a note about music

[Sachiko13]

I have just recently realized something: some of my favorite songs use very poor grammar. However, most of these are country songs, and they simply wouldn't be as endearing if they used proper grammar, as it gives them life and character.

Here's one of my favorites:

He was on his way home from Candletop,
Been two weeks gone and he thought he'd stop
At Web's and have him a drink 'fore he went home to her
Andy Wo-Lo said, "Hello,"
And he said, "Hi what's a-doing?"
Wo said, "sit down i got some bad news and it's gonna hurt"
Said, "I'm your best friend, and you know that's right.
But your young bride ain't home tonight.
Since you been gone, she's been seeing that Amos boy Seth"
Well, he got mad and he saw red
Andy said, "Boy, don't you lose your head.
'Cause to tell you the truth, I've been with her myself."

Chorus:
That's the night the lights went out in Georgia.
That's the night that they hung an innocent man.
Now, don't trust your soul to no back-woods Southern lawyer
'Cause the judge in the town's got bloodstains on his hands.

Andy got scared and left the bar,
Walking on home cause he didn't live far
You see, Andy didn't have many friends and he just lost him one.
Brother thought his wife must've left town,
So he went home and finally found
The only thing Daddy had left him, and that was a gun.
Then he went off to Andy's house,
Slippin' through the back woods quiet as a mouse,
And he came across some tracks too small for Andy to make.
He looked through the screen at the back porch door,
And he saw Andy lying on the floor
In a puddle of blood, and he started to shake.

The georgia patrol was a-makin' their rounds,
So he fired a shot, just to flag 'em down
And a big-bellied sheriff grabbed his gun and said,
"Why'd you do it?"

The judge said, "guilty" in a make-believe trial,
Slapped the sherrif on the back with a smile and said,
"Supper's waitin' at home and i gotta get to it."

Chorus

Well, they hung my brother before i could say
That the tracks he saw while on his way
To Andy's house and back that night were mine.
And his cheatin' wife had never left town,
But that's one body that'll be found.
You see, little sister don't miss when she aims her gun.

Repeat chorus twice  

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

I agree. I'm not much into country music, but I tend to look the other way when it comes to grammar in music. Would "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" be as good as it was if it were called "I Can't Get Any Satisfaction"? The thing that bothers me is that kids obviously aren't being taught proper grammar in school and at home to counter what they hear in the music, so they internalize what they hear in the music and use that instead. But that is the fault of their parents for not reading to them and taking the time to explain this to them, as mine did with me.  

[Sachiko13]

Shinobi 1977

I agree. I'm not much into country music, but I tend to look the other way when it comes to grammar in music. Would "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" be as good as it was if it were called "I Can't Get Any Satisfaction"? The thing that bothers me is that kids obviously aren't being taught proper grammar in school and at home to counter what they hear in the music, so they internalize what they hear in the music and use that instead. But that is the fault of their parents for not reading to them and taking the time to explain this to them, as mine did with me.

i haven't had a real grammar lesson since...let's see...i was born, unless you count spanish class, where we have to learn to use spanish grammar properly. in the schools, all they care about is teaching what they need to in order to get by with the "no child left behind" crud they're shoving down our throats. i happened to learn proper grammar simply because my mother and father loved to read, and though they never read novels or anything while i was little, they did manage to teach me everything i needed for kindergarten by the time i was four, as well as encouraging my love for reading by buying me good books-mainly the Margurite Henry and Little House on the Prairie series, which my mother loved as much when she was young as i did.  

[WellThen]

Sachiko13

Shinobi 1977

I agree. I'm not much into country music, but I tend to look the other way when it comes to grammar in music. Would "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" be as good as it was if it were called "I Can't Get Any Satisfaction"? The thing that bothers me is that kids obviously aren't being taught proper grammar in school and at home to counter what they hear in the music, so they internalize what they hear in the music and use that instead. But that is the fault of their parents for not reading to them and taking the time to explain this to them, as mine did with me.

i haven't had a real grammar lesson since...let's see...i was born, unless you count spanish class, where we have to learn to use spanish grammar properly. in the schools, all they care about is teaching what they need to in order to get by with the "no child left behind" crud they're shoving down our throats. i happened to learn proper grammar simply because my mother and father loved to read, and though they never read novels or anything while i was little, they did manage to teach me everything i needed for kindergarten by the time i was four, as well as encouraging my love for reading by buying me good books-mainly the Margurite Henry and Little House on the Prairie series, which my mother loved as much when she was young as i did.

Ah, yes, I have constant grammar in french, which is awful because they decide to change the rules every 5 years or so. Why, I don't know, probably just to taunt us... But anyways, I never really learned english grammar, it just kinda makes sense to me. I can't explain it either, I just understand how to use it.

Back to the topic at hand however, I think it's perfectly fine for music to 'bend' the grammatical rules though. It's a form of creative expression, kinda like poetry, and, in my opinion, shouldn't be chained down strictly.  

[Voxxx]

xp Not only that, but it would be harder to sing as well.  

[Obito Sharingan Uchiha]

I only listen to rock, so I wouldn't know.
Linkin Park uses good grammer, ryme, and have good music while doing that.  

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

I love to rhyme all the time. So much it could be called a crime. I like to flavor all my soup with thyme, which costs about a dime. mrgreen  

[Kohy]

Shinobi 1977

I love to rhyme all the time. So much it could be called a crime. I like to flavor all my soup with thyme, which costs about a dime. mrgreen

XD That rhyme kind of scared me....

Music tends to use bad grammar in a lot of instances. I live in the caribbean where Calypso is considered a popular type of music. And you can notice a lot of bad grammar used in it. But for the sake of me learning theory Music for a good 5 years now, I have learnt that some styles are known for their bad grammar and permitted to be used in it, be it how weird it actually sounds in the end.  

[WellThen]

I've also seen some songs that tried too hard to rhyme, which kinda massacred the song in the end. Matt Mays' "City of Lakes", anyone? I find it more important that the meaning of the song gets across, so that's why grammar in lyrics doesn't bother me. Dave Matthews Band have amazing lyrics, and yet don't always use proper grammar. And as long as it flows, it doesn't really matter whether it rhymes. I don't want forced rhymes breaking the pattern of a song, but I also don't want the song to sound mechanical.  

[KiraLight]

Poor grammar in songs doesn't really bother me. I can never understand the lyrics anyways sweatdrop  

[La Diavola]

Hahaha! I love the pun. ^-^ <3

It's true how music can be so pathetically incorrect, but still be so enjoyable. I know there are lots of things wrong with my music, too.* But because it isn't in any way formal, and it's talking, I think it's okay. Just singing about something definately constitutes ((I hope I'm using that word right)) the use of slang. I say ain't when I'm speaking to my friends, but I would never us it out of context, y'know?

Oh yeah, and as long as the wrong grammar and such is noted as such in the lyrics I'm happy.

Lyrics say: 'Cause

Okay.

Lyrics say: Cause

Not so okay.  

[Amaya84]

I find that the songs that seem to strike a cord with me are the very emotional ones. These songs tend to have bad grammar. I tend to find it makes the song more real. Who, when in the clutches of an emotional seige, takes the time to relate a grammatical rule to emotion. Emotion is emotion! It flows like the sea; On the surface it has no pattern, yet the tides are predictable. Plus, they're right. It would be harder to sing.  

[The MoUsY spell-checker]

Songs have to fit the tune, and if ungrammatical lyrics sound more natural, I think they're better off that way.

There's a song I listen to that has "she don't" in it. I've noticed it right from the first time I heard the song.

There's also another song with an unnecessary apostrophe in the title (that's the way it is from the album). "Kid's of the Universe"? That's an obvious one.  

[x-Sadistic_Angel-x]

It's music, it doesn't have to be perfect.
As long as it sounds fine.
See, with the music I listen to, (unintelligible shrieking etc.) you don't generally pick up grammar fractures.  

[Niccea Majeare]

I actually don't listen to the lyrics of songs. It is more of an overtone for me, because I can't stand silence.