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Friday, 7 January 2011

Lyrical Hall Of Shame 2: I'll Get You



Time for another lyrical crime against humanity from the pens of Lennon & McCartney.

Imagine I'm in love with you
it's easy 'cause I know
I've imagined I'm in love with you
many, many, many times before
It's not like me to pretend
But I'll get you 
 The problem with this is it makes no sense! The song is obviously one of unrequited love, she's not interested, but he's going to get her in the end! Go get her tiger! But he's asking her to Imagine I'm love with you which would imply he's not in love with her. In fact he's imagined he's in love with her many, (many, many) times before. Why is he doing this? What kind of weirdo imagines he's in love with someone he's not? Or if he is why does he need to imagine it? After all, it's not like him to pretend.

 Secondly, I may have got my English usage in a tangle here but I'm pretty sure this is wrong too.
Well, there's gonna be a time
When I'm gonna change your mind
So you might as well resign yourself to me
 You can resign yourself to a situation but I don't think you can resign yourself to a person. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

So as both of these lyrical misdemenours are a direct violation of the Inigo Montoya rule I hereby consign I'll Get You to the (pauses to switch on reverb and digital delay) Lyrical Hall Of Shame (...Shame...Shame...Shame...)


Related Post: Paul McCartney babbles incoherently on She Came In Through The Bathroom Window

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3 comments:

  1. Gary Horn7 January 2011 at 14:54

    It isn't Shakespeare, that's for sure. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. The Beatles, especially Lennon, thought of words as playthings. Songs weren't required to mean anything. See "Come Together" and "I Am The Walrus" and "Lucy In The Sky".

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  2. Matt Blick7 January 2011 at 15:25

    Thanks Gary!

    I've just played through Come Together for an upcoming post and I think the lyrics are brilliant! Of course you're right, intention has to be taken into consideration, but also genre. Walrus especially is a 'nonsense' song (like Alice In Wonderland is a nonsense book) and so I would judge it by different rules. But to my mind this is a straight ahead love song that doesn't abide by it's own internal logic.

    What are your favourite Beatles tracks lyrically and are there any which you think have terrible lyrics?

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  3. Unknown17 December 2012 at 06:11

    Addicted to this blog. I think you're missing the point on this one though.

    He means imagine they're in the act of making love, which he himself has thought about many times. He usually doesn't find himself fantasizing about a girl, because he is a Beatle (obviously gets whatever he wants). The fact that she's hard to get throws him off, but he is still determined. As for the bridge, resign is just a synonym for give up. In other words, even this hard to get girl can't hold out on him for long.

    I never understood this until recently. It comes off as nonsense, but I'm almost certain they meant for it to be read between the lines (and allowed on the radio, for that matter). I don't think pre-acid Beatles wrote anything awkward and contradicting without a reason. It's brilliant in a way.

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