We expect (and even demand) that poets will stretch and bend the language — we call it poetic license, and we issue those licenses right and left. (Some poets use theirs more than others. Emily Dickinson’s early critics labeled her verbs in lines such as “The Dust in Streets — go down — ” as “regrettable.”) So why don’t we extend the same privilege to song lyrics?
Wrong pronoun use in song lyrics triggers quite a bit of irritation: “And it’s over now for you and I” (Keren Ann, “For You And I”), “Till the stars fall from the sky, for you and I” (The Doors, “Touch Me”), “that would change if she ever found out about you and I” (Bryan Adams, “Run To You”). There’s the grating “Us girls we are so magical,” (Katy Perry, “I Kissed a Girl”) and “You and me could write a bad romance” (Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”). Even the anthem for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, “I Believe,” included the line “I believe in the power of you and I.”
The lack of the subjunctive seems to be a common sticking point for listeners. There are The Doors again, in “Light My Fire”: “You know that I would be a liar/ if I was to say to you,/ girl we couldn’t get much higher.” Some of the others most commented on online: “If I was the king of the world” (Three Dog Night, “Joy to the World”); “What if God was one of us?” (Joan Osbourne, “One of Us”); and “I wish I was special” (Radiohead, “Creep”). On the other hand, the subjunctive has been on the endangered-species list for decades, so it might be a bit much to ask pop stars to give it lyrical CPR.
