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Lyrics question. November Rain


TombRaider

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Ok, so I'm sitting here with a friend of mine who's also a GnR fan and we're sorta discussing if there is a grammar mistake or a concept mistake in November Rain.

When Axl says 'cause nothing lasts forever, even cold November Rain. Shouldn't he actually say 'cause nothing lasts forever, not even cold November Rain?

Am I wrong to think that? This is the way I see it: If you say, for instance, everybody came to the party, even your brother, you mean, everybody was there, including your brother. Now, if you say, nobody came to the party, not even your brother, then you mean, your brother wasn't there either.

Now here, Axl is trying to say, at least the way I see it, that everything will pass, because nothing lasts forever. Nothing does, including the rain. So... nothing lasts forever, not even the rain, not even cold November rain sounds more logical to me.

I don't know. Maybe it's a language thing and I'm analyzing it from a Spanish language point of view, cause we'd say nada dura para siempre, NI SIQUIERA, la fría lluvia de noviembre.

I'm not trying to be a smartass or a grammar nazi or anything and I know it's just a song, but it seems kinda weird to me. So I guess this one is for you English native speakers.

any thoughts on this?

Confused TR.

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Axl got it right. Reason it sounds odd is because he doesn't pause long enough. A comma is sometimes used when there is a slight pause.

Nah now that I think about it he does pause long enough. But he still got it right

Edited by T.wa.T
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I only know about UK English and there are many different versions (Queen's English, standard English etc)

From a written point of view then it is grammatically incorrect. However, there are no formal rules for spoken English as such and therefore it falls into the different dialect rules. I have no idea about US dialects but I would guess that it is correct from a spoken dialect point of view.

More importantly though it fits in the song.

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OK I'll act as an English teacher for this particular linguistic problem... but only because Manets shared the problem and we share a homosexual relationship;

First of all, in mainstream music, grammar is often discarded for what sounds most appealing. Take Nicki Minaj for example, ''You a stupid ho'' isn't exactly riveting English.

But back to the lyric itself -- ''cause nothing lasts forever, even cold November Rain.'' -- if you look at the beginning of the lyric you lovely South Americans, Axl has already explicitly said that absolutely nothing lasts forever, so why would he then repeat himself at the end of the lyric by again saying, ''by the way nothing lasts forever in case you didn't catch the first part of the lyric''.

That's all for today boys and girls. :lol:

Edited by NGOG
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hahahahaha... but my point is... from a grammatical point of view, he should've said nothing lasts forever, not even cold November rain. I'm just obsessed with languages and grammar, that's all.

I guess it's hard for you guys to understand why I'd wonder if it's grammatically correct or not, because English is your first language. But in my case, whenever I read a book in English, watch a movie in English, listen to a song or whatever, I'm always analyzing what I'm reading, watching or listening to, to see if I fully understand it or not. I guess I can't help it. It's something that comes with the territory when you learn foreign languages. Nothing is instinctive.

Edited by TombRaider
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im no english major but it sounds right to me... you get what hes trying to say, and i think thats all that matters really... theres plenty of simular lines in other gnr songs... too many to name actually... first example that comes to mind is out ta get me... i dont think grammar or vocabulary is the first thing on axls mind when hes writing a song

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No, it's grammatically fine, seeing as you're asking. Find it strange that someone who speaks more than one language doesn't recognise that a lot of the time there aren't direct translations between sentences. You can't say that a sentence doesn't make sense in English, because it's spoken a different way in Spanish say.

Not even cold November Rain makes much more sense. Period.

To a Spanish speaker, maybe. This is English though, not Spanish, where the original lyric makes perfect sense.

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Think of it like this:

"Nothin' lasts forever; even cold November rain doesn't last."

But honestly, good grammar isn't a perquisite when it comes to music lyrics. I can think of a lot of stuff that bothers me far more.

For example, in a Bon Jovi song "Misunderstood," Jon sings, "I should have drove all night." DRIVEN, goddamn it. DRIVEN. lol

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I know that sometimes there are no direct translations, but I just can't help seeing things from my Spanish language point of view. That's why I asked. I also think there are things in a foreign language that you will never ever understand, no matter how hard you try or how many times they explain it to you. You just won't. Like prepositions, which are a nightmare in every language. So random...

thanks anyway :thumbsup:

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I know that sometimes there are no direct translations, but I just can't help seeing things from my Spanish language point of view. That's why I asked. I also think there are things in a foreign language that you will never ever understand, no matter how hard you try or how many times they explain it to you. You just won't. Like prepositions, which are a nightmare in every language. So random...

thanks anyway :thumbsup:

No problem. Take it from us English natives that it's fine!

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