diff --git a/conf/lex.go b/conf/lex.go
index 290ac13c..cec332b7 100644
--- a/conf/lex.go
+++ b/conf/lex.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2013 Apcera Inc. All rights reserved.
+// Copyright 2013-2015 Apcera Inc. All rights reserved.
 
 // Customized heavily from
 // https://github.com/BurntSushi/toml/blob/master/lex.go, which is based on
@@ -154,15 +154,6 @@ func (lx *lexer) backup() {
 	}
 }
 
-// accept consumes the next rune if it's equal to `valid`.
-func (lx *lexer) accept(valid rune) bool {
-	if lx.next() == valid {
-		return true
-	}
-	lx.backup()
-	return false
-}
-
 // peek returns but does not consume the next rune in the input.
 func (lx *lexer) peek() rune {
 	r := lx.next()
@@ -362,8 +353,8 @@ func lexValue(lx *lexer) stateFn {
 	case isNL(r):
 		return lx.errorf("Expected value but found new line")
 	}
+	lx.backup()
 	return lexString
-	//return lx.errorf("Expected value but found '%s' instead.", r)
 }
 
 // lexArrayValue consumes one value in an array. It assumes that '[' or ','
@@ -529,17 +520,6 @@ func lexMapValue(lx *lexer) stateFn {
 	switch {
 	case isWhitespace(r) || isNL(r):
 		return lexSkip(lx, lexMapValue)
-	case r == commentHashStart:
-		lx.push(lexMapValue)
-		return lexCommentStart
-	case r == commentSlashStart:
-		rn := lx.next()
-		if rn == commentSlashStart {
-			lx.push(lexMapValue)
-			return lexCommentStart
-		}
-		lx.backup()
-		fallthrough
 	case r == mapValTerm:
 		return lx.errorf("Unexpected map value terminator %q.", mapValTerm)
 	case r == mapEnd:
@@ -649,32 +629,6 @@ func lexString(lx *lexer) stateFn {
 	return lexString
 }
 
-// lexDubString consumes the inner contents of a string. It assumes that the
-// beginning '"' has already been consumed and ignored.
-func lexDubString(lx *lexer) stateFn {
-	r := lx.next()
-	switch {
-	case r == '\\':
-		return lexStringEscape
-	// Termination of non-quoted strings
-	case isNL(r) || r == eof || r == optValTerm || isWhitespace(r):
-		lx.backup()
-		if lx.isBool() {
-			lx.emit(itemBool)
-		} else {
-			lx.emit(itemString)
-		}
-		return lx.pop()
-	case r == dqStringEnd:
-		lx.backup()
-		lx.emit(itemString)
-		lx.next()
-		lx.ignore()
-		return lx.pop()
-	}
-	return lexDubString
-}
-
 // lexBlock consumes the inner contents as a string. It assumes that the
 // beginning '(' has already been consumed and ignored. It will continue
 // processing until it finds a ')' on a new line by itself.
diff --git a/conf/lex_test.go b/conf/lex_test.go
index 71e427ed..bd917613 100644
--- a/conf/lex_test.go
+++ b/conf/lex_test.go
@@ -38,6 +38,29 @@ func TestSimpleKeyStringValues(t *testing.T) {
 	// NL
 	lx = lex("foo='bar'\r\n")
 	expect(t, lx, expectedItems)
+	lx = lex("foo=\t'bar'\t")
+	expect(t, lx, expectedItems)
+}
+
+func TestComplexStringValues(t *testing.T) {
+	expectedItems := []item{
+		{itemKey, "foo", 1},
+		{itemString, "bar\\r\\n  \\t", 1},
+		{itemEOF, "", 2},
+	}
+
+	lx := lex("foo = 'bar\\r\\n  \\t'")
+	expect(t, lx, expectedItems)
+}
+
+func TestBinaryString(t *testing.T) {
+	expectedItems := []item{
+		{itemKey, "foo", 1},
+		{itemString, "\\x22", 1},
+		{itemEOF, "", 1},
+	}
+	lx := lex("foo = \\x22")
+	expect(t, lx, expectedItems)
 }
 
 func TestSimpleKeyIntegerValues(t *testing.T) {
@@ -96,6 +119,21 @@ func TestComments(t *testing.T) {
 	expect(t, lx, expectedItems)
 }
 
+func TestTopValuesWithComments(t *testing.T) {
+	expectedItems := []item{
+		{itemKey, "foo", 1},
+		{itemInteger, "123", 1},
+		{itemCommentStart, "", 1},
+		{itemText, " This is a comment", 1},
+		{itemEOF, "", 1},
+	}
+
+	lx := lex("foo = 123 // This is a comment")
+	expect(t, lx, expectedItems)
+	lx = lex("foo=123    # This is a comment")
+	expect(t, lx, expectedItems)
+}
+
 func TestArrays(t *testing.T) {
 	expectedItems := []item{
 		{itemKey, "foo", 1},
@@ -153,7 +191,7 @@ func TestMultilineArrays(t *testing.T) {
 var mlArrayNoSep = `
 # top level comment
 foo = [
- 1
+ 1 // foo
  2
  3
  'bar'
@@ -168,6 +206,8 @@ func TestMultilineArraysNoSep(t *testing.T) {
 		{itemKey, "foo", 3},
 		{itemArrayStart, "", 3},
 		{itemInteger, "1", 4},
+		{itemCommentStart, "", 4},
+		{itemText, " foo", 4},
 		{itemInteger, "2", 5},
 		{itemInteger, "3", 6},
 		{itemString, "bar", 7},
@@ -197,8 +237,8 @@ func TestSimpleMap(t *testing.T) {
 
 var mlMap = `
 foo = {
-  ip = '127.0.0.1'
-  port= 4242
+  ip = '127.0.0.1' # the IP
+  port= 4242 // the port
 }
 `
 
@@ -208,8 +248,12 @@ func TestMultilineMap(t *testing.T) {
 		{itemMapStart, "", 2},
 		{itemKey, "ip", 3},
 		{itemString, "127.0.0.1", 3},
+		{itemCommentStart, "", 3},
+		{itemText, " the IP", 3},
 		{itemKey, "port", 4},
 		{itemInteger, "4242", 4},
+		{itemCommentStart, "", 4},
+		{itemText, " the port", 4},
 		{itemMapEnd, "", 5},
 		{itemEOF, "", 5},
 	}