I’m talking about songs in which the lyrics – though usually very “romantic” – actually express a very unhealthy attitude toward another. The kind of thing that would cause your therapist to make that unhappy face.
This is not the same as another thread describing lyrics that are clearly intended to be one thing but interpreted by ditzy people as romantic.
My best example is the “As Long as You Love Me” by the Backstreet Boys. No, I’m not a fan of the band. But when I hear the song on teh radio, it grates on me that these lyrics are presented as romantic when they actually signal someone who is desperately needy and has no self respect or judgment:
I don’t care who you are
Where you’re from
What you did
As long as you love me
Who you are
Where you’re from
Don’t care what you did
As long as you love me
Must be plenty of other examples. Anyone else notice this in songs??
Ah. My perennial favorite, which is sometimes still played at weddings:
“This one goes out to the one I love.
This one goes out to the one I left behind,
a simple prop to occupy my time.
This one goes out to the one I love.”
Then, later the third line is replaced with:
“Another prop has occupied my time.”
Definitely not what you’d want playing at your wedding (or, as another for-instance, in a montage about prisoners who miss their families).
As for the OP’s example. . .well, that’s not necessarily too unhealthy, if it’s referring only to misdeeds that occurred before the relationship began. Though, to be fair, that sentiment would be better expressed with “as long as I love you” than “as long as you love me.”
Well, if it was my daughter or son saying that to someone with a history of spousal abuse, child abandonment, running a meth lab in the rec room, and killing a man in Reno just to watch him die, I’d still say that’s an unhealthy sentiment. Even if it all occurred before the relationship began.
My favorite is “Every Breath You Take”, by the Police, when used as a ‘romantic’ dance for the wedding couple. Because obsessive, possessive, controlling stalkers are romantic.
My runner-up was Clay Gayken’s “Invisible”. Where the singer creepily follows around the, er, person he desires, without ever revealing his presence. Yeah, stalkers are great.
I think most “romantic” songs are sort of disturbing when you actually think about it. Can’t live without you, can’t breathe without you, can’t tie my freakin’ shoes without you. Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m looking for in a life partner.
Opening of the chorus:
If I were invisible,
Then I could watch you in your room
It I were invisible,
Then I’d make you mine tonight
:eek: Is this a song about stalking and rape to anyone else?
I know it’s not a romantic song, but the Kelly Clarkson song “Because of You” is the most unhealthy thing I’ve heard on the radio in ages. The singer needs to grow up and shut up and aiiieee!
There were a whole lotta masochistic gal-beatin’ lyrics in the 1920s: My Man, Mean to Me, Moanin’ Low, Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man (for some reason I can’t get any goddam urls to link today, so you’ll have to Google the lyrics yourselves) . . .
And the Beatles took the line from the Elvis song. John Lennon stated so in his interview with Playboy.
Isn’t “Johnny Angel” about sitting by the phone, waiting for the guy to call? What about “Wishin’ and Hopin’” from Dusty Springfield.
Wear your hair just for him
Do the things he likes to do
Basically, change yourself to fit his vision of what he wants.
Wasn’t there a song in the Disney movie Summer Magic called “Feminity” about how you have to be all girly and pretend to be something you’re not so you can “trap a beau”?
A married woman drives alone, picks up a stranger on the side of the road, takes him to a hotel, gets laid and pregnant then goes back after the baby is born to tell him…you were just a sperm donor cause my man couldn’t get me knocked up, have a nice life.
There’s not much to the lyrics, except this over and over again:
I can’t live, if living is without you.
I can’t give, I can’t give any more.
Can’t live, if living is without you.
Can’t give, I can’t give any more.
*
Dude, get over it! Giving up on life because your girl left you isn’t really a healthy attitude to have…