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, Traditional
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But I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
It should be "MERRY Christmas," not "HAPPY Christmas." However, we always say "Happy Thanksgiving," but we never say "Merry Thanksgiving." Do you ever hear anybody say "Merry Thanksgiving"? No. You only use Merry for Christmas. Merry Halloween just sounds weird.
Submitted by: Isac
We've no less days to sing God's praise
It should be "We've no FEWER days....."
Submitted by: S. Tim Wood
Don we now our gay apparel
It should've been "We now don our gay apparel" or "Do we now don our gay apparel".
Submitted by: JohnHowarth
Joy to the world, the Lord is come.
It is grammatically incorrect to say "The Lord IS come." It would be more grammaticaly correct to say "The Lord HAS come" or "The Lord is COMING." Nevertheless, that's the way the song was written. Why they wrote it that way is beyond me.
Submitted by: Isac
Me and Mamie O'Rourke
Tripped the light fantastic on the sidewalks of New York
These two lines were meant to rhyme nicely, but even a child could tell you that the first line should be 'Mamie O'Rourke and I,' since the singer claims to be the agent of the action in question ('[tripping] the light fantastic').
Submitted by: Raphael
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing.
It would need to say "and OF whom angels sing" to be grammatically correct, because "sing" as a transitive verb needs a song or songs as its object. One can't sing a person (including a saviour, king, or Messiah); one sings a song or songs, and that / those song(s) is or are the object of sing as a transitive verb. But it would be difficult or impossible to use "sing" correctly here as a transitive verb and fit the meter of the song. Incidentally, in what I've know as the old original version of this song, these lines are in only the first verse. That is the version I prefer (not necessarily on grammatical grounds). In modern adulterated versions of the song, these lines get repeated in subsequent verses, which doesn't fit "to a T" the context of those later verses. Worse still, the repetition gets boring.
Submitted by: Karen Smith
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