I apologize for not being clearer – I was referring to the redundant “in” of the infamous Live and Let Die lyric that always comes up in these threads.
This one is a little grammar picky, but I hate this construction, and so to hear it in a song grates. From Melissa Etheridge’s Yes I Am:
I sigh heavily every time. It’s a set up for a rhyme (sanctify) but I still get irritated, because it’s a great song otherwise.
Also, in the cultural appropriation nightmare *Colors of the Wind, *the theme song to Disney’s excorable “Pocahontas,” we’re given this bit of “oh, really?”
Really? I never ever would’ve figured that out. I’m so glad you told me!
It’s “real estate novelist”. See the lyrics in the booklet of the Piano Man album.
I googled this lyric and the only hits are for ‘but then again, no’. Regardless, it’s not like ‘but then again, who knows’ makes the line make any more sense.
According to the official Billy Joel website, the lyric is ‘real estate novelist’. I always thought that he was a real estate agent during the day and worked on his novel in his free time, as **a35362 **said.
“… The handbags and gladrags that your poor grandpa had to sweat so you could buy”
That line drives me completely up the wall … It doesn’t parse in any dialect of English I’m familiar with.
Of course it parses – if it means that grandpa literally dripped new clothing from his body when he perspired.
ETA: or alternatively it could mean that target of the phrase is allergic to many materials, and grandpa had to put the handbags and gladrags through a “sweating” process of some sort to make them safe to buy.
Okay, I think I’ll stop now.
It’s obvious that Billy Joel heard it wrong too. 
The song “Blue Monday”. I get the gist of the song, but most of the verses have me scratching my head.
Oh, and I know it’s heresy, but I prefer Orgy’s version to New Order’s
::::hijack:::: someone was complaining today about a song that sampled Video Killed the Radio Star. Not only did he complani about the appropriation but also said that the part where the Buggles was sampled was a good part of the song, but the only good part.
So…yeah.
I think it’s by Rush-
Hey baby it’s a quarter to eight
I feel I’m in the mood
Hey baby the hour is late
I feel I’ve got to move!
Since when is eight late!?
When you were young and your heart was an open book
You used to say live and let live
You know you did, you know you did, you know you diiiiiiiiiid.
But IN this ever changin’ world IN which we live IN.
Makes you give in and cry …
There has been a lot of discussion about this. Some people contend thatn the line is:
But if this ever changin’ world in which we’re livin’…
The one I’ve always wondered about is:
I shot the sheriff
But I did not shoot the deputy
so, who DID shoot the deputy?
I bet it was the lady from “The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia”, she be killin folks left and right and leaving others to hang for it.
Sorry, I’m not sure what you’re getting at.
The “we’re livin’” is hard to prove, but the “if” should be obvious, both from careful listening and from the way the rest of the sentence follows on from it. If that word were “in,” how could you possibly parse the “makes you give in” part?
The only good part of the remake of Blue Monday is the part that sounds exactly like the drum break in the original (or even samples it, I’m not sure.)
I can’t believe no one has mentioned it yet…
Joan Osbournes “what if god was one of us”…
'“just a slob like one of us…just a a stranger on the bus trying to find his way home…”
WTF???
So, “god” is a slob who can’t find his way “home”??? ffs!
I always thought the sheriff shot the deputy, planning to blame it on Eric (or Bob) and use it as an excuse to shoot him down.
Oh, OK.
One thing that gets me, and because of my crappy memory I can’t remember any specific examples right now, is the misuse of the word “but”. The singer will sing something then say “but” and instead of the following lyrics going against what (s)he just sang, for example something like, “I love you, but I can’t be with you.” the lyrics are the logical conclusion of what (s)he just sang, “I love you but I want to marry you.” I’ll try to think of an example and post it later.
I can’t believe there are people who are bugged by grammatical errors in song lyrics. I mean, if Elvis had sung, “You are nothing but a hound dog”, or The Rolling Stones had sung, “I cannot get any satisfaction”, the songs wouldn’t have anywhere near the same impact. It’s a song, why do you even expect it to have perfect grammar?
I feel WELL!
I knew that I SHALL!