2:45 at night

[johnnyB7]

Hello Community
I am working on song lyric. The line in question is this:
"It's 2:45 at night"
Now, I learned that you would actually say it's 2:45 in the morning and not at night, right?
The problem is, that i need a one-syllable word at the end of this sentence, so "morning" kind of doesn't work.

My question is, is "at night" plain wrong or is it just unusual?
Do you maybe habe an Idea for another solution?

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forum, Johnny.

In song lyrics, anything goes. Go right ahead and use it; it's not all that unusual.

Would 2:45am fit?

 

[johnnyB7]

Great, thank you!
2:45 a.m. might work, but "at night" sounds kind of nicer i think.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hello. [STRIKE]Community[/STRIKE]

I am working on a song lyric. The line in question is this:

"It's 2:45 at night"

[STRIKE]Now,[/STRIKE] I have learned that you would actually say it's 2:45 in the morning and not at night. Is that right?
The problem is (no comma here) that I need a one-syllable word at the end of this sentence, so "morning" [STRIKE]kind of[/STRIKE] doesn't work.

My question is, is "at night" plain wrong or is it just unusual?
Do you maybe [STRIKE]habe[/STRIKE] have an idea for another solution?

Great. Thank you!
"2:45 a.m." might work, but "at night" sounds [STRIKE]kind of[/STRIKE] nicer, I think.

Please note my corrections above. It's important to capitalise the word "I" (first person singular pronoun) every time you write it.

The only idea I had was "2.45 am" too, because (in total) the line will have the same number of syllables as the original. I don't like "2.45 at night". However, song lyrics frequently don't follow the rules of grammar - the rhyme and rhythm of the song are more important. On that basis, you can say anything you want.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

You asked whether night is just plain wrong. It's wrong, because 2:45 isn't night. It's 2:45 in the afternoon.

In poem, you have to be careful about the number of syllables in each line.

But in a song, you don't. They adjust themselves to fit the music. A syllable can be a whole note, two whole notes, a half note, a quarter note, a sixteenth, whatever.

For artistic purposes, you can also consider saying "quarter of three." It's conversational.

 

[GoesStation]

"2.45 at night" is always and only 02.45.

That time is more commonly called "2:45 in the morning".

 

[Rover_KE]

For artistic purposes, you can also consider saying "quarter of three." It's conversational.

That's only colloquial in American English.

 

[Tdol]

Great, thank you!
2:45 a.m. might work, but "at night" sounds kind of nicer i think.

If it sounds nicer, it's probably the better choice for a song. Songwriters happily do this sort of thing- words have to fit the tune, and cutting corners with grammar is a common way of doing it.