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Why are pop songs getting sadder than they used to be?
Aeon ^ | February 4, 2020 | Alberto Acerbi, and Charlotte Brand

Posted on 02/19/2020 12:27:56 PM PST by C19fan

Are popular songs today happier or sadder than they were 50 years ago? In recent years, the availability of large digital datasets online and the relative ease of processing them means that we can now give precise and informed answers to questions such as this. A straightforward way to measure the emotional content of a text is just to count how many emotion words are present. How many times are negative-emotion words – ‘pain’, ‘hate’ or ‘sorrow’ – used? How many times are words associated with positive emotions – ‘love’, ‘joy’ or ‘happy’ – used? As simple as it sounds, this method works pretty well, given certain conditions (eg, the longer the available text is, the better the estimate of mood). This is a possible technique for what is called ‘sentiment analysis’. Sentiment analysis is often applied to social media posts, or contemporary political messages, but it can also be applied to longer timescales, such as decades of newspaper articles or centuries of literary works.

(Excerpt) Read more at aeon.co ...


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment; Society
KEYWORDS: music; pop; songs
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To: SaxxonWoods

https://youtu.be/9Rhba6B0WSw


101 posted on 02/19/2020 3:03:34 PM PST by mumblypeg
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To: Steely Tom

You should look into a CD called “Time Warp”, on the Telarc label, I think Eric Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops orchestra. Some simply amazing renditions (crystal clear) of favorite sci-fi show tunes.


102 posted on 02/19/2020 3:09:24 PM PST by Kommodor (Terrorist, Journalist or Democrat? I can't tell the difference.)
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To: C19fan

Couldn’t be any worse than those depressing Bobby Goldsboro songs of the late 1960s!


103 posted on 02/19/2020 3:21:20 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: Lexington Green

Good one. How about Bobby Goldsboro ....”Honey”


104 posted on 02/19/2020 3:36:11 PM PST by Tom Bombadil
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKAeeGnAYBo


105 posted on 02/19/2020 3:39:59 PM PST by Tom Bombadil
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To: C19fan
Why? Because most musicians are insane liberals who don't have any real joy in their life except to tell people they look down upon how to live.

Plus, most American (perhaps Western) music in general nowadays seem to lack a fundamental and moving aspect of music: melody. The last time I checked iTunes top 10 of the week or day, I wasn't impressed because most wasn't very melodious.
106 posted on 02/19/2020 3:52:15 PM PST by hawaiianninja (Palm note to self: "Trump/Pence -- Making America Great Again Since 2017!")
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To: dfwgator
Cause sad songs say so much.

Sad songs not only can say a lot, but they can also be very beautiful. To me, the saddest popular song of all time is Little Mother by Vaughn De Leath, a hit in the summer of 1928. A Cottage for Sale by Ruth Etting (1930) and Stop the Sun, Stop the Moon by Paul Whiteman (1932) are very sad but also very beautiful.

107 posted on 02/19/2020 4:12:55 PM PST by Fiji Hill
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To: Lexington Green
That's a happy song.

Teen Angel--Dion & the Belmonts (1958)

108 posted on 02/19/2020 4:18:31 PM PST by Fiji Hill
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To: Sacajaweau
A Boy Named Sue...Happy or Sad??

I would say sad. But this poor boy is even sadder.

A Boy Named Hugh--Gene Price (1976)

109 posted on 02/19/2020 4:23:02 PM PST by Fiji Hill
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To: C19fan
I am not sure this would work.

Cherish is a very sad song and yet has no negative words in it.

110 posted on 02/19/2020 4:24:38 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (A hero is a hero no matter what medal they give him. Likewise a schmuck is still a schmuck.)
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To: dfwgator
“You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille (You bitch! You slut! You whore!)”

Pop singers have given poor Lucille a bad reputation.

Lucille--The Drifters (1954)

Lucille--Little Richard (1957)

111 posted on 02/19/2020 4:26:54 PM PST by Fiji Hill
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To: dfwgator

“What could possibly be sadder than any Morrissey song?”

Morrissey.

L


112 posted on 02/19/2020 4:27:41 PM PST by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
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To: higgmeister
We might mention "Patches" (not the Clarence Carter song, the Dickey Lee song),

One of my least favorite songs of all time because the protagonist is a credulous poltroon. But a year later, an antidote to that song came out featuring a protagonist who was courageous, focused and motivated.

Midnight Mary--Jerry Cole (1963)

113 posted on 02/19/2020 4:33:09 PM PST by Fiji Hill
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To: Tom Bombadil
Good one. How about Bobby Goldsboro ....”Honey”

I prefer this one.

Honey--Rudy Vallee & His Connecticut Yankees (1929)

114 posted on 02/19/2020 4:35:57 PM PST by Fiji Hill
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To: Fiji Hill
Alison Krauss.

Angelic voice and songs that will leave you at least sniffing a little.

115 posted on 02/19/2020 4:36:43 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (A hero is a hero no matter what medal they give him. Likewise a schmuck is still a schmuck.)
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To: C19fan; All

Hey Gang, nothing says “happy” like Japanese yodeling...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppm5_AGtbTo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDsFMpfFW7k


116 posted on 02/19/2020 4:37:10 PM PST by ADemocratNoMore (The Fourth Estate is now the Fifth Column)
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To: Texas Eagle; dp0622

“One of the saddest songs ever is also one of the most beautiful, Nights In White Satin by The Moody Blues.”

What put the final nail in the coffin was the poem at the end of the song, Late Lament written by Graeme Edge and spoken by Mike Pinder

Late Lament

Breathe deep the gathering gloom
Watch lights fade from every room
Bedsitter people look back and lament
Another day’s useless energy is spent

Impassioned lovers wrestle as one;
Lonely man cries for love and has none
New mother picks up and suckles her son
Senior citizens wish they were young

Cold-hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colours from our sight
Red is grey is yellow white
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion


117 posted on 02/19/2020 4:40:15 PM PST by oldvirginian (I know not what course others may take but as for me Give me Liberty or give me death)
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To: sanjuanbob

“A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night” — One of my favorite albums ever. “This Is All I Ask”, and “What’ll I do” are great — you get lost in them.


118 posted on 02/19/2020 4:40:28 PM PST by MayflowerMadam ("Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength" - Corrie ten Boom)
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To: Sans-Culotte

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_B5UrI7nAI


119 posted on 02/19/2020 5:05:23 PM PST by Don W (When blacks riot, neighbourhoods and cities burn. When whites riot, nations and continents burn.)
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To: Fiji Hill
Pop singers have given poor Lucille a bad reputation.

'Loose Wheel' by The Balgaard Brothers

120 posted on 02/19/2020 5:40:13 PM PST by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken)
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