I’ve noticed, while slogging through the ‘Net to find decent lyrics pages to link to, that some song lyrics are slaughtered mercilessly. Isn’t there a website devoted to noting mangled lyrics? I haven’t been able to find it; I must be using the wrong adjectives in the search engines. One of my favorite examples is the song Mr. Brightside by The Killers. For some idiotic reason, every lyrics page that I’ve seen has a line “Jealousy, turning saints into the sea.” Does that make even the remotest amount of sense? Ha ha ha ha, no. The line is “Jealousy, turning sex into deceit.” See, that actually makes sense… I think too many people keep their iPods up so loud that it’s ruining their hearing by the time they’re old enough to drink.

Now, excuse me while I kiss this guy…

That Ain’t Love
performed by REO Speedwagon

You tell me what you think I’m feelin’
You know why I do what I do
Why should you listen to a word I’m sayin’
When it’s already so clear to you
You tell me ’bout my bad intentions
You doubt the very things I hold true
I can no longer live with your misconceptions
Baby, all I can say to you is

(chorus)
That ain’t love
I believe you’ve got the wrong emotion
That ain’t love
At least it doesn’t feel like love to me
As long as I say what you wanna hear
Do what you wanna do
Be who you want me to be
You think that’s love
Well baby, that ain’t love to me

We’ve got to talk it over sometime
These feelings won’t just disappear
I’m just gonna keep telling you what’s on my mind
Even if it’s not what you wanna hear
Right now your world and mine are such different places
Through yours I wander lost and confused
And I feel like I’m speaking in a different language
And the only words I haven’t used, are

(chorus)

You keep tellin’ me
You know a place where your life would be better
You’re makin’ plans long-range
But I don’t know how you expect to get there
When you refuse to change

(chorus)

Actually my favorite REO song is Can’t Fight This Feeling (definitely in the Top5 of my favorite Eighties songs, gotta love those power ballads!), but it’s a pretty straight-forward declaration of love type song. This song has probably impacted me a lot more, and I highly recommend it as a list of red flags that practically scream, “Dump this ass-hat!” (And don’t I wish I had a few dozen copies to mail to the jerks who most need to hear it… not that it would matter.) People who love you don’t try to use you, or treat you like a doormat, or belittle you, or excuse away your concerns, or placate you into shutting up and making nice and going along with their program. People who love you also don’t tolerate other people treating you like that. People who love you don’t emotionally attack you or dismiss you when you’re upset or angry; they ask you if there’s anything they can do to help, and they actually listen to you. It must have taken me a good 30 YEARS to learn that batch of lessons so that they stuck. It shouldn’t take anyone that long.