Music Monday ~ I or Me and Thank You Led Zeppelin

National Poetry Month is coming to a close this week, and I’ve been talking about “poetic license” in songs. It’s the last Monday to highlight some bad grammar.

I grew up being taught never to say “You and me.” It should always be “You and I.”

Hmm … a friend and I had a discussion on this last week, and we all know the English language is full of exceptions.

Take, for example, the incorrect use of “I” in Paula Cole’s song “I Don’t Wanna Wait.” Her song begins with:

So open up your morning light //  And say a little prayer for I …

Really? That is just bad.

Or how about Bryan Adams’  “Run To You”?

She says her love for me could never die //  But that’d change if she ever found out about you and I …

Again … incorrect. It should be you and me.

And the way to figure it out is easy. In Bryan Adams’ song, just remove the the “you and” in the phrase, isolating the “I” and see if it sounds correct.

In his case, it would be: “But that’d change if she ever found out about I.” 

When you read it like this, it’s much easier to tell that it’s wrong.

Led Zeppelin got it right with their lyrics in “Thank You,” so I’m happy to highlight their song this week. Enjoy,

~eden

* * * *

If the sun refused to shine

I would still be loving you

When mountains crumble to the sea

There would still be you and me …

Filed under: Musical Mondays