h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

No no no! It means that in February he 'had' the boyfriend who liked like a girlfriend. Obviously .

An inventive interpretation, certainly - but no matter how I parse it I can't quite get it to mean that.

You're being very pedantic, in the case of the Killers, it doesn't really matter as the hook is so good you shouldn't give a monkey's about what the literal english interpretation of the song is. Jesus.

but this is about dodgy lyrics.

There are loads of other reasons to criticise or compliment anyone.

You're both right. In my opinion. And I started the thread. So there!

'Serving a sentence to write life's sentences'.

Fish (Marillion) at his most pretentious (and boy could he get pretentious). At least he 'fessed up to how pretentious that line was.

The most forced rhyme I've ever heard:

"Big Ann is a man at the top
Sleeping on the job
The ultra sonic, gin and tonic
Sleeping on the job"

from the otherwise great 'Glory Road' by Gillan.

inagoddadavida, baby.

I should point out that I quite like The Killers...not tons, but some. But actually the hooks in that song bug me - both the squeaky keyboard and that line. Chacun a son gôut.

I really don't like that Kaiser Chiefs one, either - the one with all the lines ending in the same rhyme. It's a clever enough idea - but the first time I heard it, I though 'But Serge Gainsbourg did it so much better!':
http://www.lyrics007.com/Various%20Lyrics/Comment%20Te%20Dire%20Adieu%20Lyrics.html

How about Joan Osborne's 'One of Us', with its chorus of:

And yeah, yeah, God is great
Yeah, yeah, God is good
yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah

And the 'classic':

Nobody calling on the phone
'Cept for the Pope maybe in Rome

And to return to The Killers, surely in these days of 'speed dating' and so forth, having a girlfriend for an *entire month* is akin to a happy marriage...

That's not a girlfriend...that's a (are we allowed to say?) shag!

Q What's the difference between a cormorant and a shag?
A You can find a cormorant in Wales.

"Somebody told me
That you had a boyfriend
Who looked like a cormorant
That I had in February of last year..."

oof!

I've always thought that Dylan's 'Blonde on Blonde' is slightly marred by 'Rainy Day Woman, No. 35':

Everybody must get stoned...

Sure, Bob, we all like the odd spliff, but do you have to bang on about it?

not misheard but misunderstood. I wore a stupid hat for years because I never understood the song 'Musthang Sally'. Mainly because of the fact that I mistook the title of the song for an instruction rather than a lady's name and her penchant for Musthang's. I was always searching the song for clues as to why Sally must be hung.

*gets big duflécoat*

Ed: >Q What's the difference between a cormorant and a shag?
A You can find a cormorant in Wales.<

[Tenuously related anecdote] While sitting with my fellow conservationists near Old Harry (a rock near Swanage, Dorset), an oily seabird flew by:

Conservationist: "Is that a cormorant or a shag?"
Jack [to no-one in particular]: "I fancy a shag."

[Ah well, you had to be there I suppose. Just not the sort of thing you'd normally say in mixed company.]



As for lyrics, I'm going for one of the most turgid piles of nonsense from the Decade of Turgidity, 'Lady in Red':

I've never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance
They're looking for a little romance
Given half a chance

Bad already, but what really gets me is that he can't decide whether to use a long or short 'a' sound, and ends up changing his mind halfway through.



About The Killers. It is important what the 'girlfriend in February' lyric is about because it's sung during the song's dramatic crescendo type thing. And you can of course pragmatically infer that 'having a girlfriend in February' means that there was no girlfriend in January or March, but that's only one interpretation