Making rock/pop songs grammatically correct
-
Bjorn Karlsson:
I understand what Lennon was trying to say in "Run For Your Life" but it comes out pretty absurd!! "Well I'd rather see you dead, little girl Than to be with another man."
well, he said that's one of the worst songs he had written.
-
audi:
Has anyone brought up George Harrison's "When We Was Fab" yet?
I thought we were on the Global Wings thread and you asked if someone had recorded that song. well... Queen-Machines (Back To Humans) "in a machine's woooorld... there ain't no place for rock and roooll" "it's a machine's woooorld... don't tell me I ain't got no soul" etc. probably more mistakes... we're only humans!
-
Bjorn Karlsson:
I understand what Lennon was trying to say in "Run For Your Life" but it comes out pretty absurd!! "Well I'd rather see you dead, little girl Than to be with another man."
Need a hug, B?
-
what about this one, maybe over the top, but : We all live in a yellow submarine it should be We all are living in a yellow submarine. Do you know that Paul would wanted to be an English grammar teacher if he would have not been a musician?. (Interview to Paul and John in the 60s...) he has been somehow, milions and milions have learnt English language with him (right or wrong :wink
-
21st Century Paul:
what about this one, maybe over the top, but : We all live in a yellow submarine it should be We all are living in a yellow submarine. Do you know that Paul would wanted to be an English grammar teacher if he would have not been a musician?. (Interview to Paul and John in the 60s...) he has been somehow, milions and milions have learnt English language with him (right or wrong :wink
"We are..." isn't necessary. However -- to nitpick -- "We all..." is redundant. "We live in a yellow submarine" is sufficient.
-
audi:
Bjorn Karlsson:
I understand what Lennon was trying to say in "Run For Your Life" but it comes out pretty absurd!! "Well I'd rather see you dead, little girl Than to be with another man."
Need a hug, B?
That line (" I'd rather see you dead, little girl than to be with another man") came from an Arthur Gunter/Elvis Presley-song called Baby Let's Play House. Lennon liked the song and the line and that's why he borrowed it. So it were not John's words. Elvis' version:
Athur Gunter's original version: And here you can hear John Lennon (briefly) singing the song (on the day he met Paul): -
GeorgeGoode:
audi:
Bjorn Karlsson:
I understand what Lennon was trying to say in "Run For Your Life" but it comes out pretty absurd!! "Well I'd rather see you dead, little girl Than to be with another man."
Need a hug, B?
That line (" I'd rather see you dead, little girl than to be with another man") came from an Arthur Gunter/Elvis Presley-song called Baby Let's Play House. Lennon liked the song and the line and that's why he borrowed it. So it were not John's words. Elvis' version:
Athur Gunter's original version: And here you can hear John Lennon (briefly) singing the song (on the day he met Paul):I know that I should look it up before posting this, but didn't Paul use that line, as well, on the Wings track "Name & Address" (from London Town)?
-
GeorgeGoode:
And here you can hear John Lennon (briefly) singing the song (on the day he met Paul):
so that is footage from the day Paul and John met? Now that's a bootleg.
-
One I discovered in the band I'm into's last rehearsal: New Kid In Town, The Eagles "Johnny come lately there's a new kid in Town" "Johnny came lately there's a new kid in Town" (being picky...."in the town?")
-
Found a grammatical error in the second verse of "Taxman": "Should five percent Appear too small" OK. So far, so good. "Be thankful I don't Take it all" WRONG!!!!! The error: We've got a classic "run-on sentence." Both "Be thankful" and "I don't take it all" are complete sentences, and the term "that" (a conjunction, when used in this context) needs to be placed between the two sentences.
-
21st Century Paul:
One I discovered in the band I'm into's last rehearsal: New Kid In Town, The Eagles "Johnny come lately there's a new kid in Town" "Johnny came lately there's a new kid in Town" (being picky...."in the town?")
It's "Johnny-Come-Lately" which is a newcomer. "There's a new kid in town." is perfectly acceptable (no "the" necessary before town) http://www.answers.com/topic/johnny-come-lately
-
Nancy R:
21st Century Paul:
One I discovered in the band I'm into's last rehearsal: New Kid In Town, The Eagles "Johnny come lately there's a new kid in Town" "Johnny came lately there's a new kid in Town" (being picky...."in the town?")
It's "Johnny-Come-Lately" which is a newcomer. "There's a new kid in town." is perfectly acceptable (no "the" necessary before town) http://www.answers.com/topic/johnny-come-lately
-
A quick side-bar. I found a grammatical error at Paul's homepage: "Paul's Seminal Solo Albums Is Now Available In Multiple Configurations Featuring Remastered Rare And..." See it?
-
audi:
A quick side-bar. I found a grammatical error at Paul's homepage: "Paul's Seminal Solo Albums Is Now Available In Multiple Configurations Featuring Remastered Rare And..." See it?
Should be are now available.
-
audi:
21st Century Paul:
what about this one, maybe over the top, but : We all live in a yellow submarine it should be We all are living in a yellow submarine. Do you know that Paul would wanted to be an English grammar teacher if he would have not been a musician?. (Interview to Paul and John in the 60s...) he has been somehow, milions and milions have learnt English language with him (right or wrong :wink
"We are..." isn't necessary. However -- to nitpick -- "We all..." is redundant. "We live in a yellow submarine" is sufficient.
Normally, we write differently than we speak (or we're supposed to)...but music seems to be the exception and this is a good example of that
-
When I listen to Taxman, it always slightly bothers me where he sings: "Don't ask me what I want it for... If you don't want to pay some more" Surely it should be: "Don't ask me what I want it for... Unless you want to pay some more" (or indeed Unless you'd like to pay some more") Sounds better anyway. You'd think John or Paul or George Martin could have pointed that out to young George!
-
Nancy R:
audi:
A quick side-bar. I found a grammatical error at Paul's homepage: "Paul's Seminal Solo Albums Is Now Available In Multiple Configurations Featuring Remastered Rare And..." See it?
Should be are now available.
You give me hope.
-
illwobble:
When I listen to Taxman, it always slightly bothers me where he sings: "Don't ask me what I want it for... If you don't want to pay some more" Surely it should be: "Don't ask me what I want it for... Unless you want to pay some more" (or indeed Unless you'd like to pay some more")
You're probably right: I might be mistaken, but that may be what they call splitting an infinitive. Good catch! (Grammar-nerd in da' house!) Also, let's not overlook that the "Don't ask me..." line ends with a preposition.
-
audi:
A quick side-bar. I found a grammatical error at Paul's homepage: "Paul's Seminal Solo Albums Is Now Available In Multiple Configurations Featuring Remastered Rare And..." See it?
They still haven't corrected it: http://www.paulmccartney.com/home.php
-
audi:
illwobble:
When I listen to Taxman, it always slightly bothers me where he sings: "Don't ask me what I want it for... If you don't want to pay some more" Surely it should be: "Don't ask me what I want it for... Unless you want to pay some more" (or indeed Unless you'd like to pay some more")
You're probably right: I might be mistaken, but that may be what they call splitting an infinitive. Good catch!
Thanks audi, but no, the problem here is nothing to do with splitting infinitives, it's about negation and double negatives, which in English is pretty subtle. I mean, "If you don't want to pay any more" is an improvement grammatically but still wrong (and that's only partly because "any more" then means something else). I wonder whether George Martin or anyone else did give advice on grammatical errors or issues in the Beatles' lyrics. I guess this example reflects the fact that George (Harrison) wasn't as well educated as John or Paul.