving stones on the short road to Hell. [Spoken on fade-out] If we don’t make people go to school, how will they ever learn anything? They’ll all be too stupid if they’re not made to learn! ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/232 "2011-03-01T20:53:25Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > A cigar? Or a DeSoto? > > A cartoon villain? So if I follow this line of thought, Dylan is saying, “you used to think you were so cool riding around on your motorcycle, smoking cigars (that have a siamese cat as a logo?), but now how do you feel about those cigars when you are broke and have cancer?” Or something? Because “your diplomat” with “a Siamese cat” is apparently the agent that took from “you” everything that he could steal. > [@Tess](#): > > I’m probably way off, but I assumed a guy who’d cleaned up his act was promising his still-messed-up girlfriend he’d stick around but was no longer sharing her self-destructive pastimes. He’ll be there for her but won’t be joining her. Interesting… ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/233 "2011-03-01T22:04:32Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > You young punks probably never heard of it, but there was a #1 song in the 70’s called “The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia.” It is beyond stupid. > > It’s narrated by a woman who is lamenting that her brother was hung for a crime he didn’t commit, namely killing his wife and her lover. But if you can force yourself to listen to the lyrics, you see that the woman herself killed them, so her brother is dead because of her. > > But it’s the title that really gets me — I guess her brother was white, so the title implies that this miscarriage of justice has besmirched the formerly perfect record of southern justice with regard to hanging people without a proper trial. > > Really kind of disgusting. How exactly do you figure that? The song basically says that bad procedure is par for the course. chorus; That’s the night the lights went out in georgia That’s the night that they hung an innocent man Don’t trust your soul to no back woods southern lawyer Cause the judge in the towns got bloodstains on his hand The judge said guilty in a make believe trial Slapped the sherrif on the back with a smile and said Suppers waiting at home and I got to get to it Sounds like justice was pretty haphazard all the time. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/234 "2011-03-01T22:15:38Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > I had just posted it in another thread (for laziest song lyrics), but it certainly could go here too: > > From “Superstar” by the Carpenters: > > "Don’t you remember you told me you loved me baby? > You said you’d be coming back this way again baby? > Baby baby baby baby oh baby… > > AAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I’m pretty sure this song was written about loneliness and masturbation so, it kinda makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/235 "2011-03-01T22:29:01Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Dennis Miller points this out. > > “Jimmy crack corn. But I don’t care.” > > What the hell kind of attitude is that? If you don’t care, why are you bringing it up? > > Regards, > Shodan I’m working on a rewrite for this, update it a bit Gimme crack whore , and I don’t care cause I’m so F\*\*kin’ high ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/236 "2011-03-01T22:56:18Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > chorus; That’s the night the lights went out in georgia > That’s the night that they hung an innocent man Why did the lights go out? Is it a reference to the movie cliché of lights dimming when the electric chair is used? If so, it’s a strange thing to happen when they hung someone. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/237 "2011-03-01T23:32:02Z")
I don’t really detect any hint of racism in that song. What bothers me is “hung” instead of “hanged.” ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/238 "2011-03-02T20:38:51Z")
> [@multimediac17](#): > > It’s “real estate novelist”. See the lyrics in the booklet of the _Piano Man_ album. given the setting and feel of the song, I always assumed this was about a guy in real estate who dreamed of being a novelist. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/239 "2011-03-02T20:57:46Z")
> [@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…) It depends. I’m one writer among thousands in this town, and there’s a difference between writing to please other writers or the few who might get that reference , and writing for the general public. If the emotion in the song is strong and other lyrics are strong people will accept something obscure, or something personal they don’t understand. IMO If it’s just clever for clever’s sake , not so much. I have a couple of songs I think are a hoot , but have to face the fact that the average listener isn’t going to get it or appreciate it unless they’ve heard the song enough and really listened. First you have to have a song that makes them want to do that. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944/240 "2011-03-02T21:05:10Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > 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. Hilarious. Also love Kris and that song and never noticed that before. Looking at the lyrics if he had said “Letting go of yesterday” etc, it would have made sense, and the listener would have implied this wonderful woman had inspired him to do so. As it is , is is a Huh?? Funny. I’m thinking you actually did try yesterday Mr. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-always-bugged-you/569944.md?page=13)