"California Dreamin'"

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"Stopped into a church I passed along the way. Well, I got down on my knees and I pretend to pray"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-aK6JnyFmk

I had always thought it was "began to pray". Why would someone go into a church and pretend to pray? Also it's the wrong tense. It should be "I got down on my knees and I pretended to pray".

A lot of song lyrics don't have perfect grammar. But for some reason I really don't mind it. Not when the internet is full of people who can barely spell their own name.

I mean, on Sesame Street when I was a kid, the human character Bob hosted a popular segment where he and Muppets would sing, "Who are the people in your neighborhood?", and it contained the lyrics "They're the people that you meet each day", and some guy I don't remember said it's supposed to be "They're the people *whom* you meet each day." SO?!?

I always thought it went "I began to pray". Oh well.

I thought it was "began" to pray as well. And I date from the same era as the song.

To deceptively justify having come in to escape the cold...

"All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray
"I've been for a walk on a winter's day
"I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A...."


Proper grammar would be "They're the people you meet each day" with neither "that" nor "whom" present within the sentence...and unnecessary use of the word "that" is one of my biggest grammar gripes. Saying ""They're the people that you..." makes me want to ask and say, "Uh, what do you mean by 'that you'? I presently happen to be the only 'you' nearby."

Agree with the answer above--he's not there to pray, he's just there to get warm. He pretends to pray to justify his presence there. (The clue is in the line about how the preacher likes the cold.)

It's not as bad as people thinking Jimi Hendrix was singing "S'cuse me while I kiss this guy", or that in Bad Moon Rising they're singing "There's a bathroom on the right."

There's a 2015 cover of the song by Sia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGkKLBv-auQ

She gets the tense right when she sings it. "Well, I got down on my knees and I pretended to pray".

Jim Croce sang "Car Wash Blues" and I thought one line was saying "Sitting at this ten-dollar-hangover bar"...but it was "Sitting at this end of Niagara Falls..."

Makes sense that you would pretend to pray to escape the cold and rain. And the preacher "closed the door because he knows I'm gonna stay....".

But..."they are the people you meet every day" is understandable, but it doesn't sound quite right.

Hmmmm...

"They" is the subject.

But "they" is also the object.

Because YOU are the agent, who meets THEM.

What a complicated sentence!

Okay... if it were "they are the people who shop at your store everyday" then that would be fine. Niether a "whom" nor a "that" would be needed.

But what if the people in question were people whom you did something to (ie were the object of some action you did?), Like "poked in the eye".

Then it would be "They are the people whom you poke in the eye everyday".

Or if you happened to be a doctor "they are the people whom you examine every day".

"Meeting" is an action( like "examining" and "poking in the eye"). And these people would be the object of the action.

So logically it would indeed be "they are the people whom you meet everyday".

So I vote for "whom".

Not true, and the question there would actually be whether to use "that", "who" or "whom" since "they are the people (? ? ?) shop at your store everyday" is definitely incomplete without one or another.


That makes no difference at all. To wit:

"They are the people you poke in the eye everyday." = "They are the people whom you poke in the eye everyday."

"They are the people you examine every day." = "They are the people whom you examine every day."

The "whom" adds nothing but grammatical baggage in either sentence.

He wanted to get out of the cold and warm up.