Posted on 06/15/2015 7:35:27 AM PDT by don-o
(ANTIMEDIA) A recent study served to confirm the patently obvious: song lyrics for the most popular genres of music are ridiculously obtuse — and getting worse over time. Though this might not be a revelation, the figures are distressing indicators of both an intellectually vapid societal and cultural future as well as its apparent inevitability.
If you’ve already moved away from Billboard music, congratulations, you refuse to be insulted. But if you haven’t, or if you’re concerned about pop culture trends acting as portents of systemic dysfunction, you should probably pay attention. Andrew Powell-Morse of SeatSmart studied the “Lyric Intelligence” of 225 Billboard songs in the Pop, Country, Hip-hop, and Rock genres that spent three or more weeks parked at the top of the charts to analyze any changes over the course of ten years. And change there was.
Ten years ago, the most popular songs read between a third and fourth grade level, but the inanity only increased with time, and after a five-year downward tumble ending in 2014 (the last year of the study), chart-topping hits had a reading level equivalent to second or third grade. Broken into genres, the levels measured just 2.6 for Hip-hop/R&B, a tie of 2.9 for Rock and Pop, and faring best was Country at 3.3 —
(Excerpt) Read more at theantimedia.org ...
“It can't be wrong. When it feels so right”. Or as we like to sing it in our family: “it can't be wrong because it feels soooo good’.
So be led by your feelings. Not by your brain. Not by morals. Not by religious teaching. Not by societal laws. If it feels good, its “right”. Bruce Jenner...oops, I mean Caitlyn, would agree.
Shoo Bop Shoo Bop MY Baby Ohhh
It’s not just music lyrics, it’s pop culture in general that is a negative influence, and it didn’t start with Murphy Brown but predictably it’s gotten much worse.
The low information voters think these lyrics and these people on TV are life lessons to be adapted, they just don’t realize it’s staged, so to speak.
The increase in government force and aggression by libtardism leads to a conflict between force and mind, which leads to a nullification of the mind, which leads to mindlessness and either disappearance of the self or excessive narcissism.
Crazy words, crazy tune
All that you'll ever hear him croon
Vo-doe-de-o, vo-doe-doe-de-o-doe
Vo-doe-doe
Sits around, all night long
Sings the same words to every song
Vo-doe-de-o, vo-doe-doe-de-o-doe
His ukulele, daily
How he'll strum, bom-bom-bom
Vampin' and stampin'
And then he hollers, "Black bottom!"
Crazy words, crazy tune
He'll be driving me crazy soon
Vo-doe-de-o, vo-doe-doe-de-o-doe
Napoleon marched his men to Waterloo
What did he say to them?
Vo-doe-de-o, vo-doe-doe-de-o-doe
Washington at Valley Forge.
Frostbit and cold, and up spoke George:
Vo-doe-de-o, vo-doe-doe-de-o-doe
And Simon Legree, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin,
What did he say to Uncle Tom?
I’ll tell you what, he took his whip and said to Uncle Tom,
“Come on and Charleston!”
And in the Senate the other day,
What did our President Coolidge say?
Vo-doe-de-o, vo-doe-doe-de-o-doe
You Light Up My Life
Lyrics: Joe Brooks
So many nights I’d sit by my window
Waiting for someone to sing me his song
So many dreams I kept deep inside me
Alone in the dark but now you’ve come along
[Chorus:]
And you light up my life
You give me hope to carry on
You light up my days and fill my nights with song
Rollin’ at sea, adrift on the water
Could it be finally I’m turnin’ for home?
Finally a chance to say “Hey, I love you”
Never again to be all alone
[Chorus]
‘Cause you, you light up my life
You give me hope to carry on
You light up my days and fill my nights with song
It can’t be wrong
When it feels so right
‘Cause you..you light up my life
You may well disagree with the meaning conveyed by that song, but that’s a whole different animal from the lyrics being inane and meaningless.
Life would be ecstacy
You and me and Leslie,
Groovin....
I think the song is ok up to the end. It is praising someone they love. But the message conveyed at the end saying that if something feels right it is right, is more destructive than inane meaningless phrases. The message is essentially what was said in the 60’s: if it feels good, do it. Turn off your brain. Act on emotion. Our society is still reaping the fallout from that philosophy.
It’s all acpitalisms fault, e.g.
“When just six corporations control 90% of the media, and 80% of radio stations have identical playlists, mindless content isn’t a choice — it’s a virtual mandate.”
THEY just want to control you, e.g.
“From a political standpoint, all this ‘dumbing down’ makes sense: indoctrination creates obedience.”
—
I certainly agree about pop lyrics being inane (and in fact much worse than inane) but this article wasn’t really about that.
Long words and long sentences don’t really lend themselves to song lyrics. Go ahead, try to sing some Adam Smith. I doubt most lyrical music has ever been at an advanced reading level.
Joe Jackson - I’m The Man
Pretty soon now you know I’m gonna make a comeback
And like the birds and the bees in the trees it’s a sure fire smash
I’ll speak to the masses through the media
And if you’ve got anything to say to me you can say it with cash
‘Cause I’ve got the trash and you’ve got the cash
So baby we should get along fine
So give me all your money ‘cause I know you think I’m funny
Well can’t you hear me laughing? Can’t you see me smile?
I’m the man I’m the man
Who gave you the hula hoop
I’m the man I’m the man
That gave you the yo yo
Kung fu, oh that was one of my good ones
Well what’s a few broken bones when we all know it’s good clean fun
Skateboards I’ve almost made them respectable
You see I can’t always get through to you so I go for your son
I have a giant rubber shark and it really made a mark
Did you looka looka look it all the blood?
So give me all your money ‘cause I know you think I’m funny
Well can’t you hear me laughing? Can’t you see me smile?
I’m the man I’m the man
Who gave you the hula hoop
I’m the man I’m the man
That gave you the yo yo
Right now, I think I’m gonna plan a new trend
Because the line on the graph’s getting low and we can’t have that
And you think you’re immune
But I can sell you anything anything from a thin safety pin to pork pie hat
‘Cause I’ve got the trash and you’ve got the cash
So baby we should get along fine why don’t you give me all your money?
‘Cause I know you think I’m funny
Can’t you hear me laughing? Can’t you see me smile?
I’m the man I’m the man
Who gave you the hula hoop
I’m the man I’m the man
That gave you the yo yo
I’m the man I’m the man
Who gave you the hula hoop
I’m the man I’m the man
That gave you the yo yo
I’m the man
I’m the man
I’m the man
I’m the man
I’m the man
I’m the man
I still say the most insipid lyric of all-time came from America’s “A Horse with No Name”.......”The heat was hot.” - Really?!?!?!? You don’t say!
Indeed. Their silly lyrics were scarce enough to make them stand out in a sea of otherwise "story-telling" songs.
My 7 months preemie son (4 lbs 15 oz) was born a few years after "Feet Up" by Bob Merrill/Guy Mitchell came out and it's lyrics still stick with me 50 years later.
[refrain] Feet up, pat him on the po-po Let's hear him laugh ha-ha Feet up, pat him on the po-po Let's hear him laugh
Ain't seen a babe like this before He's so good-lookin', gonna have some more
[Refrain]
Ha-ha, now I've been known to gamble Take a little drink Then there's the night, I had a fight And landed in the clink
But now my rootin' tootin' Days are done Gotta be the man that he thinks I am 'Cause I love my son, oh
[refrain]
Ain't seen a babe like this before He's so good-lookin', gonna have some more
[refrain]
Ha-ha, I knew a lotta women When I was on the go They'd stand in line to drink my wine And help me spend my dough
But my wife Rosie Ain't that kind Got her to thank for a buck in the bank 'N' this kid of mine
I'm gonna do some braggin' Up and down the town I'm walkin' into joints a-new And passin' news around
That me and Rosie got a son Though he's just been born Gonna buy him a horn A baseball and drum, oh
[refrain]
Ain't seen a babe like this before He's so good-lookin', gonna have some more
[refrain]
He, he's as tiny as a peanut Yet I do declare Some day he'll look at me and say "Hey, how you doin' down there?"
He'll be good-hearted Like his ma But I bet, he'll be a lady-killer Just like his pa, oh
[refrain]
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Let's hear him laugh, hey
I was just thinking of this when I read your post. He wrote some great lyrics.
Empty Chairs
I feel the trembling tingle of a sleepless night
Creep through my fingers and the moon is bright
Beams of blue come flickering through my window pane
Like gypsy moths that dance around a candle flame
And I wonder if you know
That I never understood
That although you said you’d go
Until you did I never thought you would
Moonlight used to bathe the contours of your face
While chestnut hair fell all around the pillow case
And the fragrance of your flowers rest beneath my head
A sympathy bouquet left with the love that’s dead
And I wonder if you know
That I never understood
That although you said you’d go
Until you did, I never thought you would
Never thought the words you said were true
Never thought you said just what you meant
Never knew how much I needed you
Never thought you’d leave, until you went
Morning comes and morning goes with no regret
And evening brings the memories I can’t forget
Empty rooms that echo as I climb the stairs
And empty clothes that drape and fall on empty chairs
And I wonder if you know
That I never understood
That although you said you’d go
Until you did, I never thought you would
Bob Dylan is the greatest song writer of the last 150 years. He is seriously under appreciated by today’s generation. Though I can’t say I’m surprised. This is one of my favorites. But really, they’re all my favorite.
You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks they really found you
A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit
To satisfy, insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not forget
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to
~ It’s Alright Ma (I’m only bleeding)
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jHGrWTmXK6w
My theory is, they put that stuff in the videos because they know the videos will get millions of hits on youtube from paranoid people searching for illuminati symbols :)
McLain is a brilliant lyricist.
Nary a note nor a syllable is wasted.
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