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 ...
We had broken up for good just an hour before,
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.
And now I’m staring at the bodies as they’re dancing ‘cross the floor.
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.
And then the band slowed the tempo, and the music gets you down.
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.
It was the same old song, with a melancholy sound.
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.
They don’t write ‘em like that anymore.
They just don’t write ‘em like that anymore.
We’d been living together for a million years,
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.
But now it feels so strange out of the atmospheres.
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.
And then the jukebox plays a song I used to know.
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.
And now I’m staring at the bodies as they’re dancing so slow.
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.
They don’t write ‘em like that anymore.
They don’t write ‘em like that anymore.
Mmmm, now ?
I wind up staring at an empty glass
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.
Cause it’s so easy to say that you’ll forget your past.
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.
They don’t write ‘em like that anymore.
No, they just don’t write ‘em like that anymore.
Oh, they don’t write ‘em like that anymore.
They just don’t write ‘em like that anymore.
They just don’t, no they don’t, no no, uh-uh,
They just don’t write ‘em like that anymore.
They just don’t...(fades)
Oh eeh ooh ah ah ting tang walla bing bang.
Those Were the Days My Friend.
Then you had things like this...
I believe for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows.
1.) Lack of education.
2.) Lack of originality.
3.) Lack of talent.
4.) Desirous of Andy Warhol's 15 minutes.
Laziness, perhaps?
Cole Porter is turning over in his grave.
I still want to know if I’m supposed to care if Jimmy cracks corn or not.
Quite a different Zombie...Johnny Fever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uclM33GH4og
And this classic:
Mairzy Doats-The Andrews Sisters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXrtZ3IXDDs
And this one-definitely not PC...
Civilization-Danny Kaye with the Andrews Sisters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O4i8mKN9qI
“I believe for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows.”
That’s a lot of friggin flowers. ;0)
Yes, but the question is why such untalented people are chosen for airplay.
Well, not great POP songs.
There are many long sentences in great songs. Often published with extra punctuation, this is one sentence: “Oh say, can you see by the dawn’s early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s first gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars were so gallantly streaming?”
And so is this one:
“Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation, blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land, praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.”
And:
“Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail and mortal life shall cease,I shall possess, within the veil a life of joy and peace.”
And:
“O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed, then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee.”
And not only ancient hymns. Let’s not forget:
“And as we wander down the road, our shadows taller than our soul, there is a lady we all know who shines white light and wants to show how everything will turn to gold.”
“Tired of lying in the sunshine [and] staying home to watch the rain, you are young and life is long and there is time to kill today and then one day you find ten years have got behind you.”
Or
“Above the planet on a wing and a prayer, my grubby halo, a vapour trail in the empty air, across the clouds I see my shadow fly out of the corner of my watering eye.”
It was not impossible to have a top hit with a moral message in the 50's.
ELVIS PRESLEY LYRICS"I Believe"
I believe for every drop of rain that falls
A flower grows
I believe that somewhere in the darkest night
A candle glows
I believe for everyone who goes astray, someone will come
To show the way
I believe, I believe
I believe above a storm the smallest prayer
Can still be heard
I believe that someone in the great somewhere
Hears every word
Everytime I hear a new born baby cry,
Or touch a leaf or see the sky
Then I know why, I believe
Everytime I hear a new born baby cry,
Or touch a leaf or see the sky
Then I know why, I believe
Speaking of dumbing down, this guy analyzes 225 songs over 10 years within multiple genres—and then presents statistical representations of his findings. He’s taking samples of five songs per category per year, and then making conclusions of year to year trends within each genre from minuscule sample sizes.
Yes, seeing this in a larger context I see your point.
Louie, Louie, me got to go
Louie, Louie, me got to go
A fine little girl, she waits for me
Me catch a ship across the sea
I sail that ship all alone
I never think I’ll make it home
Louie, Louie, me got to go
Louie, Louie, me got to go
Three nights and days me sail the sea
Me think of girl constantly
On that ship I dream she's there
I smell the roses in her hair
Louie, Louie, me got to go
Louie, Louie, me got to go
Me see Jamaica moon above
It won't be long, me see me love
Me take her in my arms, and then
I'll tell her I'll never leave again
Louie, Louie, me got to go
Louie, Louie, me got to go
Well it’s one “sentence” but it’s also the half first verse. In songs and poems 1 line really functions as sentence, especially when there’s rhyming schemes. And let’s face it, those are mostly short words, I doubt that comes in higher than elementary school on the reading grade scale.
And all your other spam of examples follow the same. Small words, short clips, probably grade school reading. Most songs and poems run at less than 12 syllables a line, it’s simply not a structure that lends itself to difficult reading.
That song also uses only four or five notes on the diatonic scale. Nonetheless, it went to number one and was one of the top selling hits of 1972--if not the bestseller of the year.
A Tale of the Ticker--Frank Crumit
I’m In the Market for You--Charles Lawman
There’s No Depression in Love--Ben Selvin & His Orchestra
Oh come on now. You’re about to lose an argument after it was already conceded to you. MY point was that one sentence ran for half the first verse.
Are lines of verse usually very short? Sure. But there’s no reason a sentence has to be one line.
Most lyrics are, but do you really think this is a grade-school reading level? “Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation, blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land, praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation?”
Commonplace songs have commonplace lyrics. Great songs have great lyrics. Really great songs have great lyrics that seem commonplace.
Some bonus songs.
“When I was younger, so much younger than today, I never needed anybody’s help in any way, but now [that] these days are gone and I’m not so self assured, now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors”
“Remember, Christ our savior was born on Christmas day to save us all from Satan’s power when we had gone astray.”
At worse, payola in some form, or the DOJ/FCC has set quotas.
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