Grammar peeve

[magid]

In the song Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, there are the lyrics
"I resolve to call her up a thousand times a day
And ask her if she`ll marry me in some old fashioned way"

Every time I hear them, I'm thrown out of the song, wondering about the grammar. In the first line, is the singer resolving a thousand times a day, or is the resolve to call her a thousand times (oh so wonderfully stalkishly)? In the second line, is the proposal the old-fashioned part, or the wedding? Leaving me with four options for what's intended. Yes, lyrical license and all that, but the song has never worked for me because of this ambiguity, however likely it is that I can guess the intent.

Comments

[majes]

Heheh. Therefore, my writing must drive you to madness.

[magid]

Surprisingly perhaps, no.

[cnoocy]

I've always read that ambiguity as indicative of cluelessness on the part of the song's speaker. The song as a whole paints its speaker as a bit of a loser, and this is part of it.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

To me, he keeps resolving to call her up, asking her to marry him, and then losing his nerve. It happens, on average, every 90 seconds.

[farwing.livejournal.com]

Well, it's the Police. Stalker songs are one of the things they do best. (Well, there is "Every Breath You Take".)

[magid.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought of that at all. Neat.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Sure, that's what I assume the songwriter intended. But in the actual wording, it's more ambiguous.

[magid.livejournal.com]

True enough!

[thespisgeoff.livejournal.com]

I haven't run into issues with the first line- I assumed he's resolving a thousand times, as opposed to calling a thousand times. Unless he means to ask her to marry him a thousand times, at which point it gets too creepy for me to find even Sting hot.

The second line, however, has always tripped me up - is he planning an old-fashioned proposal? How do you do that over the phone? Or is he planning an old-fashioned wedding, and what does that mean? Are we talking all-white spring wedding in a big church? Or a feudal-type wedding with the wedding, bedding, feasting and bloody sheets? Very confusing and, like you, it rips me out of the song.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

*is earwormed now*

I always just felt annoyed by that line. Not so much by the grammar (though I've also wondered about it), but the whole set of associated sentiments. Especially in the context of the rest of the song. And particularly because I like the music that goes along with it. Oh, The Police, why must you write good tunes with egregiously awful lyrics?? (I'm looking at you, "Every Breath...")

[magid.livejournal.com]

Yes to all of your second paragraph.

I admit I find the first line a bit less problematic, since it seems clearer what was intended, however mangled the line is now.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Apologies for the earworm.

And yes, I find the music compelling, then when I listen to the words, am often less than thrilled.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Oh, there are way worse earworms, like for example, [redacted], which I am not mentioning for fear of reinfecting myself with its horrors.

[gingicat]

I would just like you to know that I saw this at lunch and was earwormed for the entire day. (It did not help that my brain wanted to add "is a humiliating kick in the crotch" from Synchronicity II to the end of this phrase.

:p

[magid.livejournal.com]

Sorry to earworm you! (and I bet she'd say no, however many times the singer asked, if each proposal was accompanied by a humiliating kick in the crotch.... :-)