Shouldn’t Have Quit The Day Job

Matthew Observations

Sing, sing a song
Sing out loud
Sing out strong
Sing of good things not bad
Sing of happy not sad.

Sing, sing a song
Make it simple to last
Your whole life long
Don't worry that it's not
Good enough for anyone
Else to hear ...

Wait, what?

Hearing this song moments ago, I suddenly realized something: the lyrics are “don’t worry that it’s not good enough for anyone else to hear.” That.

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve thought the word was “if.” As in: “Don’t worry if it’s not good enough”. As in, it was possible that my song was good enough. A longshot, perhaps, but there was at least a chance.

Come to discover, after all these years, that my song is not, in fact, good enough for anyone else to hear. It’s not good enough now, and it never was.

I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut. I need to go lie down.

19 thoughts to “Shouldn’t Have Quit The Day Job”

  1. There’s no reason you can’t “worry that” a conditional may be true. “I worry that the roof will fall in” doesn’t mean the roof has fallen or certainly will fall.

    Although, to be fair, I haven’t heard your singing voice.

  3. Gotta agree with alkali and filmgoerjuan. I think you’re too damn sensitive for your own good, in any event.

  4. Compounding the Machiavellian trickery of undermining the very confidence they claim to be bolstering, that lyrical snippet immediately precedes a tricky shift in pitch, further shaking a child’s fragile hope to sing, sing a song good enough for anyone else to hear. Those heartless monsters.

    But their vicious plot failed. At about five years old, I decided if my song would never be good enough for Them, then poopy on Them.

  6. I know how you feel. I always thought Oscar the Grouch was orange. Then we got a color tv when I was thirteen. Sigh.

  8. Jake, the proper response would be: “I see what you you did there Peregrine”. Then again, maybe I’m the one breaking up the act. OR AM I??

  9. Oh my good gravy, it’s not “if”?!!

    It’s if! It has to be if! It’s been if for thirty years! Aaaaargh!

  10. I agree with the first few posters, who pointed out that it may or may not be true. We worry about stuff that *might* happen, not about certainties, and the use of “that” does not change anything. To say “I worry that something is going to happen” is the same as saying “I worry about something happening” or “I worry about the possibility of something happening.” So “Don’t worry that it’s not good enough” = “Don’t worry about it not being good enough.”

    In fact, I will go as far as saying that “that” instead of “if” here is more positive. “That” says “Don’t even worry about whether or not it’s good enough for anyone else to hear–these thoughts don’t even deserve a place in your head,” while “if” still entertains the negativity, i.e., “Well, even if you’ve discovered that your song does in fact suck, don’t worry!”

    So, if anything, you should feel even better now. :)

  11. Although early manuscripts of the lyrics originally had “even though your song is” and then that was crossed out and “that” was written in.

  12. WHAT?! I’ve been singing this song all my life! It was my childhood introduction to the Carpenters!

    I’m stricken and must also lie down. But not with you or anything, don’t worry.

  16. I’ve been thinking about this post and I’ve decided that “that” still leaves hope for the singer. Imagine, if you will, this conversation…

    Matthew: “mmm mmm mmm”
    Me: “Matthew, why aren’t you singing?”
    Matthew: “I’m worried that it’s not good enough.”
    (See? “That”. Not “if”. Stay with me now…)
    Me: “What? Don’t worry that it’s not good enough! Sing! Sing a song!”

    There. “If” wouldn’t make sense. If the word “if” was used in that line it would imply that there is a possibility that it isn’t good enough. “That” implies that the worrying could be without cause.

    I’m sure I’ve made myself ferpectly clear.

  17. my actual post is where my name should be. i’m posting from a PSP, it’s very difficult so i cant go back to fix this :P

  18. oh, it got cut off! darn! and it was a really good rant, too! oh well, at least i got a unique internet handle i can use now :P

  19. JB: “Oscar the Grouch was, in fact, orange. They changed it to green after the first season.”

    Wha? Who made that executive decision?

    “Yeh, ummm… the boys down at the lab have uncovered that being orange lends itself to some small degree of happiness. Ergo, unless we want to change his name to ‘Oscar the slightly dispondant’ we need to get away from this orange thing. Thoughts?”

    Sorry. Sidetracked. Sing a song and stuff.

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