# Songs that can't do grammar no more **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536 "2013-02-07T01:58:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/41 "2013-02-07T19:55:21Z")
Hit the road, Jack, And doncha come back no more, no more, no more, Hit the road, Jack, And doncha come back no more. ---
**Author:** ![Astral\_Rejection](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@Astral\_Rejection](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astral_Rejection)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/42 "2013-02-07T20:04:51Z")
> [@Sauron](#): > > Bwuh? “An American” describes a person, which is what he is, and he’s proud of it. I think the objections comes from the two lines together: “… proud to be an American / **where** at least…” ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/43 "2013-02-07T20:10:40Z")
This is too easy. How about songs where all the grammar is perfectly correct? Who can come up with one of them, eh? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/44 "2013-02-07T20:51:44Z")
> [@Astral\_Rejection](#): > > I think the objections comes from the two lines together: > > “… proud to be an American / **where** at least…” Well I’m an American where we use Microsoft Word for grammar checking and Word says it is fine. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/45 "2013-02-07T20:58:22Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Old Man River, that Old Man River > He must know somethin’, but he don’t say nothin’ > … > He don’t plant taters, he don’t plant cotton > And them that plants them are soon forgotten This is from the 1927 musical Show Boat. The lyrics are deliberately ungramatical, to show the “ignorance” of the “colored” singer (or how white people thought the coloreds talked). [Wiki article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ol'_Man_River) ---
**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:** [February 7, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/46 "2013-02-07T21:20:56Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Alligator lizards in the air! Refers to cloud formations. This from Wiki: > [@](#): > > Dewey Bunnell, the song’s vocalist and writer, has said that the lyric “alligator lizards in the air” in the song is a reference to the shapes of clouds in the sky he saw in 1963 while his family was driving down the coast from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California where they had a flat tire. While his father changed the tire, he and his brother stood by the side of the road and watched the clouds and saw a road sign for “Ventura”.[1] > > In the booklet for the boxed-set, Highway, he states that the song “reminds me of the time I lived in Omaha as a kid and how we’d walk through cornfields and chew on pieces of grass. There were cold winters, and I had images of going to California. So I think in the song I’m talking to myself, frankly: ‘How long you gonna stay here, Joe?’ I really believe that ‘Ventura Highway’ has the most lasting power of all my songs. It’s not just the words — the song and the track have a certain fresh, vibrant, optimistic quality that I can still respond to”.[2] The song has a “Go West, young man” motif in the structure of a conversation between an old man named Joe and a young and hopeful kid. Joe was modeled after a “grumpy” old man he had met while his dad was stationed in Biloxi, Mississippi at Keesler Air Force Base.[1] Interesting explanation. For one thing, I always thought the title referred to a highway in the Los Angeles area. Plus I never got the impression of it being a dialog between the story teller and a grumpy old man. Anyway, my entry in the bad grammar arena is from _Heard It In A Love Song_ by the Marshall Tucker Band: \* “I was born a wrangler and a rounder and I guess I always will.”\* :smack: ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/47 "2013-02-07T21:39:06Z")
I have no cites, but “doesn’t” is very rare; “don’t” is used for all situations, regardless of person. ---
**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:** [February 7, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/48 "2013-02-07T21:39:18Z")
Ooh, ooh! I just thought of another one, and it’s a biggie… \* “Concrete jungle where dreams are made of…”\* ~Alicia Keys _New York State of Mind_ :smack::smack::smack: Talk about lazy/incompetent writing! That idiotic line ruins the whole damn song…and other than that _it’s a damn good song_!!! (Well, except for the part about Jay-Z being the new Sinatra (:rolleyes:), but I don’t think that’s her fault.) ---
**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:** [February 7, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/49 "2013-02-07T23:00:01Z")
I understand Pat Boone covered the Fats Domino song as “Isn’t That a Shame?”… ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/50 "2013-02-07T23:47:32Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Joan Osborne’s “What if God Was One of us?” She should have asked “[What if God Were One of Us?](http://evanjacobs.org/2010/01/27/why-joan-osbornes-what-if-god-was-one-of-us-is-a-stupid-song/)” The Cowboy Junkies get it half-right in “If you Were the Woman and I Was the Man”. Oh, question for the masses concerning Air Supply’s “Now there’s two less lonely people in the world”. I sing “two fewer lonely people in the world” over it since I think of it as there having been 100 lonely people and now there are only 98. But I guess it could be that each of these two people is less lonely than they used to be. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/51 "2013-02-08T00:08:28Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Note that a double-negative is not necessarily a grammar error. +1. These double negative pedants tire me so… “I can’t get any satisfaction” just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it? 🙂 The “Live & Let Die” lyric does get to me, though. I’ve long tried to justify it by saying it’s “In this ever-changing world in which we’re livin’,” but after repeated listens, I’m convinced the grammatically incorrect lyric is the one being sung. And the “Horse With No Name” lyric also bugs the crap out of me and is the one I thought of upon reading this thread title. ---
**Author:** ![coolbyrne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@coolbyrne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coolbyrne)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/52 "2013-02-08T00:30:24Z")
> [@svd678](#): > > I have no cites, but “doesn’t” is very rare; “don’t” is used for all situations, regardless of person. _You don’t have to say, what you did, I already know, I found out from him Now there’s just no chance, for you and me, there’ll never be And don’t it make you sad about it_ The use of “don’t” is half right in Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River”. He’s also known for this gem: _You cheated, girl/My heart bleeded, girl_ from “What Goes Around Comes Around”. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/53 "2013-02-08T00:34:01Z")
The worst part of the "Horse With No Name” lyric, though, is not ungrammatical at all. “There were birds, and plants, and rocks, **and things** ”: not ungrammatical, just horribly clunky. _America_ were a strange band who somehow managed to be both appallingly bad and really rather good at the same time. Even their lyrics, probably their weakest point, have flashes of poetic brilliance mixed in with all the lead-footedness and plain bad English. “Well I really like to see you, sister goldenhair surprise”, makes no damn sense at all, but I find it strangely touching. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/54 "2013-02-08T03:51:01Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > This is too easy. How about songs where all the grammar is perfectly correct? Who can come up with one of them, eh? 😛 There were plenty of Tin Pan Alley songs that used good grammar. Take Cole Porter’s [Night and Day](http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/cole_porter/night_and_day-lyrics-214828.html), for instance, or Gershwin’s [Nice Work if You Can Get It](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/franksinatra/niceworkifyoucangetit.html). ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/55 "2013-02-08T04:02:05Z")
It ain’t necessarily so, It ain’t necessarily so, The t’ings dat yo’ li’ble To read in de Bible, It ain’t necessarily so. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/56 "2013-02-08T06:33:45Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > This is too easy. How about songs where all the grammar is perfectly correct? Who can come up with one of them, eh? 😛 _Why Don’t We Do It in the Road_, The Beatles: Why don’t we do it in the road? No one will be watching us. Why don’t we do it in the road? repeat as needed… ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/57 "2013-02-08T08:33:22Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > I understand Pat Boone covered the Fats Domino song as “Isn’t That a Shame?”… Yeah but Pat Boone is possibly the squarest man in the world. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/58 "2013-02-08T12:53:44Z")
> [@Imasquare](#): > > Yeah but Pat Boone is possibly the squarest man in the world. Well, he _is_ “the Mozart of Rock and Roll”. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/59 "2013-02-08T16:15:53Z")
> [@coolbyrne](#): > > _You cheated, girl/My heart bleeded, girl_ from “What Goes Around Comes Around”. “Songs she sang to me, songs she brang to me” – Neil Diamond, “Play Me” ---
**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 8, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536/60 "2013-02-08T17:08:02Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > “Songs she sang to me, songs she brang to me” – Neil Diamond, “Play Me” OW! Ow ow ow! My ears! Goddammit! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-cant-do-grammar-no-more/649536.md?page=4)