That WHAT you fear the most could meet you halfway. (?)

Question

http://tinyurl.com/mlo4j (unofficial lyrics to entire song)

There's a song called "Crazy Mary," sung most famously by Pearl Jam and written by Victoria Williams.

As typically transcribed, a line from song reads: "That WHAT you fear the most could meet you halfway."

I think it should read: "That WHICH you fear the most could meet you halfway."

I see no need for "that" in front of "what" unless it's part of a continuum, i.e. "Psychiatrists have determined that what you fear the most could meet you halfway."

I can't find the official lyrics from the songwriter, Victoria Williams. Several sites have the disclaimer "We're sorry but the artist has decided not to disclose the lyrics for this song."

But, Pearl Jam definitely sings the word WHAT instead of WHICH. I wonder if Ms. Williams wrote it that way just to give it an odd feel?

My main question is whether "That WHAT you..." is grammatically correct as the intro to a stand-alone sentence.

G.T.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1] (unofficial lyrics to entire song) There's a song called "Crazy Mary," sung most famously by Pearl Jam and written ... odd feel? My main question is whether "That WHAT you..." is grammatically correct as the intro to a stand-alone sentence.[/nq]
Few tasks are more futile than analyzing the grammar of popular songs.

Bob Lieblich
Okay, you're right. So what?

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1] (unofficial lyrics to entire song) There's a song called "Crazy Mary," sung most famously by Pearl Jam and written ... feel? My main question is whether "That WHAT you..." is grammatically correct as the intro to a stand-alone sentence. G.T.[/nq]
No.
But songwriters often throw grammar out the window. Pop and rock songs seems to have a grammar of their own, in fact. It's cool to sound uneducated.

Stephen
Lennox Head, Australia

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Few tasks are more futile than analyzing the grammar of popular songs.[/nq]
They're grammatical in their own way, although not necessarily consistent from one song to the next. There's a college essay in the grammar of popular song if it hasn't been done already.

It can be thought of as a separate variety in which it's cool to break the rules. But only up to a point.
"This here's a story 'bout Billy Joe and Bobby Sue"

"Yesterday don't matter if it's gone"
"She don't like that kind of behaviour"
Nothing here that can't be found in speech in some varieties.

Add to these "anomalies" a peppering of standard contractions like gonna, wanna, gotta, and you have the basic ingredients of rock grammar.

Stephen
Lennox Head, Australia

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1] (unofficial lyrics to entire song) There's a song called "Crazy Mary," sung most famously by Pearl Jam and written ... feel? My main question is whether "That WHAT you..." is grammatically correct as the intro to a stand-alone sentence. G.T.[/nq]
Well, your link leads to a google search, and the lyrics are;

"Next morning on the way into town saw some skid marks and followed them around.
Over the curve, through the fields, into the house of Mary. That what you fear the most could meet you halfway."

Of course, 'that which' is correct.
Ever since "I can't get no satisfaction", I decided that it was pointless to correct song lyrics. (correction, I'm 43 and the song came out in '65. So the incorrect grammar likely occured to be sometime in grade school, as the nun hit my hand with a ruler for saying 'aint' or using double negatives)
JOE

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Ever since "I can't get no satisfaction", I decided that it was pointless to correct song lyrics. (correction, I'm 43 ... in grade school, as the nun hit my hand with a ruler for saying 'aint' or using double negatives) JOE[/nq]
That's usually spelled "ain't." A standard spelling for a nonstandard usage.
I've occasionally seen "ain" used when transcribing speech in varieties of African American Vernacular English in which the word contains no "t" sound. But even in such a case, a newspaper reporter quoting a speaker of AAVE would very likely represent the word as "ain't."

Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1] (unofficial lyrics to entire song) There's a song called "Crazy Mary," sung most famously by Pearl Jam and written ... odd feel? My main question is whether "That WHAT you..." is grammatically correct as the intro to a stand-alone sentence.[/nq]
I see that the capitalization of "WHAT" is part of the transcription. This would indicate strong emphasis on the word, which probably means you are right that "that" is a conjunction, not a pronoun. Perhaps something like (because it is true) or (consideringthe alarming possibility) "That what you fear most could meet you halfway, Take a bottle.." Or maybe it's an exclamation, along the lines of "That I should live to see this day!"

Usenet · Answer

(snipped)
[nq:1]Ever since "I can't get no satisfaction", I decided that it was pointless to correct song lyrics. (correction, I'm 43 ... in grade school, as the nun hit my hand with a ruler for saying 'aint' or using double negatives) JOE[/nq]
"Is you is or is you ain't my baby?"
1944. And there are others from earlier.

Cece

That WHAT you fear the most could meet you halfway. (?)

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