Retired UCSB sociologist, Thomas Scheff, has studied the changes in song lyrics during the century.  Comparing the 1930 and 1950s with the 1970s and 1990s, he finds it increasingly more difficult to encounter lyrics that deal with a positive "celebration" of love; rather, there's been an increase in "loneliness, obsession and selfish whining."  The good professor says "As I understand love, it's about feeling connected with another person.  These songs [referring to the most recent ones] are not about that.  They're about the lover's desires and pain and suffering.  They're egotistical."

His study focused on love songs from the Top 40, for which he read the lyrics of more than 500 songs.  They belong to four categories: heartbreak (lost love), yearning (unattainable love), celebration of love, and miscellaneous.  "So many popular songs are about the desires and the suffering of the lover without being connected to the other person.  The lovers are in their own bubble. 'God, do I hurt.  I hurt in 30,000 ways'"  For example, the song "How Do I Live" has a line "How do I breathe without you?"  Scheff says "That's pathological.  After reading 100 of these, you want to say 'Get over it!'"

The smallest category, at 11% of the total, was the one that "dealt with true love or actual reciprocal attraction between two individuals."  As examples, Scheff cites Fred Astaire's "They Can't Take That Away From Me" and Louis Armstrong's "Wonderful World."  He says "examples from recent years are getting harder and harder to find."

[Hey, I'm not responsible for social trends, or the bumbling misfirings of human behavior!  I just note them, and, being mindful of their entertainment value, sing a little tune "What a wonderful world!"]

This site opened:  February 15, 2000.  Last Update: February 15, 2000