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Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?
I've seen those English dramas too, they're cruel
So if there's any other way to spell the word
It's fine with me, with me
Why would you speak to me that way?
Especially when I always said that I
Haven't got the words for you
All your diction dripping with disdain
Through the pain
I always tell the truth
Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?
I climbed to Dharamsala too, I did
I met the highest Lama, his accent sounded fine
To me, to me
Check your handbook, it's no trick
Take the chapstick, put it on your lips
Crack a smile, adjust my tie
Know your boyfriend, unlike other guys
Why would you lie about how much coal you have?
Why would you lie about something dumb like that?
Why would you lie about anything at all?
First the window, then it's to the wall
Lil' Jon, he always tells the truth
Check your passport, it's no trick
Take the chapstick, put it on your lips
Crack a smile, adjust my tie
Know your butler, unlike other guys
Why would you lie about how much coal you have?
Why would you lie about something dumb like that?
Why would you lie about anything at all?
First the window, then it's through the wall
Why would you tape my conversations?
Show your paintings at the United Nations
Lil' Jon, he always tells the truth
I've seen those English dramas too, they're cruel
So if there's any other way to spell the word
It's fine with me, with me
Why would you speak to me that way?
Especially when I always said that I
Haven't got the words for you
All your diction dripping with disdain
Through the pain
I always tell the truth
Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?
I climbed to Dharamsala too, I did
I met the highest Lama, his accent sounded fine
To me, to me
Check your handbook, it's no trick
Take the chapstick, put it on your lips
Crack a smile, adjust my tie
Know your boyfriend, unlike other guys
Why would you lie about how much coal you have?
Why would you lie about something dumb like that?
Why would you lie about anything at all?
First the window, then it's to the wall
Lil' Jon, he always tells the truth
Check your passport, it's no trick
Take the chapstick, put it on your lips
Crack a smile, adjust my tie
Know your butler, unlike other guys
Why would you lie about how much coal you have?
Why would you lie about something dumb like that?
Why would you lie about anything at all?
First the window, then it's through the wall
Why would you tape my conversations?
Show your paintings at the United Nations
Lil' Jon, he always tells the truth
Lyrics submitted by carlitalolitax
Track duration: 03:15
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"If there's any other way to spell the word..."--The girl tends to correct people on spelling mistakes--the singer realizes that correcting people on unusual spellings is trivial.
"I've seen the English dramas"-- The singer is saying that the girl's exposure to high culture does not make her better than other people.
"Why would you lie about how much coal you have"-- "coal" means "useless possessions", like "coal in your stocking". Why would you lie to make yourself appear better than others?
"...about anything at all"-- Just what it says--Why are you deceitful?
"window, wall, lil' jon"-- I think this is just saying that Lil Jon, in his street-dialect style, is far less pretentious than this girl is.
"tape conversations"--Just another break-up accusation, it's a deceitful and hurtful behavior, and she's a deceitful person
"paintings...united nations"--it's just the sort of thing that a pretentious ivy-league girl would want to do--have her paintings hung in the united nations, oohh look at how sophisticated I am. Right? :)
I don't think John Negroponte is involved in this song in any way, shape, or form. You guys are pulling that out of your ass.
What is this song about? It's about not giving a fuck about silly, small and ridiculous things (see what i did there? i made a list without using an oxford comma) Anywhats, hoorah to Vampire Weekend hypothetically murdering pretentiousness.
The first stanza means that you might have the most perfect grammar in the world but if you're empty and have nothing to say "Who gives a fuck about an oxford comma?"... My grammar might be terrible but at least I have something to say!
The next part says that she is bossy and rude with him because of his faults, but he tells her all the time that he's not perfect nor pretencious, and that he's not gonna lie just beacause truth "hurts". Then he says that he doesn't care about social positions or money, when he has live more than other rich people.
The chorus remind me about getting dressed for a party, put the chapstick on your lips, crack a smile, adjust my tie, etc. She gets fancy for the other guys, not for his boyfriend, (in the second chorus he refer the boyfriend as if he were the butler)
I think that coal it's really money, and he doesn't understand why would she lie about how many things she have, if she has good things enough.
A common example of an Oxford Comma is:
"I have 100 pounds of iron, 50 pounds of steel, and coal." Here the amount of coal is not specified.
I have 100 pounds of iron, 50 pounds of steel and coal." Here without an Oxford Comma it is implied there is 50 pounds of coal. This making people think you have 50 pounds of coal even though you don't.
So lying about how much coal you have! :-)
This song makes me laugh now. I just read an interview where the interviewers asked Ezra Koenig (singer) about his love for Lil' Jon and he played along stating how awesome he thought Lil' Jon was. They asked him about this song and he said the song was about elitism, he's probably laughing his ass off about how nobody gets the meaning of this song but him.