Songs for You and I....

Okay, so I kind of took today off for family-related purposes (the good kind; no one died), so I have some time on my hands to post something completely and utterly frivolous. So I got to thinking: I've always loved Top Ten Lists, Top Five Lists, or any other "Top" lists, even when the subject matter of the list is completely uninteresting or inane. So it's probably fitting that I was struck with the urge to create a "Top" list that has crossed my mind intermittently for years, waiting for the proper forum in which to make its debut. I'm talking, of course, about the Top ___ List of Rock Songs With Egregious Grammatical Errors. The blank in the list's title denotes my hope that this list will grow with your contributions.

The criteria for inclusion are simple: to be eligible, the song must prominently feature an egregious grammatical error in one of its primary verses. Garden variety double-negatives do not qualify. After all, we're dealing with rock stars, here, so the odd "ain't got no," "didn't do nothin'," etc., are simply expressions of the artists' hard-life inspired passion and down on their luck perspective, and as such, are acceptable usage in the gritty world of rock 'n' roll.

Anyway, without further ado, here is a starting list of songs whose grammatical gaffes have irked this self-professed grammar monkey for as long as he can remember. As usual, they're in no particular order of prominence:

1. Paul McCartney, "Live and Let Die."

• Egregious grammatical error: "...But if this ever-changing world in which we live in... ." By needlessly tacking on a superfluous "in" to the end of this clause, Paul commits the oft-encountered error of ending a clause with a preposition. Granted, he needed that extra syllable to fill out the rhythm of that verse, but such a bush-league error should not appear in the bridge to the chorus where the discerning and grammar-conscious listener is forced to endure it repeatedly throughout this already mediocre song.

2. Paula Cole, "I Don't Wanna Wait..[something or other]."

• Egregious error: "Open up your morning light/And say a little prayer for I... ." This is just terrible. As with the overuse of prepositions (see #1, above), it seems like people are overeager to use "I" instead of the correct "Me" in order to sound more well-spoken. It's like using "myself" for anything other than the reflexive object... ridiculous! Anyway, even college sophomores from state schools who inexplicably pay to see Dane Cook perform know that "I" is NEVER an object. Paula's obvious willingness to sacrifice her grammatical integrity merely to round out a cheap rhyme is despicable. But she's not the only one to commit this cardinal sin:

3. Kenny Loggins, "Meet Me Half Way."

• Egregious error: "Meet me half way/Across the sky/Out where the world belongs/To only you and I." See comments to #2, above. However, because this is the same guy who brought us such Top Ten hits as "I'm All Right" (Caddyshack), "Nobody's Fool" (the only bright spot from the otherwise abysmal Caddyshack 2), "Danger Zone" (Top Gun), and "Footloose" (from the eponymous movie), to name just a few, I think I'll give Kenny a free pass on this one.

4. Boston, "Peace of Mind."

• Egregious error: "Yeah, yeah, yeah/I understand about indecision... ." As a huge fan of the late Brad Delp's powerful tenor pipes and the equally powerful guitars of this once-prominent band, it breaks my heart to have to point out this nonsensical verse-filler. Again, it's in the choral bridge, so the listener gets plenty of chances to spot this easily-detected error. This is yet another example of how a few seconds' worth of sober reconsideration could have easily yielded a grammatically correct alternative; for example, "I am familiar with indecision" would have filled out the verse nicely, and preserved Boston's grammatical street cred. Instead, Delp was forced to take this easily-avoided gaffe to his grave. Sigh.

5. I could only think of 4...