Tuesday, September 27, 2022

"21st Century Man"

When I listened to Time yester-day, I also noticed the structure of this verse in "21st Century Man":
Things ain't how you thought they were
Nothing have you planned
So pick up your penny and your suitcase
You're not a 21st century man
The syntax of the second line is inverted, apparently so that "planned" will come at the end of the line in order to rhyme with "man," but this inversion also illustrates the line "Things ain't how you thought they were."  Instead of a normal word order ("you have planned nothing"), there's this unexpected inversion.