Friday, March 28, 2008

I am a Rectangle with Four Sides of Equal Length

Education has ruined rock 'n roll for me.

Let me provide a few examples of songs that are less fun when the listener knows a little too much:

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing by Jack Johnson
In this song, Jack laments that "lovin' somebody don't make them love you." Instead of enjoying the melody at this point, I cannot help but notice that the pronoun and antecedent are not in agreement. To correct this, I'll sing, "lovin' somebody don't make him or her love you." This completely ruins the rhythm, but does get the pronoun to agree.

Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress) by the Hollies

In this song, the singer is working for the FBI. Right before he sees the aforementioned long, cool woman, he is about to call the "D.A. man." Unfortunately, this doesn't jive. The FBI would be working with a federal prosecutor, not a district attorney. I guess we can forgive the mistake, as the Hollies were English, and it's possible that they didn't know the difference. Besides, the song would sound much worse if he were a constable about to call a barrister.

Eight Days a Week by The Beatles
I actually don't have a problem with this song. Adding an additional day to the week seems like a completely legitimate use of hyperbole to express the depth of John and Paul's love. I was just hoping to play on your perception I could be that big of a tool, which couldn't be that much of a stretch after what you just read.

Blues for Yesterday by Charlie Musselwhite
Charlie, at the beginning of the song is riding into the setting sun. In the next verse, he notes that the moon is rising near the sun. Astronomy students will tell you that the moon rises in the East and sets in the West, just like the sun. Thus, if the sun is setting and the moon is near it, the moon must be setting (not rising!) as well. Of course, if this were to change, life on Earth might be radically worse, which would explain why he has the blues for yesterday.

I really hate myself for noticing these types of things.

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