The most common topic for a pop song is love. More specifically, the singer describes in the first person the feeling of being in love or the effect the object of their desire has upon them. For example, “Girl, I’m just a jeepster for your love”*is a perfect expression of the exuberant joy being in love can evoke.
Pop music has been around for fifty years. One would have thought that all of that outpouring of raw feeling could be turned to some use. How about asking Dr. Popstar their advice on relationships? Of course, Dr. Popstar is usually too wrapped up in themselves to lift their eyes from their personal beloved and ponder other people’s issues, but it does happen.
As usual, The Beatles were probably at the root of it. She Loves You is unselfishly third person, lending an observational eye on another’s relationship. In a song famously monosyllabic, the single most important word is ‘apologise’. It is carefully enunciated in the third and final verse. ‘Apologise to her’ is the best piece of advice Dr. Popstar has ever given me. I took it to heart 52 years ago and have deployed it often. It has helped » Continue Reading.
