Pop Song Analogies

March 22, 2006 1:55 PM

For a Friend: What are some songs about about people who used to see eye to eye, but now they hate each other and can't un­der­stand each other? Or about righteous people trying to smash down lower people?

(For an essay about the history of the middle east... She's using modern pop songs as an analog (ideally bad pop songs, but all are fine). So any songs that can be seen as analogies for the Shiite/Sunni split, the Crusades, colonialism, globalization, etc. would be fantastic.) Thanks!

posted by ruwan to Media & Arts (39 answers total)

Pink Floyd's Lost For Words sort of springs to mind.
posted by Wolfdog at 2:00 PM on March 22, 2006

After the Beatles split, John wrote a fairly nastygram of a song to Paul called How do You Sleep at Night:

So sgt. pepper took you by surprise
You better see right through that mother’s eyes
Those freaks was right when they said you was dead
The one mistake you made was in your head
Ah, how do you sleep?
Ah, how do you sleep at night?

You live with straights who tell you you was king
Jump when your momma tell you anything
The only thing you done was yesterday
And since you’re gone you’re just another day
Ah, how do you sleep?
Ah, how do you sleep at night?

Ah, how do you sleep?
Ah, how do you sleep at night?

A pretty face may last a year or two
But pretty soon they’ll see what you can do
The sound you make is muzak to my ears
You must have learned something in all those years
Ah, how do you sleep?
Ah, how do you sleep at night?
posted by vacapinta at 2:02 PM on March 22, 2006

Because I used to love her, but it's all over now.
posted by languagehat at 2:03 PM on March 22, 2006

Not quite what you're asking for, but You Don't Bring Me Flowers by Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond is now stuck in my head, and could potentially work (especially for the globalization bit, with the general "You used to help us, now you're screwing us over" thought).
posted by occhiblu at 2:08 PM on March 22, 2006

The album Kangaroo? by The Red Krayola and the political art collective Art & Language is a pro-marxist concept album about the Russian Revolution that has a few examples of this. It's just possible that the whole thing is an enormous piss take too, but I'm pretty sure it's all meant to be sincere.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 2:09 PM on March 22, 2006

Oh and that bloody awful song "People Are People" by Depeche Mode.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 2:10 PM on March 22, 2006

Bad Moon Rising. John Fogerty could have written that song about the Middle East.
posted by Neiltupper at 2:13 PM on March 22, 2006

Rush, Open Secrets.
posted by Wolfdog at 2:15 PM on March 22, 2006

Burning Sky by The Jam comes to mind.
posted by Your Time Machine Sucks at 2:19 PM on March 22, 2006

Dave Mason's "We Just Disagree"
posted by grateful at 2:20 PM on March 22, 2006

"The Bitch is Back" Elton John

"I was The One" Elvis Presley

"Big Shot" Billy Joel

and several songs from Pink Floyd
posted by SwingingJohnson1968 at 2:21 PM on March 22, 2006

Some of the songs suggested here might help.
posted by zonkout at 2:22 PM on March 22, 2006

Graham Coxon's "Song for the Sick":

Didn't take you long boy, to stop from being a friend
I hope you hear this song boy, 'cause I want your life to end
And as I lie awake now, crying and bereaving
I guess you're happy somehow, 'cause you made me stop believing

Die Taylor die
You ain't no friend of mine
You're a scum-sucking shitty guy
So die Taylor die

You stabbed me in the back, you're lower than a snake
Your brains are in your sack, you two-faced fucking fake
You haven't even tried to tell me how it feels
I guess that's just your style, to you it ain't no big deal

Die Taylor die
You ain't no friend of mine
You're a scum-sucking shitty guy
So die Taylor die

Did you ever think you'd get away with it?
Your attitude just stinks, you cowardly little shit
Consider this a spell and watch where you tread
And I'll see you in hell, I'll be laughing 'cause you're dead

Die Taylor die
You ain't no friend of mine
You're a scum-sucking shitty guy
So die Taylor die

posted by Robot Johnny at 2:25 PM on March 22, 2006

"Fly" by Moxy Fruvous is about "that feeling when you really care for someone, at the moment when you realize you're just not right for each other" (quoting the band at a live concert)
posted by fvox13 at 2:49 PM on March 22, 2006

it was not posed
it messed me up
it was her recording herself whisper
what’s it worth to me
thinking one thought
the advice to be OK
break into children’s hospital crying out
don’t fuck with me

and i broke up
without a note
and i broke up
behind your house
and i broke up


it sss a mess
go go go go away from here
food color poured out over her shorts mixed with
i will make a gate you cannot pass
taped to their loin cloth
a sign that says WHY US!
flip yourself off but say erase it
when someone sees you
this is the worst vacation ever
i am going to cut open your forehead
with a roofing shingle

xiu xiu - i broke up
posted by atom128 at 2:53 PM on March 22, 2006

Also Xiu Xiu - Clowne Town (which is a great song)

Up and down through what you thought would be your future
Became the dark reminder of
What a rash and inconsistent faith you had
In loving your true self and your true love
Clowne towne no shelter
Clowne towne no anything
Clowne towne single angel
Clowne towne no exit
Your true father smashed his hands through the glass
And failed out of the priviledged life of his dream
Your true love has drunk herself into not being able to pay her rent
Or keeping her own word to her own self
Your true brother has betrayed you over and over
And looked you in the eye
Your true self has become weak and alone and annoying
And a true ridiculous dumb-ass
Clowne towne revealing nothing
Clowne towne a flock of coots
Clowne towne a single beauty
Clowne towne a big dumb kid
posted by atom128 at 2:56 PM on March 22, 2006

We hate it when our friends become successful by Morrissey might fit the bill. Random verse:

We hate it when our friends become successful
And if they're Northern, that makes it even worse
And if we can destroy them
You bet your life we will
Destroy them
If we can hurt them
Well, we may as well...
It's really laughable
Ha, ha, ha...

Also, I second the Graham Coxon suggestion.
posted by greycap at 3:04 PM on March 22, 2006

McMaster & James - I understand

I understand you really miss me
and you can't be by my side
you've always got the best excuses
you're such a creative girl
you always seem to keep me waiting
and now i really understand
that I'm the one who should be changing
and I will never, ever wait again wait again wait again

I used to think you really love me
but now I know you just don't care

posted by aeighty at 3:16 PM on March 22, 2006

Video for Baby Hates Me by Danko Jones. (mov)
posted by dobbs at 3:21 PM on March 22, 2006

Elton John, "I'm Still Standing"? Maybe the chorus.

"I Used to Love Her (But I Had to Kill Her)"? Bonus points accrue automatically, I think, if your friend does a laughably bad job of dubbing in "them" instead of "her."
posted by booksandlibretti at 3:27 PM on March 22, 2006

Ben Folds - Not The Same. Not so much with the hate, more with the can't understand.

Second the Jam, as well, but Thick As Thieves as well as Burning Sky.
posted by pdb at 3:44 PM on March 22, 2006

"Life's been good" by Joe Walsh (about his breakup with the Eagles - e.g. It's tough to handle this fortune and fame;
Everybody's so different, I haven't changed)

"She Has a Girlfriend Now" by Reel Big Fish (about an ex who's tastes have changed)
posted by rorycberger at 4:21 PM on March 22, 2006

Here's a vote for the 1977 hit by Dave Mason, We Just Diagree:

So let's leave it alone 'cause we can't see eye-to-eye
There ain't no good guys, there ain't no bad guys
There's only you and me and we just disagree
posted by Robert Angelo at 4:37 PM on March 22, 2006

"Killing An Arab" by the Cure?
posted by keswick at 4:38 PM on March 22, 2006

Pink Floyd - "Poles Apart" (from The Division Bell)

Did you know...it was all going to go so wrong for you
And did you see it was all going to be so right for me
Why did we tell you then
You were always the golden boy then
And that you'd never lose that light in your eyes

Hey you...did you ever realise what you'd become
And did you see that it wasn't only me you were running from
Did you know all the time but it never bothered you anyway
Leading the blind while I stared out the steel in your eyes

The rain fell slow, down on all the roofs of uncertainty
I thought of you and the years and all the sadness fell away from me
And did you know...

I never thought that you'd lose that light in your eyes

posted by lilnemo at 5:13 PM on March 22, 2006

"999 Arguments" by the O'Jays. And it's funky!
posted by gimonca at 5:24 PM on March 22, 2006

Or about righteous people trying to smash down lower people?

Roughly 60% of all reggae.
posted by rxrfrx at 5:38 PM on March 22, 2006

You would love "Soldiers of Christ" by Jill Sobule.

Lyrics here
posted by hermitosis at 6:10 PM on March 22, 2006

What are some songs about about people who used to see eye to eye, but now they hate each other and can't un­der­stand each other

Just Google "emo" and you'll find something.
posted by scratch at 6:17 PM on March 22, 2006

Another vote for Dave Mason's "We Just Disagree" here.
posted by potch at 6:18 PM on March 22, 2006

Here are a few possibilities. The lyrics should be all over the internets.

Outta Me Onto You -- Ani DiFranco

Nebraska -- Melissa Ferrick

Changed the Locks -- Lucinda Williams

Get Out of This House -- Shawn Colvin

Long Road -- Patty Griffin

Dinner at Eight -- Rufus Wainwright
posted by bim at 6:35 PM on March 22, 2006

"City of Refuge" by Nick Cave
"Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)" by the Delfonics
"The Sheep Look Up" by Fad Gadget/Frank Tovey*
"Don't Flake Out On Me" by Hefner
"You Walk Your Way" by the Isley Brothers
"Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing" and "Funky President" by James Brown

I'm sure I could think of more, but I'm only about a third of the way through ripping my music collection. Oh well.

*The album this originally appeared on deals loosely with the Falklands War.
posted by Vervain at 7:27 PM on March 22, 2006

Good Songs:
Can't Stand Me Now-The Libertines

They'll Need a Crane- TMBG

Silly (maybe not quite right but still good)
National Brotherhood Week- Tom Leher
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 7:29 PM on March 22, 2006

Hate Your Friends, by the Lemonheads. (Before Evan Dando went all poofy.) (clip)
posted by TonyRobots at 7:54 PM on March 22, 2006

CCR - "Effigy" (And why that song isn't getting any play nowadays is a mystery to me)
Joy Division - "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
Pulp - "Common People"


Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd see McMaster & James as an AskMe response.
Crazy, man.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:06 PM on March 22, 2006

Dire Straits, "Hand in Hand"

Now you and me go parallel
Together and apart
And you keep your perfect distance
And it's tearing at my heart
Did you ever feel the distance
You never tried to cross no line

Billy Bragg, "Must I Paint You a Picture"

And when i see you
You just turn around and walk away like we never met
Oh we used to be so brave

posted by kirkaracha at 8:57 PM on March 22, 2006

The Beatles - We Can Work it Out
posted by ludwig_van at 8:59 AM on March 23, 2006

I was driving around listening to the lite-rock/less-talk station, and I thought of this question -- especially the part about bad pop songs. I'm not sure what defines pop song, but for people in the US, it's probably a song that was on a Billboard pop or rock chart. Then it hit me: Bad. Pop. Song.

It's sad, so sad
It's a sad, sad situation
And it's getting more and more absurd
It's sad, so sad
Why can't we talk it over
Oh it seems to me
That sorry seems to be the hardest word

Apologies to Elton John fans, but that one drove me crazy with all the radio repitions when I was a teenager.
posted by Robert Angelo at 1:26 PM on March 23, 2006

...and let's not forget Alanis Morissette. Not a "bad pop song," in fact it's one of my faves, but here you go. Think colonial/imperial legacies, and sing along:

And I'm here to remind you
Of the mess you left when you went away
It's not fair to deny me
Of the cross I bear that you gave to me
You, you, you oughta know
posted by Robert Angelo at 1:31 PM on March 23, 2006