[General] Question about the Lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)

[inase]

I have a question about a line from the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody, which I think became popular in the 1970s.

"Lightening and thunder, very, very frightening me."

Grammatically, it seems that the line should go like:

Either "... very, very frightening to me" or "very much frightening me"

I would like to know how native speakers of English feel if they hear this line. Is this still 100% acceptable for you?

I appreciate your comments in advance.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Grammar is not the most important feature for song writers. They are more interested in meter and rhyme.

 

[Rover_KE]

In this context, the word is 'lightning'.

 

[teechar]

"Thunderbolt and lightning [STRIKE]and thunder[/STRIKE], very, very frightening me."

.

 

[SpeakEasy365]

I have a question about a line from the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody, which I think became popular in the 1970s.

"Lightening and thunder, very, very frightening me."

Grammatically, it seems that the line should go like:

Either "... very, very frightening to me" or "very much frightening me"

I would like to know how native speakers of English feel if they hear this line. Is this still 100% acceptable for you?

I appreciate your comments in advance.

I would agree, that the above lyrics are a bit strange in terms of grammar. I just listened to the song and the lyrics I heard go as follows:

"Thunderbolt and lightning, very very frightening.....me"

First of all, in my opinion, the word "thunderbolt" should be in the plural form. "Thunderbolts" and lightning. Lightning is ok as that is an uncountable noun, so it doesn't take an "s" on the end to make it plural.

Also the lyrics, as mentioned in the original post, "very, very frightening....me" is not exactly incorrect, but strange at the very least. There is a pause between frightening and me, which indicates that they aren't connected, such as a collocation like "follow me" or something similar. I would suggest that "Thunderbolts and lightning, are very, very frightening for me" would be the grammatically correct version!

I hope that helps.
Teacher Greg

 

[bhaisahab]

Please correct the information in your profile, SpeakEasy365.

 

[SpeakEasy365]

Please correct the information in your profile, SpeakEasy365.

I would love to, unfortunately I don't have access to my profile yet!