Soft Rock Hits of the 70s - search

so although it was techically 1981, it was mentioned up thread - Paul Davis's "Cool Night".

one I loved as a kid, as an adult I hear it and think "ugh, relatable".

which is to say "classic"

listening to the rhino 70s box and there seems to be a significant subgenre of 'dude runs into old flame, everyone's doing fine, but dude never in fact got over old flame (and sometimes sees her face when he's fucking his wife)'. kinda creepy!

are there more recent examples of this trope in pop lyrics?

I just spent 15 minutes contemplating the amazingness of the Pablo Cruise logo, as evocative of intent as any metal band's logo.

I have the "Have A Nice Day" series of 70s comps which cover all sorts of low-charting hits, very evocative of my childhood listening to the radio. Much of my early ideas of love and relationships came from those songs.

are there more recent examples of this trope in pop lyrics?

― mookieproof, Tuesday, April 7, 2020 9:41 AM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

steve winwood - "valerie" kinda?

yikes steve

"What a Fool Believes" ??

I always figured this trope was because a lot of people were getting divorced in the 70s and because they had been off the market for a while, the people who spring to mind when romance became a possibility again were old flames
Also it seems like a distinctly cis male POV but I have nothing to prove that aside from a gut feeling

i'm definitely fascinated by this strain of thought, which like you i think of as being particularly cis male. something like bill labounty's "livin' it up" or, i mean, earlier something like "flowers on the wall". the bitter regret of someone who took what he had for granted and treated "his woman" like shit but lacking in anything resembling real insight or personal accountability. that's the extra layer of tragedy of songs like that, you just know the protagonist of the song is going to pull that shit again and again until they finally die, alone and miserable.

Whereas ladies are always singing things like "I'm happy for you. I wish nothing but the best for you both."