Billy Joel

Song lyrics aren't supposed to be a fountain of perfect english, but on the other hand some are just so atrocious, they need to get called out. We're not looking for sentance fragments or the word ain't since there are too many instances to count.

Bad Grammar in Song Lyrics, Billy Joel

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1973-97-Complete Hits Collection album at Amazon.com

Billy Joel's, "Allentown"

The Lyrics:

Every child had a pretty good shot
To get at least as far as their old man got

Why:

"Child" is singular; it should not be referred to to by the plural pronoun "their"

Submitted by: RJSchex

Billy Joel's, "Piano Man"

The Lyrics:

But it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man's clothes...

Why:

Although the grammatically correct ways - depending on the usage he meant - are either "...I knew it completely", or "...I knew it was complete", each way posed a problem when sung: the former wouldn't rhyme with "...sad and it's sweet"; while the latter wouldn't rhythmically fit in the meter. So Billy had to CRAM (or "force-rhyme") it by doing it as we hear - which although it makes the song catchy, it's still just grammatically wrong.

Submitted by: Chowder

Billy Joel's, "Pressure"

The Lyrics:

But you will come to a place
Where the only thing you feel are loaded guns in your face

Why:

"Thing" is singular; "are" is plural

Submitted by: RJSchex

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