# Songs that are just plain wrong **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 22, 2004, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580 "2004-10-22T11:50:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/121 "2004-10-24T02:07:11Z")
Regarding Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky” and the lyrics “I’ve never been a sinner, I’ve never sinned I’ve got a friend in Jesus” No one has mentioned the fact that Norman Greenbaum is (or was, for all I know) JEWISH. I read an interview once in which he said that that line was added pretty much because it sounded good and seemed to fit. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/122 "2004-10-24T02:13:53Z")
For what it’s worth… ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/123 "2004-10-24T02:52:32Z")
> [@melondeca](#): > > I would think that **Sting’s** _Every Breath You Take_ would be a good example of this. I always chuckle to myself and wish people good luck when they talk about how “romantic” this song is. > > Stalking…it really turns me on. :smack: You read my mind! I think Shania Twain’s new single, “I’m Gonna Getcha”, falls into this category, too… ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/124 "2004-10-24T03:51:32Z")
“Sutter’s Mill”, by John Denver, is wrong. > [@](#): > > In the Spring of Forty-seven, > So the story, it is told, > Old John Sutter went to the mill site > Found a piece of shining gold. Not only was gold not discovered at the sawmill until January _1848_, but it was James Marshall, not Sutter, who discovered it. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/125 "2004-10-24T04:43:56Z")
How about the oldis “Johnny get Angry”? Yeah, I’ll act like a little bitch so you can get mad and yell at me to prove your love… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/126 "2004-10-24T04:49:44Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I disagree. To me, she’s saying, “Hey, look. I fucked up a lot during the relationship, and I know that we have no chance of ever making it work because of that. However, I still love you, and I probably always will.” > > I don’t really see the stalker-thing. Not yet, anyway. It’s called “White Flag,” by the way. I just felt the need to say that. The video tends to bring home the stalker point a bit though. She’s basically following David Boreanaz (representing the ex) around the whole time. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/127 "2004-10-24T05:18:42Z")
> [@Harimad-sol](#): > > It’s called “White Flag,” by the way. I just felt the need to say that. The video tends to bring home the stalker point a bit though. She’s basically following David Boreanaz (representing the ex) around the whole time. Yeah, but in the end we see that’s he _more_ obsessed with her, which implies he’s following her around. She’s got two pictures and he’s covered the wall with her likeness. Personally, if I were to stalk Mr. Boreanaz, I’d have a lot more than two pictures on my wall… Anywho, back on topic. Gary Puckett skeeves me. But I never got skeeved from Diamond’s _Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon_. To me, the song sounds like he’s saying that if she’s going to be an adult, she has to start acting like one and stand up to her family about the choices she makes. \*They never get tired of puttin’ me down And I never know when I come around What I’m gonna find Don’t let them make up your mind Don’t you know _snip_ I’ve been misunderstood for all of my life But what they’re sayin’, girl, just cuts like a knife The boy’s no good\* Sounds like he’s on the wrong side of the tracks. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/128 "2004-10-24T05:41:17Z")
In the song **Cotton Fields** there is a line: “It was down in Louisiana, Just about a mile from Texarkana, In them old cotton fields back home.” Even if the singer was standing on the Louisana/Arkansas border, he’d still not be a “mile from Texarkana.” Texarkana is about 33 miles from Louisiana. ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/129 "2004-10-24T05:48:30Z")
Christine sixteen by KISS… ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/130 "2004-10-24T06:29:23Z")
There was an Earth Day song about 12 years ago by a band called (I think) Dramarama. The opening lyric is: _It’s April twenty-first And Everybody knows today is Earth Day Merry Christmas Happy Birthday to who’s ever being born_ Earth Day is April 22. ---
**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:** [October 24, 2004, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/131 "2004-10-24T06:47:56Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > Texarkana is about 33 miles from Louisiana. Yep. And Santa Catalina isn’t 26 miles from L.A. either. But the song that’s really been bugging me lately is _Vindicated_ by Dashboard Confessional: _“Hope, dangles on a string, like slow-spinning redemption…”_ Apart from P. Diddy’s “Vote or Die” slogan, I think this is the most stupid thing I’ve heard all year. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/132 "2004-10-24T07:59:55Z")
> [@Starving Artist](#): > > But the song that’s really been bugging me lately is _Vindicated_ by Dashboard Confessional: No errors there that I know of, just a really bad lyric sung in a really irritating manner. OG SMASH! ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/133 "2004-10-24T09:48:22Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > I think Shania Twain’s new single, “I’m Gonna Getcha”, falls into this category, too… All Shania Twain songs are wrong. She puts the “cunt” back into “country”. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/134 "2004-10-24T11:08:58Z")
Going with the creepywrong tangent. One of my favourite performers (A New York Goth singer named Voltaire) has an assload of songs that are just completely wrong in that ‘deliberately creepy’ way that’s so brilliant. A few of my favourites: Ex-Lover’s Lover > [@](#): > > I wait for the day when I finally defile > The bodies of my ex-lover’s lovers! The Man Upstairs > [@](#): > > Please, kill the man upstairs > If you’ve ever loved me > You’ll do this one thing > Won’t you sweetheart? Dead Girls > [@](#): > > Dead girls like me, > Can’t you see? > Only dead girls like me… Conversely he also has a number that are completely without the creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Glassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Glassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glassy)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/135 "2004-10-24T15:30:33Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > And now for my contribution, from Todd Rundgren’s We Gotta Get You a Woman. > > “They may be stupid but they sure are fun” > > That’s just wrong. I disagree. The last line of the song goes, “And when we’re through with you, we’ll get me one, too.” Neither of these guys has a girlfriend because, as the songwriter makes quite clear, they’re both losers. That’s not wrong. That’s indisputably right. I like that song. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/136 "2004-10-24T19:32:55Z")
“it don’t rain in Indianopolis in the summer time” Cite? “All the gold in California is in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills under somebody else’s name” No it’s not. It all belongs to Bill Gates. Lay lady, lay I’m kind of a bum, but I love you. Go to bed with me because your not going to get a better offer. Great pick up line guy. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![LadySybil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c89c15/32.png) [@LadySybil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LadySybil)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/137 "2004-10-24T19:38:49Z")
“Blinded by the Light” (I can’t remember the group) > [@](#): > > Blinded by the light > Dressed up like a douche > You know the rover in the night Eewwww. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/138 "2004-10-24T19:50:47Z")
> [@LadySybil](#): > > “Blinded by the Light” (I can’t remember the group) > > Eewwww. Well, yeah, that _would_ be gross, if that were the way the lyircs went. But the lyrics are “Dressed up like a deuce” (A Duece coup) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/139 "2004-10-24T19:52:13Z")
> [@LadySybil](#): > > “Blinded by the Light” (I can’t remember the group) > > Eewwww. That was Manfred Mann’s Earth Band covering a Bruce Springsteen tune. The line is actually: “Revved up like a duece another runner in the night” Duece possibly referring to a hot rod (as in “Little Duece Coupe”). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580/140 "2004-10-24T19:54:09Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Well, yeah, that _would_ be gross, if that were the way the lyircs went. But the lyrics are “Dressed up like a deuce” (A Duece coup) [Manfred Mann’s lyrics](http://www.kissthisguy.com/real.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-just-plain-wrong/270580.md?page=8)