cantante

I've been singing the whole day. Thus, my diaphragm is now begging for a reprieve from the high notes and cheesy lines. I've been singing so much that the words just come out automatically and my brain doesn't really register their meanings anymore. So while I take my break and let the others belt their intestines out, I step back and appraise the songs which are randomly popping into my brain right now as well as those songs which I had listened to and sung (or hummed) for the day.

Most songs tell the same, or at least similar, stories: love, love lost, love, and love lost again. Or sex. Sex with someone you love, sex with someone you're not sure you love, sex with someone who loves you, sex with someone you don't know. Mild sex, rough sex. Watching someone else have sex with someone else, promising to be the best sex partner another has ever had, promising to never have sex again. Promises, yes there are songs about them. Wedding promises, filial promises, broken promises. Promises in all colors.

Then there's death. Death of a loved one, death of the flowers you planted in your neighbors' backyard, death of a relationship, which then brings us back to the love song yet again.

But there are also songs about fights - between and among friends, families, lovers - and, of course, fights with one's conscience. Drugs and booze also make up a big chunk of song topics. Some songs recommend them, others put vices up on a pedestal and declare that they're the best "escape" one could ever have, or the best "friend" one could ever get, up until they crash their cars and enter the Golden Gates. Some songs say they're the bane of the world's existence and that kids should never use them. These songs are referred to by many as "preachy" songs. I wonder why.

Some songs are about bitterness and others are about finding something wonderful and amazing at the end of a rainbow. Ultimately, we are led back into love songs. Bitterness is an offshoot of love (lost). The discovery of something wonderful is often about love. So, love is often the deadend of most songs.

And even if the theme goes on, over and over: a repeated litany of feelings and all supposedly uncanny emotions, these songs still sell.

I wonder, if we write songs about other things, not the aforementioned topics, would the singles still sell?