If you’re getting your grammar lessons from your music, it’s time to stop. While music doesn’t have to rely on perfect conventions, it should at least avoid falling into idiocy.
Of course, you can’t always blame the songwriters. After all, some lazy teacher somewhere once decided it was a good idea to teach that we should always say “you and I.” Well, we shouldn’t. “I” is a subject, not an object. Unfortunately, many lyricists don’t seem to know the difference.
Here are ten examples of songs that “Got Me Wrong” (see what I did there):
1. Rush – “Entre Nous”
Offending lyric: “The spaces in between leave room for you and I to grow.”
Even Neil Peart’s drumming can’t save Geddy Lee’s awful misuse of the personal pronoun.
2. One Direction – “You And I”
Offending lyric: “Nothing can come between you and I.”
Harry and the boys broke the hearts of studious teenage girls everywhere with this poor choice of pronoun.
3. Velvet Revolver – “Slither”
Offending lyric: “It comes to wash away the sins of you and I.”
We can’t wash away your grammatical sins, Scott.
4. Iron & Wine – “Grace for Saints and Ramblers”
Offending lyric: “It all came down to you and I.”
Sam Beam, your poor grammar is almost as bad as your new, poppier sound.
5. Every Avenue – “Between You and I”
Offending lyric: “I’ve been filling up the empty space between you and I.”
The empty space is caused by your poor grasp of the English language.
(Editor’s note: let’s take a moment to appreciate the uploader of this video)
“uhm. i was bored.
and i love this song.” – xxDorkalicous, circa 2008
6. Bryan Adams – “Run to You”
Offending lyric: “But that’d change if she ever found out about you and I.”
If she found out about your bad grammar, she’d run back to the summer of ’69.
7. Eric Carmen – “Hungry Eyes” (you know, the Dirty Dancing song)
Offending lyric: “I feel the magic between you and I.”
The magic was lost when you used the wrong word.
8. Queen – “Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy”
Offending lyric: “I’d like for you and I to go romancing.”
I only go romancing with people who know proper pronoun usage.
9. Of Montreal – “Cato as a Pun“
Offending lyric: “What has happened to you and I?”
Being an artsy-fartsy-smartsy rock band loses all meaning when you don’t know grammar.
10. Samira’s Song a Day – “The Endless Space Between You and I“
Offending lyric: The damn title. Probably the whole song. I’ve never actually listened to it.
It doesn’t matter that no one knows who you are. It doesn’t excuse your horrible grammar.Fortunately, not all musicians suck at pronoun usage. At least one artist got it right:
Thank you, Lou Gramm. You make the world a better place for me.
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