Why Do Songs Break Grammar Rules?
2023-10-07
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1Hello! Our question for today on Ask a Teacher comes from a reader in Brazil.
2I have an easy question.
3Why does Sir Elton John use "don't" and not "doesn't" in the song This Train Don't Stop There Anymore?
4Thanks
5Luiz, Brazil
6Dear Luiz,
7That's a great question. As an English teacher, I often hear things in songs that do not follow grammar rules.
8Sometimes, I believe it is because the songwriter wants to speak in a way that is used by another community.
9Also, informal, or everyday, language is often not completely grammatical.
10Let's look at some of the words of This Train Don't Stop There Anymore.
11It appears in a collection of songs called Songs from the West Coast, published in 2001.
12The songwriter Bernie Taupin co-wrote this and many other songs with Elton John.
13Taupin wrote the words and John wrote the music.
14Taupin said he was always interested in "Americana," the culture and history of America, and in country and western music.
15That helps explain the images and language he put into this song.
16In the first part, the singer says he does not believe in miracles anymore and has lost strong feelings about romantic love.
17The second part brings in images of an old kind of train:
18I used to be the main express
19All steam and whistles heading west
20Picking up my pain from door to door
21Riding on the storyline, furnace burning overtime
22But this train don't stop
23This train don't stop
24This train don't stop there anymore
25The singer tells us of the strong emotions he once had by comparing them to a fast, or express, train.
26The high, sharp sound of a train warning people of its approach is called a whistle.
27Old trains used to be powered by steam engines that let out whistles as they passed through towns.
28If we connect these words to the earlier part of the song, we can get a picture in our mind of a lonely, isolated place.
29A town where the train no longer stops is usually a quiet place with little activity.
30We can suppose that town is like the singer's heart.
31My understanding of the song is that the singer is saying he no longer wants to be in love because the feeling is too strong.
32Continuing the image of the train, he sings,
33It really means my engine's breaking down
34What do you think, Luiz? Would the song be just as good if Elton John sang, "That train doesn't stop there anymore?" Maybe it would not have the quality of informal language Taupin was hoping for.
35And that's Ask a Teacher for this week. Do you have a question for the teacher? Write to us at learningenglish@voanews.com.
36I'm Jill Robbins.