February 22, 2011

Can’t Buy Me, Love

It's interesting what you miss when you listen to music written in a different time/context than yours.

I always thought that the Beatles song and lyric, "Can't Buy Me Love", was simply an example of bad grammar. Not knowing that calling a girl, "Love", for example, "C'mere, love." is common parlance in Britain.

In this song, McCartney is actually proclaiming that he, himself, can not be bought.

And this is not true. If you read the rest of the lyrics, this becomes clear. But at first brush, it makes sense right? It's a reasonable observation if you ignore all other evidence.

Today's Weird But Hugely Important Lesson:
You will always believe the first reasonable argument you hear. It is your job to seek out alternatives to compare it against.
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