11/26/10

“You'll remember me when the west wind moves…”

Misheard “I never make promises lightly” as “I never make promises I can’t keep”. Both convey the same idea, but there are underlying linguistic differences. For “can’t” is a definite binary, unlike the spectrum of capability implied by “lightly”, with a Venn diagram of promises that could be kept and promised that were. But the actual lyric is especially disappointing in the context of the following “And there have been some that I’ve broken”. For “can’t keep” modifies promise, but “lightly” modifies make. Thus what is expected to be a contrast, with an impersonal statement instead of the active subject, is instead a parallel.

“…Many years have passed since those summer days…”

I hear a different tune, and I look upon the same path.

“…When we walked in fields of gold…”