On a few pop songs
“Save a Prayer” by Duran Duran. This is a gentle pop song from the 1980s. This band has been criticized by some for being too effeminate, but I don’t think they are. Some of their songs like this one are profound. I think it is about how you might feel after a one-night stand with someone you cared about.
“The Ghost in You” by The Psychedelic Furs. This was one of my favorite bands as a late teenager. You can feel haunted by ruined romance. “She don’t fade” is the main line of the song, I think. I got to hear the band at a free outdoor concert in DC in the 1990s. The lead singer has an interesting voice, a bit rough but also gentle and She.
“Running up That Hill” by Kate Bush. I think this song has to do with the romantic tension and sometimes even anger that can occur between a man and woman even when attracted. I had a poster of Kate Bush on my dorm wall third year of college. Haha. She seems to be a good dancer too.
“Funny Little Frog” by Belle and Sebastian. I think this song is about romantic fantasy. A lot of romance is fantasy. The song seems to be about a man in his apartment thinking of a woman who does not really want him. ” You’re my girl, and you don’t even know it, and you’re the funny little frog in my throat.” There is video of the song on YouTube.
“Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen. I think this song’s lyrics are mainly ironic and angry. So it is weird that Ronald Reagan used it for a campaign in the 1980s. Everybody can make mistakes, and I am pretty sure the US war with Vietnam was one. But the communists were also wrong. Life is complicated.