Oops!

When lyrics break the rules: Grammar errors in famous songs!

Image: Jamakassi

Can bad grammar make a good song? We all have that one tune that makes us sing at the top of our lungs the moment we hear the first note. But even the best songs can have a few mistakes! Of course, that doesn’t stop us from enjoying them, but here are 10 popular songs that have some surprising grammatical errors. Can you spot them? Let’s find out!

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We know it’s impossible not to shout, "Hey, teacher!" even if you actually liked school. But here’s the thing: In "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2," Pink Floyd sings, "We don’t need no education." This is a classic double negative. "Don’t" already does the job, so it should be "We don’t need any education." Grammatically correct, yes, but definitely not as catchy.

Image: Uncredited photographer for the Jambalaya, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

With his incredible voice and timeless hits, we can’t blame James Brown for grammar. Still, the little slip in "I Got You (I Feel Good)" could’ve been avoided. To be perfectly proper, the verb "feel" needs an adverb ("well"), not an adjective ("good"). But does it really matter when it sounds that amazing?

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While the guys from The Rolling Stones are musical geniuses, grammar isn’t exactly their top priority. And that’s okay, because they gave us many classics, like: "(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction." As you may have noticed, this case is very similar to Pink Floyd’s, with the double negative once again taking center stage in this grammatical slip-up.

Image: Sussex Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Of course, poetic intent played a big role in Bill Withers’ choice of words when he sang, "Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone…" But it seems double negatives are a recurring crime in the world of song lyrics. The contraction "ain’t" already carries the negation, which is repeated in the words that follow: "no sunshine."

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Okay, when singing this song, we don’t notice the mistake because it only becomes obvious when reading it. But Paul Young’s "Everytime You Go Away" has a clear error. "Everytime" isn’t actually a word, though perhaps they removed the space between "every" and "time" to make the title four words instead of five.

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Bob Dylan may have won the Nobel Prize in Literature, but he slipped up in "Lay Lady Lay." To "lay" means to put something down gently or carefully, and it is a transitive verb, which usually requires a direct object, for example, "I lay the notebook on the table." In contrast, "lie" means to rest or recline and is an intransitive verb, so it only requires a subject—for example, "I lie down every afternoon." Since the girl in Dylan’s song is probably reclining by herself, the verb he chose isn’t technically correct.

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The history of music wouldn’t be the same without the brilliance of The Police. But even legends slip up sometimes. Take their line, "Everything she do just turns me on." As we know, with a third-person singular subject like "she," the verb should be "does," not "do."

Image: Lorie Shaull from St Paul, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

We’re still trying to understand why Gwen Stefani sings, "If I was a rich girl..." In English, conditional sentences about hypothetical situations call for the subjunctive mood, which uses "were" with all subjects. And since her song is based on Fiddler on the Roof’s "If I Were a Rich Man," we know she had the correct example. Plus, singing "were" wouldn’t even mess up the rhythm. We need answers, Gwen!

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The ’90s weren’t just a decade; they were a feeling, and many will remember Paula Cole’s 1996 song "I Don’t Want to Wait." She sings, "Say a little prayer for I." Beautiful? Yes. Grammatically correct? No. "I" is a subject (performing the action), but here she needed "me" as the object (receiving the action). Still, we’ll forgive it for the sake of the rhyme.

Image: Bradley Menyhert

It only takes a few seconds of Ray Parker Jr.’s "Ghostbusters" to bring back the glory of the ’80s. But in the line "Who you gonna call?" there’s a tiny slip. Technically, it should be "Whom," since it’s the object (receiving the call), not the subject. In any case, we must admit that Ray Parker Jr.’s way of saying it is quite common.

Nature & Language

Grow your vocabulary with these 10 plant-related idioms

Image: Laura Ohlman

Individual words combined in a certain way result in metaphorical phrases with a new meaning, different from the one they have by themselves. These phrases are called idioms and can originate from different contexts and situations. In this case, we have cherry-picked 10 expressions related to plants and flowers that will make you want to go outside and smell the roses!

Image: Pete Nuij

Some people are direct and get to the chase, and others take their time to say what they have to say. When we need to discuss something important with one of the latter and they keep beating around the bush instead of getting to the point, it can be really annoying, don't you think?

But who would have thought that this expression we use every day without giving it a second thought is actually related to nature? The first written record dates back to 1572. It appears in a text by the Elizabethan poet George Gascoigne, although it was probably a metaphor used regularly at the time. Apparently, it has its origins in a game of bird hunting. Beating is the practice of striking plants with a stick to make the birds come out of hiding and thus catch them in flight.

Image: Daniel Peters

When we are faced with a conundrum or have to make a life-changing decision, it is sometimes difficult to figure out what’s really important. We are probably focusing on a specific, small aspect of the problem and fail to see the big picture. When this happens, a good friend will ideally help us gain some perspective and say: "You can't see the forest for the trees!" —Fun fact: in Old English, for was used in the sense of "on account of", "because of"—.

This proverbial idiom originated in the 16th century and makes perfect sense: back then, before cities took over, people's contact with nature was an everyday thing. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it first appeared in 1546 as part of the works of English writer John Heywood.

Image: Mikaela Egan

Imagine a small animal running from the clutches of a large predator. The only thing in sight is a tall, fragrant tree. If it can climb up to the top, it will be safe, but the beast will still be waiting below with sharp teeth. This is how the idiom up a gum tree came to mean to be in a predicament or in a problem that is difficult to get out of.

Its origin is not so clear. Some etymologists suggest it is a phrase that appeared in Australia, where gum tree is the common name for the Eucalyptus. Others found records from the early 19th century in the United States. There was even a folk song called "The 'possum up the gum-tree" that stood the test of time only as a popular expression.

Image: Maksym Kaharlytskyi

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, wither means "to become dry and sapless" or "to lose vitality, force, or freshness". When we leave fruit abandoned on the vine, it goes to waste, and to be honest, the same thing happens with all aspects of life.

The idiom wither on the vine —an equivalent of _die on the vine_— is used to express that something failed to be implemented or dealt with because of neglect or inaction. The Oxford Dictionary says it probably originated in the biblical image of a withered vine as a metaphor for physical or spiritual impoverishment.

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To continue with trees, fruits, and biblical references, this proverbial idiom means that a person's character should be judged by their actions —and the results of those actions— and not so much by appearances, prejudices, or what they have to say about themselves.

This parable appears in at least two different sermons in the New Testament. From Matthew 7:15-20: "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruit."

Image: Annie Spratt

Gardens usually have a positive and pleasant connotation. But for some reason, to lead someone down the garden path means to deceive or mislead. Like many of the expressions that are orally transmitted from generation to generation, we cannot be sure of the exact origin of this one. However, there are some theories.

According to legend, this idiom has its roots in England at the beginning of the 20th century. Apparently, it had to do with men being led into the gardens to get engaged to young ladies covered by veils that hid their faces completely. In any case, one of the earliest written records of this phrase dates back to 1926 and belongs to British writer Ethel Mannin. In her text Sounding Brass, she refers to women leading men up the garden for the purposes of seduction.

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These two idioms have a similar meaning. Shrinking violet is used figuratively to describe shy and introverted individuals, while a wallflower, in its colloquial sense, is a shy or unpopular person who usually remains on the sidelines of social activities.

The expression shrinking violet was probably coined in the United States, although there is no certain theory to explain the connection between these beautiful, vibrant flowers and shy people. One of the earliest written records is a sarcastic newspaper article from 1870 that mentions a shrinking violet businessman from Pennsylvania accused of stealing public money. Real wallflowers, on the other hand, are perennial herbs that grow on cliffsides and walls, hence the name. In this case, it is easier to see the analogy.

Image: Jonathan Kemper

We can tend our garden with love and dedication, but weeds can still sprout out and damage other plants and flowers. When this happens, the course of action is to get rid of these intruders as soon as possible to stop them from growing further. In life as in gardening, when we see a problem on the horizon, it is best to address it before it becomes more serious. This is when the expression nip it in the bud comes in handy.

The bud is the early stages, the undeveloped part of a plant. If you cut it —or nip it— before it springs up, you are avoiding future troubles. In the 16th century, this phrase was used literally. Over time, it became a common idiom that we use every time we find an issue that is best to tackle at an early stage.

Image: Sandra Grünewald

This one has a bit of a dark meaning but, at the same time, it allows us to think about death in a slightly more pleasant and positive way. After all, a little bit of dark humor never hurts. Let's not beat around the bush; pushing up daisies means to be dead and buried.

The origin of this idiom is not too clear, although there are records of analogies between daisies and death coined by romantic poets such as John Keats. The first written mention of this expression in its current form is from a 1917 poem by Wilfred Owen. On the other hand, we know it was a widely used metaphor during World War I.

Image: Christian Joudrey

You probably already know the meaning of this idiom, and the truth is that it is pretty straightforward. But since it is one of our favorites, we thought it was a good idea to bring it to the gardening table. To plant the seed of suspicion means to cause someone to have doubts —often in an indirect manner— or to introduce someone to a worrisome idea that wasn't there before.

The origin of this expression is totally unknown and has different variables: to sow the seed of doubt, to plant a seed in one's head, etc. Interestingly, to plant the seeds (of something) is also used to describe an action done to ensure a certain outcome in the future, especially an unfortunate one.