Bothered by Summer Wine lyric - but why?

latourdumoine · May 12, 2011

Remember the following verse in Summer Wine (okay I should have nixed that unintentional rhyming thing

)? Is there anything in particular that bothers you about it?

"I walked in town on silver spurs that jingled to
A song that I had only sang to just a few
She saw my silver spurs and said let's pass some time
And I will give to you summer wine . . . "

I've heard different things from different people:
- the "in town" part sounded strange to some non-native speakers, they wanted to make it "into"
- the "sang" part was a huge issue to many; "sung" would sound more natural to them
- some people wanted quotation marks before "let's pass some time . . . " as it jarred them out of the flow when they were reading the lyrics.

I've known this song all my life, so it's impossible for me to look at this objectively.

blacbird · May 12, 2011

This is far from the only pop song you'll hear that has messed-up grammar. Especially country music:

"Take this job and shove it,
I ain't workin' here no more."

"Now, I got friends in low places . . ."

etc.

CACTUSWENDY · May 12, 2011

In music things lots of liberties can be taken, IMHO.

It's like poetry. It has to do with rhythm and poetic flavor. I think it lets you get by with a lot of things. Again, IMHO.

I have no problems with it at all. (I always liked the song too.)

Chris P · May 12, 2011

Billy Mac is a detective down in Texas
You know he knows just exactly what the facts is.

That song is a grammar train wreck but ROX anyway.

CaroGirl · May 12, 2011

I've never heard this song (to my knowledge) but songs include bad grammar all the time. If the song's a hit, it just gets absorbed into the culture of the lyric and no one bats an eye at the incorrectness of it.

S.J. · May 12, 2011

"There's only two types of people in the world" - Britney Spears, Circus

That annoys me every time! But it's cadence and fitting-into-the-rhythm, I suppose, plus it's only really writers/grammarians who are bothered about this sort of thing. :/

Maryn · May 12, 2011

And there's McCartney's "Live and Let Die," which has a line which always sets my teeth on edge: But in this ever-changing world in which we live in...

Now I can't remember who said it, but there's some quote about college educated rock musicians striving to write lyrics in which they sound like eighth grade dropouts. I'm sure the bad grammar is a part of the persona the singer 'wears' for the song.

Maryn, whose lyrics are going to be correct and will refuse to rock

latourdumoine · May 12, 2011

S.J. said:
"There's only two types of people in the world" - Britney Spears, Circus

That annoys me every time! But it's cadence and fitting-into-the-rhythm, I suppose, plus it's only really writers/grammarians who are bothered about this sort of thing. :/

Plus language teachers, which is the group that had the biggest issues with "sang."

But I agree.

Maryn said:
Now I can't remember who said it, but there's some quote about college educated rock musicians striving to write lyrics in which they sound like eighth grade dropouts. I'm sure the bad grammar is a part of the persona the singer 'wears' for the song.

Maryn, whose lyrics are going to be correct and will refuse to rock

well, imagine a cowboy with good grammar, I mean that whole illusion would just fly out the window . . .

Maybe that's why it never bothered me in the song (other than it being so familiar, I just don't hear it). Him wearing that cowboy persona so well.

Thanks you guys, great comments all around. I really enjoyed reading them. Keep 'em coming!

Devil Ledbetter · May 12, 2011

blacbird said:
This is far from the only pop song you'll hear that has messed-up grammar. Especially country music:

"Take this job and shove it,
I ain't workin' here no more."

"Now, I got friends in low places . . ."

etc.

Tell me about it. There is a newer song that I love except it has the most grating grammatical error in the title and chorus.

My best friend's long gone, but I got runner ups.

It should be runners up.

This is a real problem for me.

S.J. · May 12, 2011

Maryn said:
And there's McCartney's "Live and Let Die," which has a line which always sets my teeth on edge: But in this ever-changing world in which we live in...

Haha, I was just about to put that but decided against it. Lots of people tell me it's "But in this ever-changing world in which we're living..." (which is a horrible line anyway even if it is grammatically correct).

And latourdumoine, being a French student, I know all too well how fired up teachers can get about grammar... Once was in the unfortunate position of using 'pour' where it should have been 'pendant'...

latourdumoine · May 12, 2011

S.J. said:
Haha, I was just about to put that but decided against it. Lots of people tell me it's "But in this ever-changing world in which we're living..." (which is a horrible line anyway even if it is grammatically correct).

And latourdumoine, being a French student, I know all too well how fired up teachers can get about grammar... Once was in the unfortunate position of using 'pour' where it should have been 'pendant'...

ouch. And commiserations, especially if your teacher is anything like one teacher we had (being French myself, I can reassure you, we go through the same pains and heartaches foreigners do where that's concerned. But hey, at least we learned some creative put-downs along the way

Didn't help with the spelling though).

I actually like it when people mess with the grammar. But then I'm also thinking, couldn't it be a regional thing in some cases?

With song lyrics and poems I never tend to notice it. At least it doesn't bother me. I guess I just see it as an extension of the projected persona. Plus, a lot of times if you use incorrect grammar, it ends up sounding more "real." I mean, can you imagine a cowboy walking into town and speaking like a preacher?

Cactuswendy, I meant to reply earlier. But so glad you like the song as well. It's actually one of my all-time favorite songs. Maybe even the favorite.

And "sung" would never have worked in the song.

Chase · May 12, 2011

S.J. said:
Haha, I was just about to put that but decided against it. Lots of people tell me it's "But in this ever-changing world in which we're living..." (which is a horrible line anyway even if it is grammatically correct).

This response to the comment puts me in mind of my worsening hearing over the years. Song lyrics became stranger and stranger. For instance, Antonio Jobin's catchy song about war in the Pacific:

Tall and tan and young and lovely,
The girl from Iwo Jima goes walking. . . .

Xelebes · May 12, 2011

Devil Ledbetter said:
Tell me about it. There is a newer song that I love except it has the most grating grammatical error in the title and chorus.

My best friend's long gone, but I got runner ups.

It should be runners up.

This is a real problem for me.

It should be hyphenated. Runner-ups.

Devil Ledbetter · May 12, 2011

Xelebes said:
It should be hyphenated. Runner-ups.

If it should be hyphenated, it should be runners-up. The same rule applies to this as brothers-in-law (not brother-in-laws).

IceCreamEmpress · May 14, 2011

Then there are songs when it's clear that someone made a last-minute grammar correction, like "We Are the World"--

There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we make a better day
Just you and me

I will bet the farm it was "Just you and I" originally.

Ambri · May 27, 2011

Now I can't remember who said it, but there's some quote about college educated rock musicians striving to write lyrics in which they sound like eighth grade dropouts. I'm sure the bad grammar is a part of the persona the singer 'wears' for the song.

I'm writing one of these in my WIP

I vaguely remember hearing something about Paul McCartney's dad grousing to him, not long after the Beatles first got famous. I think it was along the lines of, "Why can't you sing it as 'yes yes yes'?" 'She loves you, yes yes, yes.' Can you imagine?

Bothered by Summer Wine lyric - but why?

latourdumoine

Where nightmares continously breed

blacbird

CACTUSWENDY

An old, sappy, and happy one.

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred

CaroGirl

Living the dream

S.J.

Addict? I can quit whenever I want!

Maryn

At Sea

latourdumoine

Where nightmares continously breed

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,

S.J.

Addict? I can quit whenever I want!

latourdumoine

Where nightmares continously breed

Chase

It Takes All of Us to End Racism

Xelebes

Delerium ex Ennui

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,

IceCreamEmpress

Hapless Virago

Ambri

Plotting something