1 of 1- RadioActive
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Modern Song Lyrics Becoming More Repetitive & Egotistical
So concludes a European study that looked at song lyrics from 1980-2020, covering genres from rap, rock, country, R&B and more, with tunes you regularly hear on the radio.
The study’s author concludes there’s a lot more ego in songs that come out today, and a lot less depth to what’s being expressed, with more words being endlessly repeated in the ditties they studied.
“…the researchers looked at the emotions expressed in lyrics, how many different and complicated words were used, and how often they were repeated.
"Across all genres, lyrics had a tendency to become more simple and more repetitive," [senior study author Eva] Zangerle summarized.
The results also confirmed previous research which had shown a decrease in positive, joyful lyrics over time and a rise in those that express anger, disgust or sadness.
Lyrics have also become much more self-obsessed, with words such as "me" or "mine" becoming much more popular.”
But many of the tunes were pretty skimpy on lyrical variety, repeating the same thing over and over. Hmmm, I wonder if they’ve ever heard “I’m Henry The VIII” by Herman’s Hermits or “It’s Alright” by Adam Faith from 1965? Some things, it seems, don’t always change.
Song lyrics are getting simpler, more repetitive: Study
- newsguy1
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Re: Modern Song Lyrics Becoming More Repetitive & Egotistical
This about what I would have expected.
But, yeah lots of older pop songs had repetitive lyrics.
Henry VIII, however was deliberate.
In fact they even make a joke about it when they sing, "second verse, same as the first."
Apparently when they recorded this song it was at the last minute and they were told to write it fast.
So instead they just kept singing the same lyrics and thought it was going to be a B side song anyway that nobody would ever play.
Instead radio stations that played it were flooded with requests.
But as far as I know few new songs have the content of, say American pie, which has a chorus alright, but also verse after verse of different lyrics (that people still can't quite understand to this day."
"When the jester sang for the king and queen in a coat he borrowed from James Dean and a voice that came from you and me." Huh?
- RadioActive
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Re: Modern Song Lyrics Becoming More Repetitive & Egotistical
Actually, the truth might be that songs with repetitive lyrics are easier to remember and sing along with, so why go out of your way to construct labyrinth-like lines that won't stick in your mind? Simpler can be an earworm and when it comes to hits, it's more often songs with easy-to-recall choruses that often do best, if only because people remember them.
I recall Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits talking about "Henry" and saying he knew there were other verses, but he didn't bother to learn them, so he just sang the chorus - and not the actual song - over and over. Didn't seem to hurt sales. It was a huge hit. (I can only imagine what the British made of the statement that she refused a "Willie!")
And by the way, in case, you're curious what those missing lyrics are, they can be found here. Listening to the original version below, from 1911 no less, it's not surprising they left them out!
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Thread Starter- 67GreenRambler
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Re: Modern Song Lyrics Becoming More Repetitive & Egotistical
The jester is Bob Dylan.
- Radiowiz
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Re: Modern Song Lyrics Becoming More Repetitive & Egotistical
Simple repeating lyrics? Okay...
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- Lorne
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Re: Modern Song Lyrics Becoming More Repetitive & Egotistical
RadioActive wrote:
I recall Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits talking about "Henry" and saying he knew there were other verses, but he didn't bother to learn them, so he just sang the chorus - and not the actual song - over and over. Didn't seem to hurt sales. It was a huge hit. (I can only imagine what the British made of the statement that she refused a "Willie!")
And by the way, in case, you're curious what those missing lyrics are, they can be found here. Listening to the original version below, from 1911 no less, it's not surprising they left them out!
Herman's Hermits' version wasn't released as a single in the UK, although it was included on their debut album there. But according to Wikipedia, Harry Champion changed "Willie" to "William" in later recordings of the song that he made because of the slang meaning of "Willie".
- mace
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Re: Modern Song Lyrics Becoming More Repetitive & Egotistical
Some Motown artists [Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye] had very few repetitive lyrics as many of their songs dealt with life in the ghetto.