0

Strangely, in Amy Winehouse' song "In my bed" there's a line in the chorus which goes:

So sorry if I turn my head
Yours is a familiar face
But that don't make your place safe

Obviously, "that" is like "it" and should be followed by "doesn't".

Is this a bold grammatical mistake? some extremely regional British* way to conjugate verbs? or maybe simply a style thing, to give the song more "colloquial" feeling"?

A link to the song itself (it's from her Vevo so it's legal to share)

a link to the lyrics

*although the song itself is sung with an American accent.

David Haim
  • 876
  • 6
  • 20
  • It's just a colloquial use of nonstandard grammar. The lyrics you provide contain many grammatical and spelling mistakes; 'Your still clinging' 'seperate' and so on. – Kate Bunting Oct 16 '17 at 09:23
  • @KateBunting given lyrics aside, this is what she actually sings. I wonder where is that colloquial use is used, as I never heard myself people use it. – David Haim Oct 16 '17 at 09:24

1 Answers1

1

"Don't" as a third-person singular verb form is common in many non-standard varieties of English around the globe. Now they are all frowned on socially, but in the 1880's the playwright W S Gilbert put "It don't" and "he don't" in the mouths of upper class characters.

Colin Fine
  • 77,173