# Why are there so many songs about love and relationships? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2011, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226 "2011-01-19T18:09:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/21 "2011-01-21T23:57:15Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Relationships are visions, but only illusions… Then why are there so many songs about rainbows? ---
**Author:** ![lshaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e36b37/32.png) [@lshaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lshaw)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/22 "2011-01-22T10:45:07Z")
I am with you on that. Where are all the songs about identity crises and aspirations and death? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/23 "2011-01-22T11:23:59Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Then why are there so many songs about rainbows? What’s so amazing that keeps us star gazing? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/24 "2011-01-22T13:01:13Z")
There are genres that do not rely so heavily on love- Gangsta rap, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/25 "2011-01-22T15:01:14Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > There are genres that do not rely so heavily on love- Gangsta rap, for example. Sort of the yin & yang of lyrics, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/26 "2011-01-22T18:16:38Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > There are genres that do not rely so heavily on love- Gangsta rap, for example. 2Pac’s song, [Me and my Girlfriend](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAKODu1Xzww&feature=fvw), is an extended metaphor about his gun, in the form of a love song. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/27 "2011-01-22T18:28:57Z")
I think that love/relationship songs are more a staple of commercial pop and dance music than as lyrical content for more serious or deeper genre-based music. As has been mentioned. love songs are not much a staple of metal (discounting hair bands, which were pop), or gangster rap or several other genres unconcerned with pop success. Love songs are a hackneyed component of pop and dance music because that kind of music makes its money off of melodic hooks, not lyrical content. The lyrics are just sounds to put to the hooks, and love songs are easy and light and don’t step on the hooks. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/28 "2011-01-23T01:12:43Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I think that love/relationship songs are more a staple of commercial pop and dance music than as lyrical content for more serious or deeper genre-based music. It depends, and this may be something that has to do with language, I don’t know. But in some genres in other languages, this is not the case. For example in Spanish, Silvio Rodríguez, Mercedes Sosa, Víctor Heredia, León Gieco, and other members of the “nueva canción” style, which usually sings protest songs, have written and recorded some of the best love songs I know. In fact, they blend the political with the romantic, as they describe their partner as someone whose love and companionship leads them to continue in their political struggles (short summary). ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/29 "2011-01-23T01:36:26Z")
What else is the hipster-generation-Y-crowd going to sing about? Once we hit 40 you should expect slew of songs about divorce, depression, and midlife crises. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/30 "2011-01-23T02:49:00Z")
Professional songwriters and musicians are rarely also professional historians or scientists. So it’s pretty unusual to come across a song about the battle of Hastings or curved space-time. But everyone has their heart broken sooner or later. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/31 "2011-01-23T04:01:08Z")
I suspect that the prevailing attitude in the music industry (at least among execs, managers, and PR & marketing types) is that there’s basically two categories of song subjects: love/sex, and the quirky topics. The lion’s share of my favorite bands and songs fall in the latter camp. Shall we start rattling off a few of the quirky-topic specialists? Let’s do, but in a new thread… [to be set up in a moment] ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/32 "2011-01-23T04:36:21Z")
[Other thread set up, as promised.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=594181) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/33 "2011-01-23T05:58:53Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > There’s always _The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald_ So that song _isn’t_ a metaphor for erectile dysfunction? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/34 "2011-01-23T06:45:32Z")
No, it’s _The Rack of the Edmond Fitzgerald_, about the breast implants of a transsexual. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/35 "2011-01-23T07:00:18Z")
folks dig fucking. me too, i s’pose. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/36 "2011-01-23T16:37:07Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > No, it’s _The Rack of the Edmond Fitzgerald_, about the breast implants of a transsexual. Theres just got to be a song about Haem..Hemah …fuck it piles. That and weak bladders at night. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/37 "2011-01-23T16:44:08Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > There’s always _The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald_ Or _Sink the Bismark_.😃 ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/38 "2011-01-23T16:54:35Z")
Back in the days when Tipper Gore and them wanted violent lyrics censored (parentel advisory labels stuck on rap CDs), Frank Zappa said something along the lines of, “if violent X-rated lyrics are going to incite violence and suicide among the young who listen to them, how come 95% of popular songs are all about love and relationships, and how come we aren’t all walking around in love thinking about our relationships?” Cause and effect. Well, maybe we all ARE as well off as we are because of sappy love songs? 😛 I don’t pay much attention to lyrics, sappy or not, but if the default is lovelovelove, I’d rather hear that than ‘worship the devil/beat up your ho/jump off a bridge’ when I DO hear the words. Back in olden days, like with folk songs, there was more variety in lyrics because these songs told stories, like fairy tales or legends. People knew of these stories by listening to popular ballads of the day, that was their entertainment and a way of passing on the stories. Now when I drive the car, an innocuous I-love-you-girl song as background noise suits the purpose, I don’t have to ponder the meaning of The Long Black Veil or who ‘she’ is in She’ll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain When She Comes. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/39 "2011-01-23T16:58:39Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > She’ll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain When She Comes. But that’s totally about a relationship. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226/40 "2011-01-23T17:13:26Z")
Because love is all around us, and it will not only keep us alive but lift us up where we belong. Love is all that matters; it’s the answer - it’s not only the greatest thing, it’s also the oldest yet the latest thing. They also say it’s a blessing and a gift. Basically, all you need is love. > [@salinqmind](#): > > Back in olden days, like with folk songs, there was more variety in lyrics because these songs told stories, like fairy tales or legends. People knew of these stories by listening to popular ballads of the day, that was their entertainment and a way of passing on the stories. Now when I drive the car, an innocuous I-love-you-girl song as background noise suits the purpose, I don’t have to ponder the meaning of The Long Black Veil or who ‘she’ is in\*\* She’ll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain When She Comes.\*\* (My bolding). I’ve known a few women like that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-songs-about-love-and-relationships/568226.md?page=3)