Blogcritics Comments on Rock grammar, issue #1: Paul McCartney "Live And Let Die"

Comment by zingzing

Fri, 7 Apr 2006 14:34:54 EDT

this world in which we're living? is that possibly what he said?

Comment by Christopher Rose

Fri, 7 Apr 2006 11:53:54 EDT

Bart: Well if your soul's real, where is it? Milhouse: It's kinda in here... and when you sneeze, that's your soul trying to escape. Saying god bless you crams it back in. And when you die, it squirms out and flies away! Bart: What if you die in a submarine at the bottom of the ocean? Milhouse: Oh, it can swim, it's even got wheels, in case you die in the desert and have to drive to the cemetery.

Comment by Vern Halen

Fri, 7 Apr 2006 11:29:38 EDT

Sometimes it's hard to find the humor on this blog on which we blog on sometimes.

Comment by Tom

Fri, 7 Apr 2006 11:10:40 EDT

No, no changing of this piece, no deletion. I'm just stunned at the inability of people to comprehend what they're reading. It's always fun to get an alert of a comment on this because it's always surprising to see the dunderheadedness of people on the internet. "Humor," people, do you recognize that?

Comment by Jet in Columbus

Fri, 7 Apr 2006 08:41:03 EDT

My father was in the airforce and I grew up literally at the end of the runway pattern of Greater Pittsburgh International Airport. As a kid, I'd run around the yard as the jets flew over VERY LOW with their landing gears down, and make jet noises, and I acquired the nickname. I used to never refer to them as jets, they were L1011's or 747s or C124s. One winter when it snowed, I shoveled out a giant HI DAD in our acre back hard, because my father flew right over our house to land. From then on I was known as Jet

Comment by Christopher Rose

Fri, 7 Apr 2006 05:06:00 EDT

Time passes differently on the web, Jet. Tell me, are you named for the McCartney song?

Comment by Jet in Columbus

Fri, 7 Apr 2006 01:29:41 EDT

Help me understand this, is everyone aware that this whole thing was written almost 2 YEARS ago????

Comment by Jet in Columbus

Fri, 7 Apr 2006 01:27:28 EDT

Tom, trust me, I just got hit for using It's instead of its, in a string I just had published an hour ago, so I know the feeling, but if I were you, I'd have done my homework on line. I also got the amount of money a guy lost in the stock market per share confused with the actual price he sold it for. It was easily fixed with a quick "I'm wrong" and a thanks to Dave Nalle, but this is beyond that. So as gently as I can... the word "If" blows this whole string sky high, and I'd delete it. I bought the vinal soundtrack album for the movie the day it came out waaaaaaaaaaaaay back when, and trust me Axl did not do it justice at all. But you know what I've learned over the years? You like the first version you hear, so if you heard Axl first, you'd think Paul's version sucked. All things being equal, I'd delete the whole post before a bunch more give ya grief, my friend... ...but that's only my opinion. Jet

Comment by Tom

Fri, 7 Apr 2006 01:04:40 EDT

Ale, first, I'm hoping your English classes included a section on "sarcasm." Second, the issue is not with the phrase "but if this ever" or "but in this ever." It is with the phrase "in which we live in." It's either "in which we live" or "which we live in" - there is no need for two instances of "in" there. But, most of all, people, get a grip! For those of you who got it and played along, thank you! The rest of you . . . yikes. This was just a fun piece, which is something that should be very obvious just in the way I composed it - it is obviously tongue-in-cheek. Oh well, I guess there's no hope for humor in America.

Comment by Ale

Thu, 6 Apr 2006 19:36:20 EDT

I can't believe it, I JUST CANNOT!! I'm a mexican student of English. I've been studying this language for a year now; correct my grammar if you wish, tell me I'm wrong....BUT.... YOU NATIVE SPEAKERS GET YOURSELVES INFORMED FIRST!!! IT GOES "BUT IF THIS EVER..." IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF, NO IN...IN. PAUL, GOD, FORGIVE THEM, THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE SAYING... you smarty pants

Comment by DJRadiohead

Tue, 4 Oct 2005 11:02:35 EDT

Anyone who has read my posts probably wishes I had my copy more handy- although I think my typing is worse than my grammar.

Comment by vern halen

Tue, 4 Oct 2005 10:51:37 EDT

'S OK..... Strunk & White.... I still have a copy buried away somewhere next to my Baltimore Catechism.

Comment by DJRadiohead

Tue, 4 Oct 2005 10:46:32 EDT

Strunk & White... reminds me of all my journalism classes. Thanks, Vern!

Comment by DJRadiohead

Tue, 4 Oct 2005 10:46:04 EDT

The number of grammatical gaffes in popular music puts George W Bush to shame. Too many to list. I love this post.

Comment by vern halen

Tue, 4 Oct 2005 10:43:00 EDT

Make all the grammar teachers go home and read their Strunk & White, please. The rest of us will go with artistic licence.

Comment by Roy E

Tue, 4 Oct 2005 10:39:32 EDT

There is NO issue here! Positively, the lyric is: "If this ever-changin' world in which we're livin' makes you give in and cry..." I fussed over this for years and settled it awhile back by listening ultra-carefully to several live performances.

Comment by Storey

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 19:11:28 EDT

It does not really matter if the lyrics reads "in which we're livin'" or "in which we live in" beacause that is not the end of the sentence. The whole sentence reads "If this ever-changing world in which we're livin' makes you give in and cry." Just something to think about.

Comment by Mark the Sane and Sensible

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 15:31:31 EDT

Really, what can you expect from a pothead and high school graduate like mccartney? There was one truly intelligent person that went into rock music, and that was Frank Zappa.

Comment by Sephiroth1wa

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 15:24:54 EDT

It's a song... do songs need to be grammatically correct? go through every song throughout history and correct them then you can say bad stuff about all of them ok? music is music it needs to go to a beat and if he says it who cares.

Comment by Clarke

Sun, 20 Mar 2005 15:59:35 EST

Starting the line with "in" would make no sense for McCartney to do, anyway - consider the following line! I believe the proper lyrics are: "If this ever-changing world in which we're livin' Makes you give in and cry"

Comment by Rodney Welch

Fri, 30 Jul 2004 09:05:02 EDT

Clubhouse -- Actually my vote for dumbest Dylan song is "Lenny Bruce," the famous comedian who "never robbed any churches nor cut off any babies' heads."

Comment by Vern Halen

Fri, 30 Jul 2004 00:23:43 EDT

It bugs me too, but I believe this is a case of McCartney indulging in artistic licence. It's fine, just as loong as he doesn't decide to pick up a second job in which to make a living in.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Thu, 29 Jul 2004 17:49:33 EDT

ooh, there's a wrinkle

Comment by Dave

Thu, 29 Jul 2004 17:37:15 EDT

"But in this ever changing world in which we live in." FYI, It's actually "IF this ever-changing..."

Comment by ClubhouseCancer

Wed, 28 Jul 2004 16:26:39 EDT

He doesn't discuss that one, which is just a silly kids' sin-along song after all. Do you find that one particularly stupid? There's worse, but there is no point in dwelling on the small amount of subpar Dylan when there's sooooooo much good stuff, the best of which is the among the very best of modern music, IMHO.