# Tautologies in songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 12, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tautologies-in-songs/476899 "2008-12-12T16:42:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tautologies-in-songs/476899/41 "2008-12-15T01:19:41Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I have heard that this song [The Turtles’ “Happy Together”] was actually meant as kind of a joke, and that’s why the lyrics are so inane. Not sure if that’s true, though. Well, the singer is going on about how they were meant for each other forever, and how he can’t imagine loving anybody else in his life–but then he throws in the trite question, “How is the weather?” which kind of makes the listener wonder just how serious the singer was with his sentiments. FWIW, I seem to recall the Turtles took very little seriously. For example, their song “Elinore” contained the line, “You’re my pride and joy _et cetera_” which you don’t expect to hear in a love song (today’s equivalent would be saying, “Yeah, I love you, yada, yada, yada”); while “She’d Rather Be With Me” started off like any other pop song but towards the end, went for the laughs in timing. I almost expect silly sound effects to be incorporated. And when I caught Flo and Eddie (the 80s incarnation of the Turtles) in an oldies revival about twenty years ago, they sure weren’t taking themselves seriously. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tautologies-in-songs/476899/42 "2008-12-15T01:40:18Z")
Bewildered, Bewildered, you have no complaint You are what you are and you ain’t what you ain’t So listen up, Buster, and listen up good, Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood [Signed, Dear Abbey](http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/prine-john/dear-abby-10853.html) ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tautologies-in-songs/476899/43 "2008-12-15T03:38:07Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > I don’t know about frequently; I’ve been on this board for 4 years and I’ve never once seen the question come up. And I don’t know about “amateur grammarian” because it’s quite valid to point out that the words as I posted them are horrible. And finally, before posting I googled the lyrics a few times to ensure I was representing them correctly, and the first 10 sites all had them identical to what I posted. Of course the internet is rife with mistakes, and I’ll accept correction if I’ve made an error. But I’d like to see a cite that the lyrics are what you say they are. > > And as Dio said, that’s still one ‘in’ too many. > **[MKOR is a Professional Market Research Agency with Expert Consultants](https://mkor.eu)** > > Would you like to measure your target market? Asses your employees satisfaction? Or maybe test the market response for a new product? We've got your back. If that doesn’t do it for you, maybe you can just listen to the song. The line that follows it is “Makes you give in and cry”. Wouldn’t make much sense to say “But **in** this ever changing world makes you give in and cry”, would it? It’s pretty clear he’s saying “But **if** this ever-changing world in which we’re **livin’** makes you give in and cry, say live and let die.” ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tautologies-in-songs/476899/44 "2008-12-15T03:58:53Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > It’s pretty clear he’s saying “But **if** this ever-changing world in which we’re **livin’** makes you give in and cry, say live and let die.” I don’t know about the Guns 'N Roses version, but, I’ve queued the original song up, listened to that line over and over and no, it’s not clear. **There’s no “r” sound** there that you’d need for “we’re.” Millions of people don’t hear what you say is “pretty clear,” which suggests it’s not. The first part is definitely “But IF this,” that I buy. The last part absolutely does sound like “in which we live in.” There’s nothing there that sounds like “we’re livin,” not either time it’s sung. Nothing wrong with my ears. If Sir Paul meant to sing “in which we’re livin’,” he should have taken the marbles out of his mouth. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tautologies-in-songs/476899/45 "2008-12-15T04:41:42Z")
_shrug_ I have no idea why people get so worked up over this. I can’t help it if you’re not hearing what he’s saying, but what I meant by “pretty clear” is that the _following line_ makes it pretty clear. It wouldn’t even be artistic license to make a sentence like “In this everchanging world in which we live in, makes you give in and cry.”. It just wouldn’t be English. I was referring to the fact that **Cosmic Relief** used an ellipsis and left out the important part, one that might help him (and you) realize the true line. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tautologies-in-songs/476899/46 "2008-12-15T04:47:24Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > FWIW, I seem to recall the Turtles took very little seriously. For example, their song “Elinore” contained the line, “You’re my pride and joy _et cetera_” which you don’t expect to hear in a love song (today’s equivalent would be saying, “Yeah, I love you, yada, yada, yada”); while “She’d Rather Be With Me” started off like any other pop song but towards the end, went for the laughs in timing. I almost expect silly sound effects to be incorporated. And when I caught Flo and Eddie (the 80s incarnation of the Turtles) in an oldies revival about twenty years ago, they sure weren’t taking themselves seriously. Remember also that “Elinore” appeared on an album called “Battle of the Bands,” an album on which the Turtles lampooned the sounds of 12 different pop or rock artists. “Elinore,” as I understand it, was written as a parody of the Turtles themselves! ---
**Author:** ![Bacon\_Salt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@Bacon\_Salt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bacon_Salt)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tautologies-in-songs/476899/47 "2008-12-15T07:03:51Z")
Gnarls Barkley- Neighbors “But no matter where you go, there you are” Methinks Brian needed a pithy phrase that rhymed with car. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tautologies-in-songs/476899/48 "2008-12-15T09:44:57Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I don’t know about the Guns 'N Roses version, but, I’ve queued the original song up, listened to that line over and over and no, it’s not clear. **There’s no “r” sound** there that you’d need for “we’re.” > > Millions of people don’t hear what you say is “pretty clear,” which suggests it’s not. The first part is definitely “But IF this,” that I buy. The last part absolutely does sound like “in which we live in.” There’s nothing there that sounds like “we’re livin,” not either time it’s sung. > > Nothing wrong with my ears. If Sir Paul meant to sing “in which we’re livin’,” he should have taken the marbles out of his mouth. But if it’s not clear which one he’s saying, why make the assumption that Paul’s saying the one that makes no sense? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tautologies-in-songs/476899.md?page=2)