Question

Why does the song say: 'It's sad to think she DON'T see what I see' Wouldn't that be DOESN'T? Why is that?

Answer 1

First of all, we have to say that it's wrong. But apart from that, there are a few reasons why this happens. Someone has said already that sometimes the word "doesn't" doesn't fit in a song, that's why they say "don't"; but this isn't the only reason. Another one is that the word "don't" might be the contracted form of "does not" as well as "do not", mightn't be? If this is true, saying "don't" as the contracted form of "does not" would be grammatically right. However, as everyone knows, it's wrong perhaps, I think this comes from the ancient English so who knows... And the last thing to say is that after all, this is lazy English. This is informal English mostly for young people who don't care so much about the language. That is why is wrong but as we can notice it's used in some songs. I hope what I have been saying here is right. I'm Spanish but an English guy who studied English and I work with, told me this. Thanks a lot Kind Regards! Alonso

Answer 2

I think it's because of the difference between written language and spoken language, as in all languages. You can agree or disagree, but languages evolve, meet other languages, change.... Only dead languages are always the same, like latin. Sorry for my English

Answer 3

Actually, it's really hard to find a well-grammer builted song. I mean, that's about how the lyrics sound.If they'd said like "She doesn't see what I see...",it wouldn't sound nice,maybe.

Answer 4

You have to remember with song lyrics or poetry, the writer is allowed a certain "license" with the English language to make the words fit into a rhythm or tempo. It is not always possible to write everything in perfect English and still make sense musically. As long as you know what the general idea of the author's meaning, you can forgive their misuse of the language!

Answer 5

In English speaking countries it is allowed to make grammar mistakes when writing a song because sometimes it's hard to fit in all the words. I read that in some grammar book when i learned English grammar. I'm an English teacher,by the way :)

Answer 6

"Don't" is often substituted for "doesn't" by less-educated people, and it is more commonly done in some regions of the US, the Mid-west and the South. It would be pretty accepted in country music.

Answer 7

You should also consider that most song writers don't consider grammar when it comes to formulating their songs. I also noticed some new words (most of them can't be found in the dictionary) are mostly found in rap and RnB songs. They are more focused on the rhyme of the songs, rather than grammar.