Some songs remain fixed in the public mind with one particular artist. Others take on a life of their own. One of the latter is I Fought the Law, written by Sonny Curtis who joined Buddy Holly’s band The Crickets in 1958 just before Holly’s death and took over as lead vocalist (as well as lead guitar) in the band after that sad event.

The Crickets version was an LP track and a B-side in 1960 but only became a hit when the Bobby Fuller Four released the song in 1965. The Clash also famously recorded I Fought the Law.

The Crickets: I Fought the Law

Bobby Fuller Four: I Fought the Law

Curtis also wrote Walk Right Back which was a UK No 1 for the Everly Brothers in 1961.

The Everly Brothers: Walk Right Back

In addition he wrote the theme for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Love Is All Around, (not to be confused with the similarly titled song written for The Troggs by Reg Presley in 1967 and turned into a humongous hit by Wet Wet Wet in 1994.) This theme will bring back memories for anyone around in the mid- to late 60s.

Mary Tyler Moore Show Theme (Love Is All Around):

Sonny Curtis: 9/5/1937 – September 19/9/2025. So it goes.

Golfers don’t get this wrong. They don’t speak of a good lay (except maybe at the nineteenth hole.)

The difference between lie and lay is that lie is an intransitive verb, whereas lay is transitive.
In other words you cannot just lay and leave it at that. You have to lay something. E.g. “He lays the cup on the table.”€

I as a person cannot lay on my back. I can only lie on my back.
I can however lay carpets. (Thank you, doctorvee.)

Similarly a ball cannot lay; it can only lie, so when it is in a favourable position to be hit it is in a good lie.

Also you can see the lie of the land (its appearance, how it is lying.) Land cannot lay anything because land is not an agent.

Since cars lie beside the road in one of them, a lay-by ought, then, properly to be called a lie-by. (Except for the litter of course, which is laid; or perhaps thrown.)

Hens of course are said to “lay” because what is laid (eggs) is understood and doesn’t need to be stated. “That hen is a good layer.” (Of eggs.)

I can see where the confusion comes from because lay is unfortunately the past tense (preterite) of lie.
Compare: “Yesterday I laid my book down” (past tense of lay) and “Yesterday I lay on the couch” (past tense of lie.)

That Flanagan and Allen song always annoyed me.
“Underneath the arches we dream our dreams away” Present tense
“Underneath the arches, on cobblestones we lay.” Past tense
“Pavement is our pillow,” (present tense again) “no matter where we stray,
Underneath the arches we dream our dreams away.” Present tense.
I know it was for the sake of the rhyme but it makes no sense for the second line to be in a different tense from the others.

So did the Troggs’ – and Wet Wet Wet’s (they should have known better) – “Love Is All Around.”
“I see your face before me as I lay on my bed.”
NO. NO. NO. As I lie on my bed.

You can discover if REM did any better in this clip.

REM: Love is All Around

I suppose the sexual connotation of “a good lay” comes from the fact that you may perhaps lie on a bed to perform the act and so the phrase has arisen from the confusion. (Unless of course you were carrying your partner beforehand and laid her/him down onto the bed first.)

The post title might have brought in a few new visitors, don’t you think?
How cruel of me to disappoint them.