# Song Lyrics With errors and/or Impossible Statements **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 12, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170 "2010-05-12T14:35:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/21 "2010-05-12T18:36:55Z")
“_There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung_” Well, duh. > [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > Marillion, _[White Russian](http://www.metrolyrics.com/white-russian-lyrics-marillion.html)_ - In this song, a lot of lyrics indicate the singer is Jewish (“we have six million reasons”, etc). Except that the studio version contains the line “We buy fresh **bacon** from the corner store”. The band must have realized this didn’t make sense, since the live version changes it to “We buy fresh **bagels** from the corner store”. There’s a songwriter I like named Andrew Ratshin; through various groups and as a solo artist, he has written many songs about a guy named Doug. In _Doug’s Greatest Christmas Ever_, it’s explicitly said that Doug is Jewish. In _Doug’s First Job_, there is a reference to him eating bacon. One of Ratshin’s songs also includes the following: “_Maybe a lover comes along Maybe in story or in song Maybe the heart is really strong A million lemmings can’t be wrong_” I consider that one of my favorite lyrics of all time, despite the fact that lemmings do not actually hurl themselves off cliffs. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/22 "2010-05-12T18:38:20Z")
> [@Oni no Maggie](#): > > Actually in that line he’s talking about nuclear power, since the main theme of the song is that the proliferation of nuclear power plants is putting the coal miners out of work. Still doesn’t work - C14 isn’t a waste product of nuclear power. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/23 "2010-05-12T18:43:08Z")
Not really impossible but in _Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves_ has the line \*Picked up a man just south of Mobile \* There’s not really a lot south of Mobile. Yeah of course this isn’t impossible but it woud’ve been better to use another direction In the song , _The Night Chicago Died_ has the line _Daddy was a cop on the east side of Chicago_ There is no east side of Chicago, except for Lake Michigan. Of course the answer to this is, “There’s an east side to everything,” which is true and many years later they did rename part of Chicago as the “east side.” But it would’ve been better to use another direction. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/24 "2010-05-12T18:52:11Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > _Daddy was a cop on the east side of Chicago_ > > There is no east side of Chicago, except for Lake Michigan. The old man must have been tough. Any old cop can walk a beat _on land_. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/25 "2010-05-12T18:53:27Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Johnny Cash’s “When The Man Comes Around” from “American IV” has a line that just drives me nuts: > > _“Then the father hen will call his chickens home.”_ > > Umm, Johnny, hens are generally female. I think the word you are looking for is “rooster”. Not if he’s talking about God. Father hen always made sense to me in that context. God is calling all of his children home. ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Keen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Commander\_Keen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Keen)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/26 "2010-05-12T18:57:55Z")
Not exactly an error, but just something funny that my brother pointed out to me once. In “Happy Together” by the Turtles: - The only one for me is you And you for me \* That’s the exact same statement, they just switched the order! ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/27 "2010-05-12T19:06:49Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Not really. If they’re _wrong_, and the time is later than they think, then they do not in fact understand clearly what time it is. Believing you know is not the same as understanding clearly. Straight Dope Pedantitis strikes again! The way I read it it, “You don’t realize how late it is.” That is too say, you think you reaalize the time, but you’re mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/28 "2010-05-12T19:07:41Z")
Any song with a line about the dark side of the moon. I’m sure there are many. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/29 "2010-05-12T19:09:34Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Not really impossible but in _Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves_ has the line > > \*Picked up a man just south of Mobile \* > > There’s not really a lot south of Mobile. Yeah of course this isn’t impossible but it woud’ve been better to use another direction > > In the song , _The Night Chicago Died_ has the line > > _Daddy was a cop on the east side of Chicago_ > > There is no east side of Chicago, except for Lake Michigan. > > Of course the answer to this is, “There’s an east side to everything,” which is true and many years later they did rename part of Chicago as the “east side.” > > But it would’ve been better to use another direction. Mobile is at the top end of Mobile Bay. There are a number of towns south of Mobile - Grand Bay, Bayou La Batre, Theodore, Tillman’s Corner and Dauphin Island. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/30 "2010-05-12T19:15:19Z")
> [@DChord568](#): > > This is more in the line of an “error” – grammatical in nature – but The Marshal Tucker Band’s “Heard It in a Love Song” has always bugged me. > > In the last verse we hear: > > Always something greener > On the other side of that hill > I was born a wrangler > And a rounder and > I guess I always will > I always will…what? There’s no antecedent for the verb here! > [@whole\_bean](#): > > be a wrangler and a rounder Like I said…no antecedent. If you imagine parentheses after the word “will,” you have to fill those parentheses with something already present; e.g., “I miss you today, and I guess I always will.” This works because you can fill in the understood element with “miss you.” But in this example, there’s no “be” to work with in the lead-up to this construction. I realize (sorry!) that song lyrics can forgive a certain amount of grammatical license. But if a construction makes you pause and stumble as this one does, it’s lousy songwriting. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/31 "2010-05-12T19:26:49Z")
[QUOTE=The Police] De do do do, de da da da Is all I want to say to you [/QUOTE] Then please go away. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/32 "2010-05-12T19:37:28Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Also the half-life of C14 is something under _six_ thousand years. Since Sting doubled the half-life in the song, it would seem that he knew that figure, but didn’t understand what half-lives _are_. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/33 "2010-05-12T19:40:35Z")
It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry, The sun so hot I froze to death, Susannah don’t you cry . . . Y’know, there **is** such thing as poetic license. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/34 "2010-05-12T19:56:10Z")
_That’s the night that the **lights went out** in Georgia That’s the night that they **hung** an innocent man_ Wait, did they hang him or electrocute him? Anyway, Georgia didn’t use hanging as an execution method in that era. (Not to mention the grammatical error. It’s “hanged.”) Also, _The **Georgia Patrol** was a-makin’ the rounds So he fired a shot just to flag 'em down And a **big-bellied sheriff** grabbed his gun and said “Why’d you do it?”_ Wait, was it the Georgia State Patrol (a state agency) or the sheriff (local law enforcement)? Make up your mind. And that’s to say nothing of the arrest, trial and execution apparently taking place over the course of a single day-- in time to get the judge home for supper and too fast for the singer to confess. ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/35 "2010-05-12T21:01:16Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I didn’t realize that bothered you. Of course, if you actually looked up the word in a [dictionary](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/realize), you’d notice: > > re·al·ize   [ree-uh-lahyz] Show IPA verb,-ized, -iz·ing. > –verb (used with object) > > 1. to grasp or understand clearly. > > How is that incorrect? “It’s later than you understand clearly” makes perfect sense. They didn’t understand clearly how late it was. > > There should be a rule that requires that when people call the use of a word “incorrect,” they look it up in a dictionary first. > > I won’t even go into the concept of “poetic license,” since I know from experience no one understands it any more. **Inconceivable!** 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/36 "2010-05-12T21:44:14Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > _That’s the night that the **lights went out** in Georgia > That’s the night that they **hung** an innocent man_ > > Wait, did they hang him or electrocute him? I was under the impression that phrase ‘‘the lights went out’’ is a reference to any miscarriage of justice. The only one that comes to mind right now is not even a song I feel that strongly about, Travis Tritt’s ‘‘Best of Intentions.’’ I cringe every time he sings, ‘‘But my best laid plans slipped right through my hands To show my love for you’’ I don’t know what grammatical rule makes that wrong, but it’s wrong. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/37 "2010-05-12T21:51:50Z")
REM sings: “…pining for the moon and what if there were two side by side in orbit around the fairer sun” Since when did the moon orbit the sun? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/38 "2010-05-12T21:56:01Z")
Paul Simon probably gets a pass due to his use of highly abstract phrases strung loosely together when forming songs. Still, every time I hear “I was born before my father, and my children before me,” I wonder what the hell he’s talking about. That whole song (“Señorita With a Necklace of Tears”) sounds like he just licked that frog. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/39 "2010-05-12T21:58:16Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > REM sings: > “…pining for the moon > and what if there were two > side by side in orbit > around the fairer sun” > > Since when did the moon orbit the sun? Dude, he’s singing about boobies. Allow him a little license. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170/40 "2010-05-12T21:59:15Z")
Not so much an error, just staggering hypocrisy: “Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can” This is the man with (at the time he wrote those lines) the hand-painted rolls royce, the mansion, the hand-made white grand piano, several herds of cattle in upstate New York, millions in the bank… and **he’s** fecking asking **me** if **I** can imagine no possessions? :mad: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-with-errors-and-or-impossible-statements/539170.md?page=3)