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In "She's Madonna" Robbie Williams sings:

I love you, baby
But face it, she's Madonna
No man on earth
Would say that he don't want her

I've read English books, watched movies, listened to people for over three decades now and I don't understand why "he don't want her" was written instead of "doesn't want her".

I can explain it only due to the way "don't" and "doesn't" are pronounced. The former sounds lighter and faster than the latter. Is this the reason? Still, it's confusing.

Artem S. Tashkinov
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  • Only Robbie Williams will know for sure but it's probably down to fitting the rhythm/melody. – KillingTime Jan 18 '23 at 11:56
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    Does this answer your question? Which is correct: "he don't" or "he doesn't"? or this: he doesn't vs he-don't – fev Jan 18 '23 at 12:02
  • So, there's no provision or old/deprecated rule in the language to allow that? – Artem S. Tashkinov Jan 18 '23 at 12:03
  • @fev I perfectly know the rule, but I'm trying to understand if there are exceptions or something very old in the language which allows that. As for your second question/link - Robbie is from England. – Artem S. Tashkinov Jan 18 '23 at 12:04
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    Rock music originated in the U.S., with heavy influences from the black community, and even British rock musicians use language influenced by AAVE (African American Vernacular English) and American English in their songs. – Peter Shor Jan 18 '23 at 12:21
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    Don't can mean doesn't (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/don%27t), but I would almost always frown on it as incorrect if I saw it printed. However, it's sometimes heard in spoken form. Still, I'd assume that it was used for melody and keeping with genre conventions. I doubt Robbie Williams made sure that it was grammatical before writing the lyrics, and I think that songwriters have quite a lot of leeway regarding these things. – Heartspring Jan 18 '23 at 15:05
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    As comments have tried to help, the rhyme works with the slang "don't" and not with "doesn't." "Don't want her" forms a near rhyme with Madonna, as *Dawonna*. – Yosef Baskin Jan 18 '23 at 15:25
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    @YosefBaskin that makes perfect sense, thanks. Which means the accepted duplicates are simply wrong/inappropriate. Please add it as an answer, I'll accept it. – Artem S. Tashkinov Jan 18 '23 at 15:45
  • @PeterShor Robbie has been a pop singer (a tiny bit of soft rock at most), not a rock singer. Why would he borrow from an American vernacular is beyond me. – Artem S. Tashkinov Jan 18 '23 at 15:47
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    @ArtemS.Tashkinov: he's borrowing from the American vernacular so that the song scans properly—see the comments above. And since native English speakers are so used to hearing grammar like this in songs, they probably wouldn't even notice that it's incorrect. – Peter Shor Jan 18 '23 at 19:21

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