Damn, beat me to it. That’s the song that immediately came to mind for me.
And I totally agree with the OP. The healthiest love is when there’s an even give-and-take between the two people. I’d hate someone to tell me that he gives more than he receives (or vice-versa).
That’s how I’ve always interpreted it, as well.
Elvis:
Treat me like a fool treat me mean and cruel
But love me
Take my faithful heart tear it all apart
But love me
and so on. For the oldsters amongst us.
An oldie from last century by Gale Garnett, which I’ve mentioned previously:
We’ll sing in the sunshine
We’ll laugh every day
We’ll sing in the sunshine
Then I’ll be on my way…
I will never love you
The cost of love’s too dear
And though I’ll never love you
I’ll stay with you one year…
And we can sing in the sunshine…
My daddy he once told me
Don’t you love you any man
Just take what they can give you
and you give what you can
And we can sing in the sunshine
We’ll laugh every day
We’ll sing in the sunshine
Then I’ll be on my way.
Such a nice, sunny little song. So cold and warped.
That was another one I was going to get to. I think it’s the most accurate depiction of male/female relations ever condensed into a three-minute pop song. Not that I like the situation, but it’s an accurate depiction of it!
Oo, speaking of Elvis…What exactly is “Hound Dog” supposed to be about? On the surface, it seems “hound dog” is a metaphor for a girlfriend who complains all the time, but what’s up with “catching a rabbit?”
I came in here to mention Grenade as the most co-dependent song playing right now.
Ditto on the Rupert Holmes song Pina Colada.
Enrique Whatshisface has two hit songs out right now and one has a lyric that is along the lines of My girlfriends out of town and your boyfriend isn’t here…oooh ohhh…waaah oooooh… So let’s CHEAT!
There is a song from either the late 60’s or 70’s that I’ve (and probably you) have heard a bajillion times and never paid attention to the lyrics. All I remember is it is a guy singing something like, " She’s just 13 ( or 14/15/16) years old, leave her alone, they say…"
My mouth dropped.
Someone help me out.
But, it’s ok to crap on a guy, amirite?
Well I’d rather cut you then the wedding cake,
and your bloody guts on my rented tux.
I do, I do, I do want to kill you,
Till death do us part, I’ll tear us apart
Now I kiss your cold dead lips
and I dip my chips in the blood that drips
I smear the cake right in your face
hope your god will take you to a better place.
That’s “Baby I Like it,” by Enrique Iglesias. It gets on my nerves. I tend not to like songs about cheating on one’s partner. This is why I think I’m one of the few people who don’t like “Yeah!” by Usher.
This one is from the early 80s. It’s called “Into the Night” and it’s by Benny Mardones (as mentioned by a previous poster). I think mostly girls who were 16 at the time the song came out liked it. Notice the guy singing doesn’t specify his own age. Gee, I wonder why?
I always thought the “you never caught a rabbit” line = you never did anything for me, this relationship is one-sided, etc .
Here’s another oldie I thought of: “Just Like Romeo And Juliet”. This is a guy proclaiming that he and his new girl are gonna have, like, the best romance ever - provided he can find a job so he can buy her stuff. If he can’t find a job, their romance will “be destroyed like a tragedy/Just like Romeo and Juliet.” Right. Because the real reason that Romeo and Juliet killed themselves is because they didn’t have enough money to go to the drive-in and buy each other pretty presents :rolleyes:
Really? I always thought it was eve more depressing than that - if you can’t have the person you’d really like to be with, then settle for whoever is handy.
There’s a line early on about “Because your baby is so far away.” I guess that could be in a metaphysical sense, but I always took it as “She’s out of town or you are.”
Thank you.
Either I’m missing something, or you are, or I’ve been whooshed.
Common People is in no way at all a love song - from the outset. It begins with the prospect of him him banging some rich hottie, before he’s immediately overtaken by anger and eventually hatred towards her, because she’s a ‘class tourist’, treating the plight of the poor as an exhibit - and that because of her wealth she will never understand what it means to live under the grinding burden of poverty.
(I’m on a soapbox because it is, in my opinion, the greatest pop song ever written - great tune, clever lyrics, humorous then passionate, culminating in a massive crescendo of emotion. As an aside I heard an interview with Jarvis Cocker where he said in reality he never did manage to screw her. Poor Jarvis.)
I also love it because I’ve known so many people just like the subject of the song. I was going to ask in what way it’s a love song, but I’ve already exceeded my quota of nitpicking on here lately. 
Couple of obvious songs I’m a little surprised haven’t been mentioned already (apologies if I missed a post — I did read the thread first).
Rolling Stones — Under My Thumb
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap — Young Girl
Although, arguably, the first one doesn’t quite meet the OP’s theme of not being creepy.
This is one of my favorite songs of all time. So what if it’s about a vampire who loves a mortal? Is that so WRONG? 