The Corner

Point of Order

Far be it for me to take issue with the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, but while the published lyrics of “Like a Rolling Stone” do indeed say: “When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose,” my recollection is that Dylan sang: “When you ain’t got nothing …” I’m sure I remember noticing that double negative. Though it was, of course, the sixties …

(And even if I’m right, that double negative pales alongside Elvis’s triple negative in “One Night”:  “I ain’t never done no wrong …”)

John Derbyshire — Mr. Derbyshire is a former contributing editor of National Review.
Exit mobile version