What I got to do to make you care? What do I do when lightning strikes me?

[Uncanny]

Why doesn't the first sentence have an auxiliary to make it interrogative?

What I got to do to make you care?
What do I do when lightning strikes me?

(Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word - Feat. Elton John)

 

[emsr2d2]

Never use song lyrics as examples of grammatical English. Lyrics are written to fit the rhyme and rhythm of the song.

 

[Uncanny]

Never use song lyrics as examples of grammatical English. Lyrics are written to fit the rhyme and rhythm of the song.

Excuse me, in real English poetry the rules are observed.
You could have just said that some drunk illiterate freaks are not bound by rules of grammar or ethics or whatever.

 

[Piscean]

Excuse me, in real English poetry the rules are observed.

Rarely.

 

[Tarheel]

Speaking for myself, I don't consciously violate the rules of grammar. But would I if it made the poem "work" better? In a word, yes.

 

[emsr2d2]

Excuse me, in real English poetry the rules are observed.

I'm not sure what you think poetry has to do with anything. We regularly remind users of the forum that song lyrics don't necessarily follow the rules of English grammar. Here are a few other famous examples:
"I can't get no satisfaction" ((I Can't Get No) Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones)
"Four a.m. in the morning" (Moonlight Shadow by Mike Oldfield)
"We don't need no education" (Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd)

You could have just said that some drunk illiterate freaks are not bound by rules of grammar or ethics or whatever.

If I'd said that, it would have made no sense. I have no idea what drunk, illiterate freaks have to do with anything.

 

[Rover_KE]

What I got to do to make you care?

As you noticed, that question is ungrammatical. Would you like to try making a grammatical sentence out of it (without regard to the metre of the song lyrics)?

What do I do when lightning strikes me?

Forget this — the answer is 'die'.

 

[Piscean]

in real English poetry the rules are observed.

One of the (many) things that distinguish fine poets from hack rhymesters is the ability of the former to play with the 'rules' of grammar in a way that would give a heart attack to any old-style prescriptive grammarian. I would not recommend that learners copy the language of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Keats, Yeats, T S Eliot, et al, but I would suggest that they do nor attempt to criticise their lack of adherence to 'rules'.

 

[jutfrank]

The website you've linked to has got the lyrics wrong. Here's the first verse:

What have I got to do to make you love me?
What have I got to do to make you care?

What do I do when lightning strikes me,
And I wake to find that you're not there?

 

[Tarheel]

As you noticed, that question is ungrammatical. Would you like to try making a grammatical sentence out of it (without regard to the metre of the song lyrics)?

Forget this — the answer is 'die'.

Well, some people survive, but it's never good.