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Original poster

Song lyrics that bug you!

509 replies

BillStickersWillBeProsocuted · 28/09/2023 17:38

I was listening to Objects in the rear view mirror by Meatloaf the other day and it contains the line:

"If life is just a highway, then the soul is just a car"

That line always bugged me - for a start that's a pretty big "if" but apart from that surely in that analogy the body is the car and the soul is the driver?!

Another one is maybe a bit more Niche but Tim Minchin has a song called "Grew on me" where he likeness his love for his wife with various illnesses (it's actually much more sweet than that makes it sound!) which contains the line:

"The successful removal of you would probably kill me too"

Surely if it kills the patient you can't call it a successful removal?! What really bothers me is “the attempted removal of you” would fit the song just as well and make more sense!

Anyway I'm bored at work so thought I'd see if anyone else has any pedantic lyrical bugbears?!

OP posts:
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Original poster
BillStickersWillBeProsocuted · 12/10/2023 07:42

Playing Sweet Child O' Mine
And I still feel that line
Where are you now?
Where are you now?

Do you think they meant "Where do we go now?", 'cos that's the line in Sweet child O' mine!

OP posts:
notacooldad · 13/10/2023 10:07

Never liked that line either - it implies if the man's wife was unattractive then she has the green light to shag him.
I didn't read it that way.
I read she meets a man that she thinks is perfect for her but it turns out he is married and would have no interest in her. In other words, she's too late, he's settled and happy .

nancypowers1983 · 13/10/2023 10:24

notacooldad · 13/10/2023 10:07

Never liked that line either - it implies if the man's wife was unattractive then she has the green light to shag him.
I didn't read it that way.
I read she meets a man that she thinks is perfect for her but it turns out he is married and would have no interest in her. In other words, she's too late, he's settled and happy .

That's how I hear it too. That she thinks he'd be perfect for her then realises he's unavailable. And that she can't even console herself by thinking she's better looking since his wife is gorgeous into the bargain.

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JoanThursday1972 · 13/10/2023 11:08

Well tonight thank God it's them, instead of you.

Nice one Bono, rather them than you, eh?

Yes I know he didn't write it, he only sang it. I should be moaning at Bob and Midge instead I guess.

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 13/10/2023 12:26

It was a very horribly-worded way of basically saying consider yourself very lucky that you have a lot more privilege, so dig deep and support them, as they don't - but deeply unpleasant, however well it might have scanned for the melody.

I think they made it deliberately provocative in an attempt to increase giving, but they still seriously missed the mark there, imho.

Didn't Bono change it to "Tonight we're reaching out and touching you" in subsequent recordings of the song?

nancypowers1983 · 13/10/2023 15:10

JoanThursday1972 · 13/10/2023 11:08

Well tonight thank God it's them, instead of you.

Nice one Bono, rather them than you, eh?

Yes I know he didn't write it, he only sang it. I should be moaning at Bob and Midge instead I guess.

Is it not as in "there but for the grace of God go I"? That's how I view it, a kinda humanising of the situation. When I was younger though I viewed it more like "thank fuck" which is not the same.

Alstroemeria123 · 13/10/2023 15:30

Didn't Bono change it to "Tonight we're reaching out and touching you" in subsequent recordings of the song?

I’m not sure that’s much of an improvement!

Grammy78 · 13/10/2023 16:33

junbean · 28/09/2023 23:41

Ed Sheeran "Nothing happens after 2 It's true". WTF the saying is nothing good happens after midnight or 2... Nothing happens makes no sense

I know what he means - when I was younger and used to go clubbing, all nightclubs closed at 2am and after that point, the night ended unless you went somewhere else afterwards.

nancypowers1983 · 13/10/2023 21:26

Alstroemeria123 · 13/10/2023 15:30

Didn't Bono change it to "Tonight we're reaching out and touching you" in subsequent recordings of the song?

I’m not sure that’s much of an improvement!

😂😂😂

BigButtons · 15/10/2023 07:48

Greebosmum · 28/09/2023 18:58

This morning at 4.50
I took her rather nifty
Down to an incubator
Where 30 minutes later
She gave birth to a daughter
Within a year a walker.

Squeeze, Up the Junction.

Do you know what an incubator is?

That whole song makes me rage. I have no idea why - but I think it might be the incorrect use of the incubator😆

BlodynYGog · 15/10/2023 08:04

Brown Girl In The Ring lyrics; “she looks like a sugar in a plum”. Kill me now.

KateMiddletonsExtensions · 15/10/2023 08:57

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 13/10/2023 12:26

It was a very horribly-worded way of basically saying consider yourself very lucky that you have a lot more privilege, so dig deep and support them, as they don't - but deeply unpleasant, however well it might have scanned for the melody.

I think they made it deliberately provocative in an attempt to increase giving, but they still seriously missed the mark there, imho.

Didn't Bono change it to "Tonight we're reaching out and touching you" in subsequent recordings of the song?

And then "there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time, the greatest gift they'll get this year is life" -;as if it's a poor substitute for snow ❄️

Ticktockk · 15/10/2023 09:11

I always follow up that line “there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas time (except in the Atlas Mountains)”

PennyPinkPineapple · 15/10/2023 12:25

Brefugee · 30/09/2023 20:29

"Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a canon ball."

Just no. All the nope.

there are a lot, but it will annoy me thinking about them

How dare you @Brefugee! 😂 Oasis can do no wrong.

I haven't got to the bottom yet, so I don't know if anyone has already mentioned the atrocity that is Africa by Toto.

"As they grow restless, longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what's right
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti"

It makes absolutely no geographical sense, and I hate the way the extra syllable in Serengeti is crammed in.

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 15/10/2023 12:26

Brown Girl In The Ring lyrics; “she looks like a sugar in a plum”. Kill me now.

The random 'show me a motion' line always grosses me out too Grin

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 15/10/2023 12:29

And then "there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time, the greatest gift they'll get this year is life" -;as if it's a poor substitute for snow

Very good point, actually. I presume it's meant to convey 'they'll be lucky just to be alive, never mind anything fun to enjoy, like snow' - but again, very poorly executed.

I agree re Africa by Toto. Musically, it sounds really nice; but those lyrics. The geography and the scanning of the lines are both appalling.

GroanWoman · 15/10/2023 12:59

"There was more of them than us" 😵‍💫

and

"Yeah you and me we could ride on a star"

Barlow you idiot!

nancypowers1983 · 15/10/2023 16:27

No, no, no one understood,
We were holding back the flood...

They don't rhyme Barlow!
Either "no one understud" or it's "flood" as in "good". Bugs me every time.

No doubt someone will come along to say "it does rhyme in my accent" but generally no, no it doesn't.

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 15/10/2023 18:13

No doubt someone will come along to say "it does rhyme in my accent" but generally no, no it doesn't.

To be fair, they do rhyme in Gary Barlow's accent - maybe he was thinking of how he would say it when writing the song rather than how some random MNer would say it...?!

nancypowers1983 · 15/10/2023 18:18

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 15/10/2023 18:13

No doubt someone will come along to say "it does rhyme in my accent" but generally no, no it doesn't.

To be fair, they do rhyme in Gary Barlow's accent - maybe he was thinking of how he would say it when writing the song rather than how some random MNer would say it...?!

Gary... is that you? 👀

ohfook · 15/10/2023 18:44

AccidentallyFabulous · 28/09/2023 20:10

"I've got soul but I'm not a soldier"

What?! Those two words are UNCONNECTED.

Prefer Bill Bailey's version:
"I've got ham but I'm not a hamster"

I can't hear that song without being reminded of a friend who used to sing I've got a badge but I'm not a badger.

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 15/10/2023 18:57

Gary... is that you?

No, I can't stand him!

But I don't understand the surprise that somebody would write songs that they're going to sing in their own accent - any more than you'd expect an American artist who is barely known in Europe to write their songs in Portuguese!

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 15/10/2023 18:58

I can't hear that song without being reminded of a friend who used to sing I've got a badge but I'm not a badger.

I've got poo but I'm not a poodle!

KateMiddletonsExtensions · 15/10/2023 19:13

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 15/10/2023 12:26

Brown Girl In The Ring lyrics; “she looks like a sugar in a plum”. Kill me now.

The random 'show me a motion' line always grosses me out too Grin

I always thought that was show me emotion!

ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea · 15/10/2023 19:26

nancypowers1983 · 15/10/2023 16:27

No, no, no one understood,
We were holding back the flood...

They don't rhyme Barlow!
Either "no one understud" or it's "flood" as in "good". Bugs me every time.

No doubt someone will come along to say "it does rhyme in my accent" but generally no, no it doesn't.

Really interested in how you say these two words so that they don't rhyme ?

Different accents are fascinating - but don't assume yours is any more correct than another person's.