If I lay here

[Brinestone]

For years I've been trying to decide how much Snow Patrol's lyrics to "Chasing Cars" bug me. I thought they were, "If I lay here, if I just lay here, would you lay with me and just forget the world?" I mean, yeah, it's wrong, but it's the way everyone says it now. How much value is there in preserving the lay/lie distinction?

The other day I noticed that there's a tiny difference in pronunciation in the last "lay." In fact, I thought that maybe it was "lie" instead. Which would mean that the "lay" they're using in the rest of the song is not the present-tense conditional of the verb "lay," but rather the subjunctive form of "lie," which is, indeed, "lay."

Try substituting a different verb: "If I stayed here, if I just stayed here, would you stay with me?"

Turns out there's nothing wrong with Snow Patrol's grammar or word usage after all. Problem is, I still am not sure how I feel about the lay/lie distinction.

[Scott R]

Lay it on me.

[BlackBlade]

There are layers of meaning to Scott's post.

[Jonathon]

I don't think it actually is a subjunctive. That would require it to be counterfactual, and the second half of the sentence makes it clear that it's not. He's asking her to stay with him if he stays; it doesn't make sense for him to ask her to stay if he had stayed.

[pooka]

When I try and hear the song in my head, I'm mixing up the lays and lies left and right.  Like, I was sure it was "Would you lie with me" but as I was telling my husband which song we were talking about, I also said "If I lie here."  It's not that I distinguish between lay and lie particularly well.  I think I use lie where I shouldn't sometimes.  Or maybe since I have known the rule longer than I didn't know it, it finally stuck.  But I remember thinking it was a pretty dumb rule when I was in high school.

[spacepook]

I sing it as "If I lay here/ If I just lay here/ Would you lie with me/ And just forget the world".

[Annie Subjunctive]

They should have said "Were I to lay here."

That's it. I'm writing vehement fanmail.

[pooka]

 

[The Genuine]

Are you dancer?