Today I heard a new song for the first time. It was the typical modern pop song - not exactly remarkable as it sounded like practically every other one. However, one line did stand out to me: "I got a sex drive that's push to start." What?!
I found out the song is by Dev and is called "In the Dark." Just hearing that line made me think of several other songs I've heard recently that are explicitly about sex, and it made me think, "What happened to the art of subtlety?" Or, if not subtlety, at least the use of euphemisms or something.
What happened to great songs like "Crazy on You" by Heart? Listen to the lyrics of that song. It's definitely about a romantic, sexual relationship. Yet I don't feel awkward when I listen to it. Now, however, the songs that top the charts (at least on the "pop" stations) include lyrics such as:
"Let's have some fun, this beat is sick / I wanna take a ride on your disco stick" and "I'm educated in sex, yes / And now I want it bad" (from Lady Gaga's "Love Game.")
and
"Sex in the air / I don't care / I love the smell of it" (from Rihanna's "S&M")
One of my guy friends says he used to really like Rihanna until she started singing a ton of songs (overtly) about sex. I can see what he means when I hear her song "California King Bed," which actually sounds very pretty and is slightly more "subtle" despite the obvious implications of a song about a bed ... until she gets to this line:
"With the curtains drawn / And a little last night on these sheets"
Yuck!
How could whoever wrote that song ruin it that completely? Unless you are fervently trying to imagine that Rihanna is just talking about some ice cream she spilled in bed the night before when she was having a midnight snack, that line is enough to make almost anyone feel awkward and repulsed. Every time, I'm thinking "Oh, this song is kinda pretty," and then BAM! I feel like puking.
I find it sad that so many songwriters today have lost or abandoned their talent for crafting songs about the more intimate aspects of relationships that are still beautiful and subtle enough for listeners to enjoy without feeling like they are listening to an R-rated song.
"Let me go crazy, crazy on you ... / I was a willow last night in my dream /I bent down over a clear running stream /Sang you the song that I heard up above / And you kept me alive with your sweet flowing love."
