From June 13, 2017
One of the ways we continually educate ourselves is by consuming pop culture. And just so you don’t think this present time has a lock on truly ridiculous ideas expressed in music, dig this award-winning turkey from 1962, sung by Jack Jones: Lollipops and Roses.
Do you believe these lyrics? “Make it her birthday each day of the week…” On Dec. 31 she’ll be 365 years old. But even more preposterous, “One day she’ll smile, next day she’ll cry,/ Minute to minute, you’ll never know why…” Sounds like she’s more than ready for the rubber room. Can you imagine living with somebody like that?
So much of our music, our movies and TV, our books, teach us an awful lot of pazoo about how we ought to relate to one another. Do you really think nobody actually picks up on this teaching? No one’s influenced by it? Well, bunkie, there’s a whole advertising industry that’s betting that you’re wrong. And a whole public education industry, too, for that matter.
The only reason nobody gets a degree in Being a Dope is that nobody needs one.
just another “subtle” diminution of females that some males enjoy perpetuating. There has been much written about that concept, so no need to beat a dead horse, but it has ever been that way.
Maranatha.
Song lyrics can be a great source of neurosis. “I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You”, “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love with You)”, “It’s Sad To Belong To Someone Else When the right One Comes Along”, and that’s just the titles. 🙂
Actually, Lollipops & Roses is an old favorite of mine and I must confess, I’ve known women just like that, although I wouldn’t go so far as to suggest these as positive personality traits. ‘Not knowing why’ on a minute to minute basis makes for a hard life.
Can’t we just stick to ‘who put the bop in the bop shoo bop shoo bop’? 🙂
I don’t know, but he or she has got a lot to answer for.
I have to wonder how many people have made poor life choices because of the influence of song lyrics. I’d venture more than a few. Art may imitate life, but it does so poorly, at best. When life begins to imitate art, the consequences can be significant.
And with some of today’s lyrics, it will be a disaster.
For certain. I’ve come across lyrics which were pretty disgusting, to say the least. Lyrics can be powerful and can also contain euphemisms that may conceal meanings from the general public, but resonate with a certain target audience. In the ‘70s, there were oblique drug references hidden in many popular songs. It was quite possible for someone to sing along with catchy lyrics and not realize the covert meaning of these lyrics is promoting something they find morally repulsive.
Lyrics with sexual content have become common over the decades, and some of these can be amazingly explicit. I recall walking into a small store, at least 20 years ago, and heard lyrics coming across the sound system which went beyond anything I could have imagined. It sounded like something you’d hear a couple of foul mouthed 15 year olds saying. To say the least, I decided to shop elsewhere. But this is an example of what has become normalized in our time. In my parent’s day, such content would never have been accepted and no reputable business would allow such lyrics on their sound system.
Sexual and violent “lyrics” are rampant.
There was a good reason our parents sought to shield us from such things, when we were young.
Some “lyrics” today are nothing but filth.
Yep.