I was going to post this one. “For I” Bleargh.
There you see her
Sitting there across the way
She don’t got a lot to say
But there’s something about her…
No, it means let go of your inhibitions.
Yeah, that’s what it means, but what it says is the opposite. Therein lies the rub.
I think you can start enjoying that line, because it IS grammatically correct. You use “were” if your clause is non-factual, e.g., "If I were the Pope, I would . . . " But if it’s something that may happen such as "If I was to correct your grammar, I would . . . " I believe Jim M was using it in this way, and was planning on saying “Girl we couldn’t get much higher.”
This reminds me of a very subtle scene in Joe vs. The Volcano, after Joe has flown from New York (where he’s lived his whole life) to L.A. He spends the night on the beach, and at sunrise he’s sitting there staring out to sea, and we see the light changing as the sun comes up … and Joe slowly turns his head and looks over his shoulder as the sun comes up behind him.
“There are innocuous folk songs
But we regard them with scorn
The people who sing 'em have no social conscience
Why, they don’t even care if Jimmy cracks corn!”
(Tom Lehrer, “Folk Song Army”)
And that’s why the lyric-writing job was handed to Neil Peart when he joined the band for the next album.
From Rush’s 1993 song, “Cut to the Chase”:
“I’m young enough to remember the future.”
To quote Mr. Peart himself about that line, “Wait, what?”
It doesn’t say the opposite–it says “let [them] run wild,” which can be interpreted as, let them run away and you won’t have any.
Billy Joel has a song called This Is the Time, where he states:
“I’m warm from the memory of days to come”
How can you be warm from memories that haven’t happened yet??
Running wild means running away?
Come on, it’s a crappy lyric. Why not just embrace that fact rather than distorting verbiage like Christina Aguilera with a syllable on her hands.
Sorry, can’t embrace it. There are too many way better examples in this thread.
Heh. Yes, of course, I’ve gone through those interpretations. I should have said that it doesn’t parse into something that makes any sense.
[Bombast]I! WOULD DOOOO ANNN!YTHING! FOR! LOOOOVE… but I WON’T! DO! THAT![/Bombast]
Perfect example of what you’re talking about, and I’m surprised this song hasn’t been mentioned in this thread yet.
Sweat here means “to earn, produce, or obtain (a result, promotion, compliment, etc.) by hard work.” So the grandfather had to work very hard to get the money the object of the song spends on frivolous crap, and the singer’s asking what will become of her when that stuff is gone because she doesn’t understand the world and blah blah blah.
I know what it’s meant to mean – Your poor grandpa had to sweat so that you could buy handbags and gladrags – but it doesn’t actually say that. Not at all. It’s the “that” clause that screws it up.
It says that grandpa had to sweat handbags and gladrags, so that “you” could buy … uh … something?
In that example you gave, the “but” is actually used properly. I think the earlier poster wanted an example of where “but” made no sense. Maybe you’re problem is that he says he’ll do anything, and then there’s a “but,” which is a contradiction of the word “anything.” But I think most people will forgive the usage, because the main point is that he will do anything but that one thing (I always joked that the one thing was to “go down.”)
The “but I won’t do that” part refers to the first line of the verse that states the thing he says he won’t do:
“I’ll never forget the way you feel right now…”
“I’ll never forgive myself . . .”
"I’ll never do it better. . . "
And the final part refers to when the girl sings of how “sooner or later you’ll be screwing around”.
Absolutely correct on the “sweat” explanation. Is it only us old fogey’s who use that expression?
Slain! I am slain!
If you read the full lyrics, the “but” doesn’t contradict the “anything.” That’s my point.
There was a hair metal song back in the day called “When I’m Gone” that I absolutely loved, except for one line. “Your clothes are hanging on the floor.”
They are either hanging, or on the floor. They can’t be both. I can think of about 8 ways to say what they were trying to say in that line without screwing up the syntax. So why couldn’t they?
There are tons of them - but the Black Eyed Peas sang this gem at the half-time show for the 2011 Super Bowl:
I’m so 2008 you’re so two thousand late…
What? So the song’s a few years old. You’re telling me you don’t still party like it’s 1999? 