Monday, April 8, 2024

"Little Girl"

When I listened to Good Times! recently, I noticed a lyrical ambiguity in "Little Girl," specifically in the lines "Cheer up; I'll turn your frown sunnyside up / Come fill your cup."  "Come" could be either a continuation of "I'll" ("I'll turn your frown sunnyside up / [And I'll] come fill your cup") or an imperative that's separate from the preceding line.  The structure of the following verse (with its lines "Stand up; we'll go to town / Go for a ride") suggests the former, but I think the latter is also viable.