The Carrie Grant thread reminded me of this...

[MsHighwater]

I started going to singing lessons a few months ago and am quite enjoying singing songs I'd never have though of trying. One of these is "Out Of Reach" by Gabrielle. I really like the song but the first line is "Knew the signs wasn't right"!

Should I just stand tall and sing "weren't" instead? Or is this forgivable licence in the cause of art?

[edam]

[Lio]

How about doing some singing in a language you don't know? That Schubert chappie might have been a bugger for misplaced apostrophes and the like, but you need never know

Note for my fellow pedants: yes, I know he didn't really do the lyrics

[WanderingTrolley]

I choose to hear the first line as two lines, for that very reason MsH.

Knew the signs.
Wasn't right.

etc.

I may be a pedant, but am also a tad deaf. I spent a long time wondering why she'd written a song about someone called Valerie, which was called Out Of Reach. Go on, sing Valerie to Out of Reach....

See?

[NaughtyNigel]

always thought it 'knew the sign wasn't right' 'valerie'

[MsHighwater]

WanderingTrolley - genius! Thanks for the suggestions

[UnquietDad]

Pop music is full of grammatical infelicities - there was a thread about this a while back. Started by me, I believe.

[WanderingTrolley]

I remember that thread.

I couldn't bring myself to read it lest it led me to microwaving half my cd collection for Crimes Against Grammar.

Tis much easier to presume you have misheard a lyric.

[UnquietDad]

Bryan Adams knew a girl who said her love for him would never die, you know.

But that was all to change when she found out about some other woman and he. [sic]

[MsHighwater]

Thing is, I can listen to all sorts of rubbish 'cos I never really listen to lyrics. It's when I have to sing the song that the problem arises.
I have a reputation as a pedant to protect after all.

[WanderingTrolley]

Happily, I own no Bryan Adams cds.