"It's Alright with Me"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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Because I'll be focusing on the Begin Here sessions for the next week or so, I thought I'd actually listen to Begin Here.  The CD copy I have has bonus tracks, the first of which is "It's Alright with Me."  I noticed something about the first line of the last verse:  "So you see I can only offer a man that's poor."

It might be a bit pedantic, but I'm in favor of "that" for things and "who" for people as far as relative clauses go.  If you follow that rule, here, there's a "that" where there should be a "who."  The speaker/singer is devaluing himself, which seems to go along with the other not-so-positive qualities he chooses to mention, like the "frost and debt and trouble" in the next line.  Actually, having that second "and" there emphasizes it too.  "Frost, debt, and trouble" would be understandable, but "Frost and debt and trouble" has an insistence because of that repeated "and" (although meter and/or syllable count for the line might figure into that too).