Do pop songs say anything useful about love?

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Paying closer attention to the lite radio station that plays in the copy room here at work, I'm struck by how rarely your average pop song says something about love that relates to my own experience (lust and infatuation are another story). Dylan did it pretty regularly, but I'm wondering about more radio-ready songwriters, and how often they make useful or astute observations about love. So I'm curious, what lines about love jump out at you and make you say, "Yeah, that's dead on. I know how that feels"?

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 17:23 (twenty years ago)

Mama said you better shop around

― Old School (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

You see it all around you
Good lovin' gone bad
And usually it's too late when you, realize what you had
And my mind goes back to a girl I left some years ago,
Who told me,
Just Hold On Loosely, but don't let go
If you cling to tightly,
you're gonna lose control
Your baby needs someone to believe in
And a whole lot of space to breathe in

It's so damn easy, when your feelings are such
To overprotect her, to love her too much
And my mind goes back to a girl I left some years ago
Who told me,
Just Hold On Loosely, but don't let go
If you cling too tight babe,
you're gonna loose control
Your baby needs someone to believe in
And a whole lot of space to breathe in

Don't let her slip away
Sentimental fool
Don't let your heart get in her way
yeah, yeah, yeah,

So Hold On Loosely, but don't let go
If you cling too tight babe,
you're gonna lose it
You're gonna -- lose control
yeah, yeah, yeah Just Hold On Loosely but don't let go
If you cling too tight babe,
you're gonna loose control

Hold on Loosely, but don't let go
If you cling too tight babe,
you're gonna loose control
yeah, yeah, yeah

~ D. Barnes, J. Carlisi, J. Peterik

― xhuxk, Wednesday, 19 October 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

Love crops up quite a lot as something to sing about,
cos most groups make most of their songs about falling in love
or how happy they are to be in love,
you occasionally wonder why these groups do sing about it all the time -
it's because these groups think there's something very special about it
either that or else it's because everybody else sings about it and always has,
you know to burst into song you have to be inspired
and nothing inspires quite like love.

These groups and singers think that they appeal to everyone
by singing about love because apparently everyone has or can love
or so they would have you believe anyway
but these groups seem to go along with what, the belief
that love is deep in everyone's personality.
I don't think we're saying there's anything wrong with love,
we just don't think that what goes on between two people
should be shrouded with mystery.

― Nöödle Vägue (noodle vague), Thursday, 20 October 2005 07:57 (twenty years ago)

It's harder than ever to write songs about love I think. I think most young men (including myself) are more embarrassed about love than previous generations.

― Cunga (Cunga), Thursday, 20 October 2005 08:04 (twenty years ago)

(Did that speech change on the new version?)

Mainly, because the best l.s. are about one moment, where you either are right there in that moment and feel it, or arent and dont.

(Or, arent but can remember)

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 20 October 2005 08:05 (twenty years ago)

Why are most young men embarassed about love? is it because this generation (current under 40s, loosely) is a bunch of immoral wankfucks?

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 20 October 2005 08:06 (twenty years ago)

i'm as moral as it gets, and i'm not exactly 'embarrassed about love' but it's true that i can't think of any good non-corny songs about being in love (LOTS about unrequited love ect).

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 20 October 2005 08:09 (twenty years ago)

OK, List begins:

Aztec Camera : "How Men Are"

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 20 October 2005 08:17 (twenty years ago)

Leonard Cohen : "you never get a woman back by begging on your knees"

― snowballing (snowballing), Thursday, 20 October 2005 08:38 (twenty years ago)

Coldplay: "oh yeah?"

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 20 October 2005 08:39 (twenty years ago)

I liked Andy Gill's original review of Psychocandy in the NME where he talked about the rush of the feedback being more representative of the giddy feeling of having just fallen in love than a shedload of bland 1985-style pop songs.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 20 October 2005 08:40 (twenty years ago)

Yesterdays shatter
Tomorrows don't matter.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Thursday, 20 October 2005 08:44 (twenty years ago)

Well, "Dance Me To The End Of Love" does it for this old softie, ever since it came over the speakers in a street restaurant in Istanbul while the call to prayer was booming out of the Blue Mosque at the same time, and my partner burst into tears at the beauty and serendipity of it all, and had to go for a little walk to compose himself.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Thursday, 20 October 2005 09:05 (twenty years ago)

Presumably the Cohen version and not the Peyroux one.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 20 October 2005 09:10 (twenty years ago)

Hell yeah!

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Thursday, 20 October 2005 09:34 (twenty years ago)

Does Leonard Cohen count as radio-ready? He's great, but not all that P!O!P!, is he?

I liked the story, though. I've cried at Leonard a few times. Possibly shouldn't admit that around here..

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Thursday, 20 October 2005 10:03 (twenty years ago)

FUCK'S SAKE DOES EVERYTHING AROUND HERE HAVE TO BE BURP-BURP-BUMP CRAZY SUGA RACHEL KITTENS ALOUD?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 20 October 2005 10:07 (twenty years ago)

yes please!

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 20 October 2005 10:08 (twenty years ago)

life's easy when you're a robot, isn't it henry?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 20 October 2005 10:09 (twenty years ago)

balls.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 20 October 2005 10:10 (twenty years ago)

that would be one less thing to worry about, yes.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 20 October 2005 10:11 (twenty years ago)

FUCK'S SAKE DOES EVERYTHING AROUND HERE HAVE TO BE BURP-BURP-BUMP CRAZY SUGA RACHEL KITTENS ALOUD?
-- Marcello Carlin (marcellocarli...), October 20th, 2005.

No, but that would answer the question in this particular case..

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Thursday, 20 October 2005 10:12 (twenty years ago)

I'm sure there's room for a thread about what Leonard Cohen has to say about love.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Thursday, 20 October 2005 10:12 (twenty years ago)

MANUFACTURED POP IS MADE BY ROBOTS OH NOES GIVE ME PROPER REAL SINGERS LIKE LENNY COHEN.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 20 October 2005 10:13 (twenty years ago)

I would like to hear Leonard Cohen covering Rachel Stevens.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Thursday, 20 October 2005 10:15 (twenty years ago)

I wouldn't necessarily want to see it, though...

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 20 October 2005 10:26 (twenty years ago)

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