Great Songs with Terrible Mistakes

Great Songs with Terrible Mistakes

It has been said that music is a brilliant way to learn how to speak English correctly, which is absolutely true, but it’s also a good way to learn how not to speak it. In this post, we’ve rounded up some well-known songs – both modern and old-school – with less than perfect grammar. And why on earth would we do that? Well, because studying errors can help you improve your English. Plus, you’ll get to enjoy some catchy tunes at the same time. 

It ‘Don’t’ Matter? Maybe if you’re a billionaire pop idol.

Wanted! British superstar, Sting, is on the grammar police’s watchlist for this grammatical error involving subject-verb agreement (or should we say, disagreement): Every little thing she does is magic
Everything she do just turns me on

C’mon Sting, you’re an Englishman (sometimes an Englishman in New York). You should know that it’s, ‘she does,’ and not, ‘she do’. It’s more than likely that Mr Sumner, aka Sting, knows how to speak (and sing) his mother tongue, but in this line – as in the case of many other lyrics where grammar mistakes can be spotted – it don’t… I mean… doesn’t sound right when sung. ‘Does’ contains the ‘shwa’ sound ‘ə’ (as in, ‘about’) and so does ‘just’, so it might sound a bit inharmonious to sing them right after each other. To be honest, I can’t say for certain if that is the reason, but I’ll be sure to ask Sting the next time I see him.

Have a look at the lyrics below from Bruno Mars’s song, ‘Just the Way You Are’, and see if you can identify another mistake in subject-verb agreement.

When I compliment her, she won’t believe me
And it’s so, it’s so sad to think that she don’t see what I see

Spot the error? It’s ‘she don’t’, which should be, ‘she doesn’t’, but that would be one syllable too long to accompany the beat. This can also be seen in Drake’s, ‘It Don’t Matter’.  Actually, it kind of does matter, Drake, but we’ll forgive your transgression, although Noam Chomsky is probably rolling in his grave).

So far, all of these subject-verb agreement mistakes make sense, but the reasoning behind this song title eludes me so far: ‘Just the Way I Are.’ I mean, why Timbaland, why? I mean, ‘am’ has one syllable, so this wouldn’t mess up the beat. Even though I’m an English teacher, I’m usually pretty tolerant of mistakes in lyrics if they’re justifiable, but this one just has me baffled. Smh.

Our hearts ‘bleeded’ at these grammar mistakes

As an English student, you’ve probably memorised lists upon lists of irregular verbs, only to hear song lyrics like this:

“When you cheated girl, my heart bleeded girl.” – Justin Timberlake (What Goes Around) 

And this…

“Far too many stars have fell on me.” – Dan Fogelberg (Stars)

I mean, the audacity! You know, and I know, that it should be ‘bled’ and ‘fallen’, so what gives? In my completely non-expert opinion (I managed all of two guitar lessons before I called it quits, which is the sum total of my musical background), the reason has to do with having to match the beat. I’m getting a little repetitive here, like a song chorus.

Can I have a Double Negative Cheeseburger?

If you had to ask a linguist, or just… you know… ChatGPT, whether you can use a double negative in English, the answer would be ‘no’. Or, ‘no, no’, depending on your human or AI expert’s sense of humour. That’s why the grammar in these songs that you have probably heard of before are definite… well… ‘no-no’s’:

‘Never gonna not dance again’ – P!nk

‘No Woman No Cry’ – Bob Marley and the Wailers

‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ – Bill Withers

‘Don’t Come Around Here No More’ – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

In summary, here’s a confession from this English teacher. I think it just wouldn’t have sounded the same if The Rolling Stones had crooned, ‘I can’t get any satisfaction’. And it certainly wouldn’t be as cathartic to sing, ‘It does/n’t maaaatter’, out a rolled down car window.

So, grammar police, let’s call this case closed.