Song lyrics that bug you!

[BillStickersWillBeProsocuted]

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?!

My real bête noir in song lyrics is the use of the ubiquitous "baby".

I am a HUGE Queen fan so it pains me to say this, but behold:

“My baby
Baby does
My baby does me good
My baby does
My baby does me
My baby does me good”

I just cannot get my head around the fact that the genius that came up with Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen, and all those random crazy album tracks that are even better like the one about the fairy feller also wrote this…

I knew I was missing one! 😂

Also, I've just remembered Crash by The Primitives.

Did we have So What by Pink?

I just cringe for people, tbh, when they're writing a song in their native language and the only suitable vocabulary they can find is 'na' - repeated many times.

I know songs aren't exactly the same as talking, but they're used as a way to communicate and convey thoughts and feelings. Would any adult really go to their friends for a heart-to-heart chat and just say "Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na!!!!!" - like a 3yo running around pretending to be an ambulance or (almost) the knights from Monty Python?!

One of T-Rex's songs - think ir was Metal Guru where the chorus went

Na-na-na Na-na-na-na

Me and my hubby call each other baby 🙈

One of T-Rex's songs - think ir was Metal Guru where the chorus went

Na-na-na Na-na-na-na

But Marc Bolan drove a Rolls Royce, because he knew it was good for his voice* - so I think you'll find that he could always be trusted to make only the wisest decisions in his songs...

*peer-reviewed citation needed

I feel like Baby by Justin Bieber must make your eye twitch!

Baby, baby, baby, oh
Like, Baby, baby, baby, no
Like, Baby, baby, baby, oh
I thought you'd always be mine

i hate baby by bieber such durge

dont mind babe so much

This is the best-bar-none use of that tender affectionate term for your special loved one - at 1:57. All other songs using it can just get straight in the bin.

🤮

"I don't want to see a ghost. It's a sight that I fear most. I'd rather have a piece of toast. And watch the evening news"
Desree. Life.
Bloody terrible lyrics!!!

Oh my! That's actually quite terrifying!
What a performance!

As it turns out though, the original version of this song is one of the few for which I'll happily overlook the inclusion of the offending word!

Regarding 'na na Na na na' in songs.
I must admit I do like the Peggy Goo song. To be fair, English isn't her first language and it's got a catchy late 80s early 90s dance vibe

Dreams, Fleetwood Mac/Corrs ”Thunder only happens when it’s raining” No it doesn’t!
And the stress on ‘washes’ is all wrong in “when the rain washes you clean you’ll know”

Yes @RustyBear silly emphasis annoys me too. I heard "Fashion" by David Bowie on the radio today, where DB fails with the simple rord "the" :
"You shout it while you're dancing on thuh-uh-uh dance floor,"
Sounds so silly.

Aren’t they?! Like some 13 yo forced to write a poem for English. Painfully poor.

Not a lyric that bugs me but I have been wondering: when Adele says “I’ll find someone like you”, does she mean “I’ll find someone, like you did” or “I’ll find someone who is like you”?

I've never thought of it like that. I always think she means she'll find someone like him as in reminds her of him (which seems a little sad in a way) but yes it could be she'll meet someone else just like he has. I hope it is that.

Bob Marley's No Woman No Cry has always been a bit confusing too.

If you actually listen to the song properly, he's clearly trying to console the woman, so that she feels loved and doesn't feel the need to cry; but equally, just going on the title alone, it can be interpreted a bit incel-y as in 'if you don't bother with women, you'll never be unhappy, mate'.

@ZebraDanios And even worse when paired with "and I don't mean maybe"

Now we've bought Adela into it...

Chasing :Pavements.

WTF is that all about

I always used to think she was a disillusioned credit controller, wondering if she should just give up or keep on chasing payments.

No more weird than 'Chasing Waterfalls', I suppose. It's not like either pavements or waterfalls are moving in a direction that you can easily run after them!

If you use “chasing” in the sense of “searching for”, at least waterfalls are a) cool and b) not something you see every day. Pavements are as dull and commonplace as it gets!

When your legs don't work like they used to before
And I can't sweep you off of your feet [off, not off of]
Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love [🤢]
Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks [that you, Picasso?]
And darling I will be loving you 'til we're 70
And baby my heart could still fall as hard at 23
And I'm thinking 'bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways
Maybe just the touch of a hand
Oh me I fall in love with you every single day
And I just wanna tell you I am. [I am what?]

I understand that you’re thinking out loud, Ed, but this is utter nonsense.

I agree with those who are saying that MMMBop is a brilliant song. Sadly, two of the three Hanson brothers are now racist, sexist, homophobic, Trump-loving, Covid-denying, gun-toting nutjobs, so I think their maturity may have peaked at 11-16.

But she actually sings Chahasing Pahavements.