"I Don't Know (But I Been Told)"

The phrase "I don't know, but I've been told", originally part of a military marching cadence with flexible (but usually idiotic) content, occurs in pop music with surprising frequency. It generally announces that the singer is about to pass on some salty wisdom to the listener, advice for your life's journey, perhaps. Once compiled together, however, these nuggets of advice become impotent and senseless, counsels that are far less than helpful.

I compiled as many instances of this phrase occurring in a popular song as I could, using memory as well as several online lyrical search engines. The video image is of a close friend and I on a swingset, building up momentum until we jump off and leave the swings dangling empty against the sky. This piece is exhibited projected onto a wall askew, alongside the texts I assembled, scrawled in pencil on the wall:

I don't know but I've been told:
- music makes you lose control
- the streets in heaven are lined with gold
- you'll never die and you'll never grow old
- in the heat of the sun a man died of cold
- there's something waiting for us, down that dirty road
- you never slow down, you never grow old
- next to you my life's been cold
- I'm about twenty-four earth years old
- about a man named Leopold
- he's baking cakes inside our souls
- it's hard to run with the weight of gold
- if you keep on dancing you won't grow old
- Northern girls are mighty cold
- you resurrect the rock n' roll (by taking back the radio)
- it's so, you know, it's good as gold
- that good things come with time - let's go!
- there's a place where dreams are bought and sold
- big legged woman ain't got no soul
- boss' pockets are lined with gold
- if the horse won't pull you gotta carry the load
- every sinner's gonna pay a toll
- that city livin' is awfully cold
- the streets of hell are paved with gold
- you live this way you won't grow old