This morning I was listening to my John Denver station on Pandora as I worked. (And why do I hear Elton John and Jason Mraz on that station? That's another post entirely. Now back to the real topic.) I enjoy listening to music while I work. I've even learned to mostly turn off voice teacher mode so I can listen without critiquing. But I can't quiet The Grammar Police and their associates.
I actually kind of like Neil Diamond, although I'm not sure why. But "brang"?????? Really?!?!?! I know it had to rhyme with sang, rang, and sprang, but "brang" just hurts. I know I'm not the first to make this observation, but wow!!! --the pain it brang to us grammar sensitive folks. Other than that, "Play Me" is a great song.
Then there is James Taylor's "Song for You Far Away". Again, a singer I like, performing a pretty good song. The word "away" shows up at least 11 times, and every time he sang the second syllable correctly, but the vowel at the begining of the word was the same as the one in the second syllable. I'm not fond of a back and down uh-way, but ay-way is just wrong!
Finally, Jason Mraz's song "I'm Yours". As I just read through the lyrics, a few other issues jumped out at me that didn't bother me as I listened to the song. My big question is, did he really mean "God-forsaken right" and there is some deep meaning there that I am missing (which I'm not so sure of since the song is kind of shallow) or did he mean "God-given"?
Enough complaining. Back to work.
-- Posted from my iPhone
Wizarding World
9 months ago
The Mraz one drives me nuts too. Was that deliberate on his part, or is he an idiot?
ReplyDeleteFlawed English can be very cool when deliberate, for example, when Shakespeare verbed the occasional noun.
My favorites are the dozens of examples of twisted, syllable-breaking rhymes in the Wicked libretto: "Populer... lar". And the new words that express a nuance of personality not otherwise available in English: "let us rejoicify" and "there is a definish chance..."
And yes, I did start my last two sentences using conjunctions.
I love Wicked! That man is brilliant. Perhaps second only to Sondheim as a librettist.
ReplyDeleteAnd sometimes you just need to start a sentence with "and" or "but". My grammar police scream, but I do it anyway. I'm such a rebel.