Monday, 13 December 2010

I Wanna Be Your Lover, Says Prince

I've noticed a trend in the lyrics of popular music. For the most part, they are declarations of the protagonist's feelings, or proposals for some form of activity to occur (usually sex, even prior to marriage).This strikes me as a somewhat selfish.
There ought to be more consideration for the other person's feelings when it comes to the protagonist's utterances. It strikes me that the person they're singing to might not always want to make sweet love immediately or hear about how much they love them. They might have had a fucking long day, and they might appreciate it if somebody took an interest in their hardships for once rather than just assault them with a series of vulgar boasts.
'I Wanna Be Your Lover' by Prince is a prime example of the kind of thing I'm talking about. This young lady he's singing to didn't ask for this barrage of truths on his part. She might have just wanted to talk about the episode of the Simpsons that was on yesterday. Instead, we get a tyrannical outburst from the tiny song-smith, a frankly repugnant repetition of the fact that basically he wants to get her knickers off. Why doesn't he ask her how she'd feel about this situation?
Here are my suggestions for improvements in the lyrics.
"I ain't got no money
I ain't like those other guys you hang around,"
Being a bit unfair on her friends, aren't you? If you have any respect for her as a person than you ought to give these fellows she hangs around with the benefit of the doubt, seeing as she clearly deems them worthy of her company. Also, she didn't ask about your financial situation. She might be suffering some monetary woes herself, but you wouldn't know that would you, because you didn't bother to ask.
Improved version: "Hi, how are you? You alright for money at the moment?
How are your friends? They seem really nice but I've never spoke to them."
See, that's much better isn't it? Here's another example:
"I wanna be your lover
I wanna be the only one that makes you come running
I wanna be your lover
I wanna turn you on, turn you out, all night long make you shout."
Highly inappropriate and verging on chauvinistic. It should have been more like this:
"Would you like to go and get a drink sometime?"
There, much better. Just bear these things in mind in the future, songwriters. People you're writing songs about are not objects, they have thoughts and feelings too.

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