Pop goes the fact-checker

I love dopey pop lyrics. Paul McCartney’s “In this world in which we live in”, the Fourmyula’s “The horizon looks much closer than it seems”, and on and on. So Word magazine’s August edition offering some wonderfully innumerate and otherwise challenged pop lyrics was a delight. Here are a few: do buy a copy – it’s really good for pop fans of a certain age.

“The Wrestler” by Bruce Springsteen:

Have you ever seen a dog with one leg making its way down the street?

With three crutches, presumably, or possibly on a skateboard.

“Cities” by Talking Heads:

Did I forget to mention, I forgot to mention Memphis/
home of Elvis and the Ancient Greeks

Memphis was about 22 km south of modern Cairo. Not very Greek at all.

“Pride (in the name of love)” by U2:

Early morning, April 4/
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky

Memphis again. Martin Luther King was shot just after 6 pm, more like early evening.

“This Time I Know It’s for Real” by Donna Summer:

What would I have to do to get you to notice me/
Do I stand in line, one of a million adoring eyes?

Ms Summer, happily, is sighted in both eyes.

“Killer Queen” by Queen:

She’s a killer queen, gunpowder, gelatine/
Dynamite with a laser beam, guaranteed to blow your mind

That would be gelignite not gelatine, which is not an explosive. At all. Unless you are really, really crap at making jelly.