Friday, July 27, 2018

Lay down and think about the power of song and links...

I sometimes read Grammar Girls materials which are great and sometimes I read Miss Susy's prose on grammar which is also pretty good.  Both have written on the mysteries and complexities of the English words: lay, laid, layed, ly, lie, and lie.  Both did it with wit and humor and double entredres. At least one made references to Dylan's song: Lay Lady Lay.

Miss Susy said: First off, if Mr. Dylan were truly trying to get the lady in his big brass bed, he would have told her, "Lie Lady Lie" and, captured by his exquisite grammar, she might have given in. Doubtless, she left immediately upon hearing the phrase and Mr. Dylan was forced to work on his songwriting all by himself. Perhaps he devoted his lonely time to co-writing the lyrics for Mr. Clapton's song Lay Down Sally, as both of the songs erroneously use lay for lie


Grammar Girl puts it like this:   If you're more of a Bob Dylan fan, you can remember that "Lay Lady Lay" is also wrong. The lyrics should be “Lie lady lie, lie across my big brass bed.”

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