Lyrics are n’t always meant to be take literally . Nobody should have to endure some obnoxious guy at a legal community pedantically explaining that the sun never get around themoon . ( I do n’t know why you ’re at a prevention that plays Vanessa Williams strain from two decades ago , but just go with it . )
But some creative person just get it patently incorrect . Whether it ’s due to want of inquiry , laziness or plainly a strident desire to stupefy to the rhyme dodge , there are occasions where creative license turns topure fiction .
10: ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ by John Denver
In John Denver ’s ode to West Virginia , he sings plaintively of the Blue Ridge Mountains , conjuring the epitome of the peaks loom into the state . While cognizant that it might bring the ire of the entire population of West Virginia , the truth is that the Blue Ridge Mountains are almost entirely out of the province . The Blue Ridge Mountains just murder the eastern tip of West Virginia .
To be sightly , Denver and his co - author compose the Sung on aroad stumble , and thus the paean could be see more as an appreciation of the expanse alternatively of an accurate cartography moral . And consider the author : Denver himself was actually born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. and adopted the name Denver plainly because he likedColorado . Perhaps geography was n’t too sacred to Mr. Denver .
9: ‘Nashville Cats’ by Lovin' Spoonful
When we ’re talking incorrect facts , there are some that are mete forgivable . In the 1984 Band assistance song , " Do They Know It ’s Christmas ? , " the all - stars sing , " there wo n’t be snow in Africa this Christmas metre . " Truth is , there is consistentsnowfallin the Atlas Mountains of Morocco .
But when you ’re writing an ode to a city , best you get all the fact about the place correct . And the Lovin' Spoonful indite a groaningly stupid error in their vocal " Nashville Cats . "
The strain in question read , " Every one is a chickenhearted Sun record from Nashville , " an assertion that might surprise the ethnic music of Tennessee . Sun Records was ( pretty magnificently ) based in Memphis ; they were so Memphis through and through that their artists included that most noted metropolis son himself , Elvis Presley . And they stayed Memphis , that is , until they packed up and move their principal place of business to Nashville , but , bewilderingly , you may still find Sun Studio in Memphis .
8: ‘Don’t Stop Believin’' by Journey
The next time you ’re out doing karaoke with your pal at the local bar , someone will blab Journey ’s " Do n’t Stop Believin ' , " becausefacts are fact . And when they do , you now have a selection to make . Would you care to be that person who snottily tells everyone how very wrong Steve Perry is regarding the geographics ofDetroit , or would you wish to keep your friends ? turn over .
As many Michiganders will order you , " born and raise in south Detroit " sound jolly badass , but it is in , in fact , totally made - up . There ’s no south Detroit to talk of , unless you count the Detroit River . Which , on second thought , is a pretty hardscrabble place to call base .
7: ‘Nothing Better’ by The Postal Service
It ’s a terrible stereotype , but perhaps we should just put it out there : Beware earnest indie musicians scorch about sport . Although there ’s no incertitude that Ben Gibbard of The Postal Service ( and Death Cab for Cutie ) know hisbaseball– he write an astonishingly earnest anthem to Ichiro Suzuki , after all – good to put forth the pen when crafting analogies for fun you ’re not so familiar with .
In the Postal Service call " Nothing Better , " Gibbard no doubt bother a few sports fan when he sings , " … and I will block the room access like a netkeeper tend the net in the third quarter of a bind - game rivalry . " If he ’s referring tosoccer , he ’s been misinformed – it has two half . So is he talking ice hockey ? The biz has three periods , not four quarter . Also , the analogy kind of loses its urging if he still has an entire quarter left to play .
6: ‘Black Hole Sun’ by Soundgarden
Soundgarden ’s " Black Hole Sun " probably merit an award for Music Video Most Likely to Remind 30 - twelvemonth - old of MTV Back in the mean solar day . The video was on eternal revolution . If you are of a sure geezerhood , you might recall the apparatus for the television as completely nonsense . We can also affirm the frame-up of the song itself can be label officially wrong .
While some stars with a wad of mass do end up burst and becoming blackened holes , our Dominicus is too small to gosupernova . Instead , our sun will fade mildly into a nebula and go forth behind a livid dwarf – that ’s accord not to Chris Cornell of Soundgarden , but Cornell University . Even if the sun did become ablack hole , we would n’t be fellate into it . But we would n’t be able-bodied to keep affectionate , so we ’d likely die anyway [ generator : Cornell University ] . Have a adept day !
5: ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’ by The Band
At the very least , Robbie Robertson of The Band should get some quotation for trying to compose a song that attempts a thumbnail history of theCivil War . Doris Kearns Goodwin and Shelby Foote get C of pages to describe what a musician must boil down to a ditty of three or four minutes .
But we would be remiss to ignore a few of the error in thesong . We ’ll just name one . Namely , Robertson sound out that " by May the 10th , Richmond had fell . " Alright , kind of middling – Richmond had fall , but more than a calendar month earlier , in April [ beginning : The Civil War Trust ] . Forgive The Band , though , that inaccuracy . They ’re Canadians , after all .
4: ‘King of Rock’ by Run-D.M.C.
Run - D.M.C. ’s bizarre error in " King of Rock " always seemed borderline to me . Could it really be a error ? They ’re verbalise about the most popular grouping in the history of music , for one , and pretend an arithmetic error that a toddler could sort out . The language in question comes near the close of the call , in which the lyrics translate , " Every jam we play , we break two acerate leaf / There ’s three of us , but we ’re not the Beatles . "
So not to be overly hairsplitting , but there were four principalBeatles . Which you make love . And I experience . And Run - D.M.C. sure know . The most gravelly part of this lyrical fault is that they could ’ve well said , " There ’s three of us SO we ’re not the Beatles " or " AND we ’re not the Beatles . " And now I go , to spend all dark dream abouttraveling back through timeto convince Run to change that words .
3: ‘Pride (In The Name Of Love)’ by U2
Here ’s another song , oft - karaoked , that contain a mistake that just a small bit of due diligence would ’ve easily correct .
TheU2 song"Pride ( In The Name Of Love ) " has a lyric in it alluding to Martin Luther King Jr. ’s blackwash . " Early cockcrow , April 4 / Shot rings out in the Memphis sky , " Bono sings , but thecivil rightsleader was in reality mangle in the eve .
He was shot around 6 p.m. , so Bono could just change the lyric to " early evening , " which he sometimes does . But that in all likelihood confuses the stadium full of fans no doubt sing along to the tune . I reckon there ’s something to be said , however , about the verse of former morning versus evening . Let ’s give Bono a pass on this one and just boost people to read their account and not take what superstar musician say as gospel .
2: ‘Don’t Stand So Close to Me’ by The Police
I will get flak for calling this incorrect , but I ’m the author and thus omnipotent on this Sir Frederick Handley Page . I ’m stamping it with the crimson " incorrect " label , because it ’s a favorite peeve , and when else could I fit it into an article ? Unless HowStuffWorks is place together a lean of " Ten Literary Figures Who Have Hard Names , " now ’s my luck .
In The Police song " Do n’t brook So Close to Me , " Sting sings of a schoolgirl ’s crush on an older instructor . It ’s a human relationship that is butt on out or keeping – and maybe already crossed it . In it , he makes a few address to the novel " Lolita , " include a line that goes , " like the old man in / that book by Nabakov . " But the thing is , Stingpronounces it wrong . Sting pronounces it " Nab - A - koff " when it is say " Nah - BO - koff . "
OK , I get it . It ’s not a big deal . It ’s technically not even wrong perhaps . But there ’s no denying that Sting probably changed the way Nabakov ’s name is articulate for generations , just to correspond the beats in his rhyme scheme . A schema that rhymes " koff " with " coughing " by the elbow room , which is totally lame .
1: ‘Man Down’ by Rihanna
We stop with a more contemporary Sung dynasty , and what I opine is in all likelihood my favourite laughable lyric . It ’s the kind of line that you could essay hard to justify , but in the end ca n’t really be forgive .
It comes near the showtime of Rihanna ’s Song dynasty " Man Down , " when she seriously sing , " he coulda been somebody ’s son , " instigate many of us to nod sagely and consider , yes , Rihanna , a mankind could – indeed – have been somebody ’s Word . He , in fact , must be somebody ’s boy , if we ’re still on operating on the August 15 that man conform to a traditional breeding pattern where a mother and father are required forconception .
We ’re starting to get a lilliputian testy here . But if you ’re just getting enkindle up about incorrect fact and stupid rhymes , do visit the next varlet for lots more information .
Lots More Information
I know there are a million songs we missed . Basically take any song about a real figure and you’re able to find some fault . ( See : Bob Dylan " Hurricane , " Neil Young " Cortez the Killer . " ) send out us your best-loved – or more likely your least favorite – lyric - travel - wrong .
