Ohio
Crosby Stills Nash and Young
About the May 1970 Kent State shooting
Keep On Pushing
Impressions
Paying homage to the 1963 March on Washington
Happy Jack
Who
About a schoolkid who's obviously impervious to all manners of vicious bullying by fellow classmates
Sounds of Silence
Simon and Garfunkel
Disdain for the fact that clinical laws and rules, perfunctory rituals, superficial small talk, and shameless commercialism of anything and everything has to be the norm of civilizations. No intimacy allowed.
Imagine
John Lennon
Utopian fantasies about how life would be in the perfect world---which, of course, could never exist in reality.
Even Lennon himself could never live up to the ideals expressed in this song.
Positively 4th Street
Bob Dylan
Making an upfront bold and blunt statement to a two-faced former friend wherein the protagonist states in no uncertain terms how he really feels and what he really thinks about this person.
Green Door
Jim Lowe
The pain of running across others with whom you have something in common only to have them reject you for the high crime of "being an outsider".
Morning Dew
Lulu
About a dialogue between two survivors of a nuclear holocaust during which, upon hearing the dying last breaths and moans of another immediate survivor, they choose to ignore and disavow his existence and presence as there's nothing they can do to either save him or comfort him anyway.
Journey to the Center of the Mind
Amboy Dukes
Encourages indulging in reflective narcissism.
People Are Strange
Doors
The way life is experienced from the perspective of the outsider, outcast, and lone individual.
Skip A Rope
Henson Cargill
Calling the "average Joe/Jane" on the carpet for their obvious hypocrisies.
Raised on Robbery
Joni Mitchell
Taking a stab at "female privilege".
She's certainly written her fair share of feminist themed songs as well, taking stabs at "male privilege".
I've Gotta Get A Message To You
Bee Gees
About a death-row inmate attempting to send a last-minute message to his wife/lover/former lover/mother/sister (or whoever) on the day of his scheduled execution.
Lady Jane
Rolling Stones
A song about marijuana in disguise, using names of "mistresses" as metaphors.
Smackwater Jack
Carole King
About an active shooter
Timothy
Buoys
About trapped miners who end up resorting to cannibalism in a desperate attempt at self-preservation.
Tar and Cement
Verdelle Smith
Harbinger of the perils of continued development via desecration of natural habitats and resources.
That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be
Carly Simon
An upper-middle-class bred vicarious "free spirit" who dreads having to "sell out" to the ethos of the tradition of conventional marriage, and how she's seen that not all personality types necessarily benefit from following through on collective traditions and conventions.
Do It Again
Steely Dan
How some addictions are strong enough to hold the addict captive to the point where not even adverse consequences are enough to make said addict let go of or at least ward off his/her behaviors for long.
Skating Away (On The Thin Ice Of The New Day)
Jethro Tull
An intimate account of the experiencing of events in life from the ephemeral perspective of the one everything is happening to, of how one is affected by the world around them, and the feeling that one is more a witness to their own existence rather than a partaker.
Ian Anderson and crew seemed to be very big on writing and performing anthems about being disillusioned by deception and the false promises made by the world and society.
Oh Falling Star
The Four Knights
"There's someone for everyone" they say.
Apparently I'm not "everyone".
Class of '57
Statler Brothers
How life usually ends up being more of a disappointment than anything for most people. Especially disappointment in themselves and the way they wind up turning out, just as much so as in fate and circumstances beyond their control.
Girl On A Swing
Gerry & The Pacemakers
Using the stereotypical imagery of "childhood innocence" as a metaphor for the notion of "brotherly/sisterly love conquering the evils of hate and prejudices"
Fancy
Bobbi Gentry
About the way those living on the fringes without means and support often have to resort to methods considered improper and subversive in order to try to "level the playing field" for themselves in their desperate
efforts at "obtaining their fair share in this world"
Riverboat
Faron Young
Often I think the term "Justice System" is just that---merely a clinical term. Something altogether different from the literal definition of the word "justice".
I mean, being charged with "murder" for shooting someone in self-defense who's trying to attack you with a lethal weapon of their own?
And, I'm assuming that the main character is "sitting in the Memphis jail" awaiting trial. Because when one is convicted of a felony they'll serve their time in prison, not in any city or county jail.
The Son Of Hickory Holler's Tramp
O.C. Smith
Pretty much the same theme as FANCY.
How those in desperate situations have to often resort to unorthodox means of obtaining an equitable standing with the rest of the world.
Names, Tags, Numbers, Labels
Association
How society routinely pigeonholes its citizens. And how the citizens pigeonhole each other.
When It's Springtime In Alaska (It's Forty Below)
Johnny Horton
How easy it is for anyone to unsuspectingly walk into a situation and find themselves in a lot of trouble without necessarily having done anything morally wrong
Bad Moon Rising
Creedence Clearwater Revival
An anthem about how vulnerable we all are to potential natural disasters
This Door Swings Both Way
Herman's Hermits
About how reality itself has a split personality and can't be relied upon to remain consistent
Les Bicyclettes De Belsize
Engelbert Humperdinck
Romantic song lamenting the way we have little to no control over the affairs of the world around us and often have to resign ourselves to the whims of fate---and that the best we can do for ourselves is just to simply live and savor the best moments as they come around
Come And Get It
Badfinger
About a wealthy eccentric who discovers, when he tries to freely give away some of his wealth randomly to whoever happens by, that most people are so apprehensive and suspicious of his motives they wind up being too paranoid to take advantage of their brief window of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an immense expansion of their personal finances
D.O.A.
Bloodrock
First person account of accident victim as he's dying from his fatal injuries
Where Evil Grows
Poppy Family
How being in the company of less-than-exemplary individuals can have an eventual adverse effect on your own character.
Gotta Travel On
Billy Grammer
Loose-knit commentary on society's disdain and contempt for those who live a little too free lance and try to be a little too independent.
Lizzie and the Rainman
Tanya Tucker
A cynical girl calls an alleged scam artist on the carpet for attempting to deceive the local townspeople---only to find out the guy is actually sincere, the real deal.
Riki Tiki Tavi
Donovan
How government agencies, charities, religions, public schools, and organizations are often so incompetent and corrupt the individual winds up still being on their own, to have to figure their own way out of difficulties and tight situations.
Run Run Run
Third Rail
Topical/social commentary song using a network radio news style "New York Stock Exchange" parody as a metaphor for some of the more pressing social problems of the time.
Don't It Make You Want To Go Home?
Joe South
Same basic theme as TAR AND CEMENT---how runaway development is destroying both the environment and precious past memories.
2+2
Bob Seger
Criticizing the ethics and priorities of the military, the draft, and of the U.S. presence in Vietnam
Skinny Legs And All
Joe Tex
A cavalier novelty song that finds humor in social discrimination
Delilah
Tom Jones
Jealous lover stalks two-timing girlfriend, sees other guy leaving her place early in the morning, knocks on her door, confronts her----then stabs her to death. Then waits for the authorities to come after him
Under My Wheels
Alice Cooper
Psychopath gets fed up with badgering girl friend and comes up with "the ultimate panacea" for getting rid of her once and for all.
A few things this "Einstein" overlooked: namely the cops, the courts, and a possible death penalty or life imprisonment.
...otherwise his plan DID work---he DID manage to accomplish what he set out to do
Baby Let's Wait
Royal Guardsmen
Critical of teen marriage and the potential perils of teenage sex
Fire and Rain
James Taylor
Mourning the loss of a close friend in a freak plane crash
Summer (The First Time)
Bobby Goldsboro
A 30-something man reminiscing about when he was a small town older teen who lost his virginity to a local "cougar" in a preplanned one night stand
Transfusion
Nervous Norvus
Making fun of reckless and dangerous drivers
The Fool On The Hill
The Beatles
Sequel to Eleanor Rigby and Nowhere Man. Another "social outcast" anthem
One Piece At A Time
Johnny Cash
Relishing incremental employee grand theft pulled off right under GM's nose
The Cover Of "Rolling Stone"
Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
Sardonically scathing commentary about the pretenses of the commercial music business
Mack The Knife (Three Penny Opera)
Louis Armstrong/Bobby Darin
Maxwell's Silver Hammer
The Beatles
Cheerful, upbeat songs about psychopathic homicidal maniacs and serial killers
Book Of Love
Monotones
An instruction book on how to properly carry out a romantic relationship?
White Bird
It's A Beautiful Day
How oppression, restrictions, and isolation causes one to miss out on all the amenities and beauty life has to offer
Gino Is A Coward
Gino Washington
Even a tough macho man can be taken aback by the realization that hot chick he's infatuated with is also just as much a total stranger as anyone he runs into randomly on the street, or on the bus, or in a store
...making the thought of approaching her suddenly frightening.
The Morning Side Of The Mountain
Tommy Edwards/Donny & Marie Osmond
What best fits a person or is in a person's best interest are often things that are withheld from that person, or someone they may never come into contact with
I Know What I Like
Huey Lewis & The News
Celebrating individuality and individual choices and preferences
Crosby Stills Nash and Young
About the May 1970 Kent State shooting
Keep On Pushing
Impressions
Paying homage to the 1963 March on Washington
Happy Jack
Who
About a schoolkid who's obviously impervious to all manners of vicious bullying by fellow classmates
Sounds of Silence
Simon and Garfunkel
Disdain for the fact that clinical laws and rules, perfunctory rituals, superficial small talk, and shameless commercialism of anything and everything has to be the norm of civilizations. No intimacy allowed.
Imagine
John Lennon
Utopian fantasies about how life would be in the perfect world---which, of course, could never exist in reality.
Even Lennon himself could never live up to the ideals expressed in this song.
Positively 4th Street
Bob Dylan
Making an upfront bold and blunt statement to a two-faced former friend wherein the protagonist states in no uncertain terms how he really feels and what he really thinks about this person.
Green Door
Jim Lowe
The pain of running across others with whom you have something in common only to have them reject you for the high crime of "being an outsider".
Morning Dew
Lulu
About a dialogue between two survivors of a nuclear holocaust during which, upon hearing the dying last breaths and moans of another immediate survivor, they choose to ignore and disavow his existence and presence as there's nothing they can do to either save him or comfort him anyway.
Journey to the Center of the Mind
Amboy Dukes
Encourages indulging in reflective narcissism.
People Are Strange
Doors
The way life is experienced from the perspective of the outsider, outcast, and lone individual.
Skip A Rope
Henson Cargill
Calling the "average Joe/Jane" on the carpet for their obvious hypocrisies.
Raised on Robbery
Joni Mitchell
Taking a stab at "female privilege".
She's certainly written her fair share of feminist themed songs as well, taking stabs at "male privilege".
I've Gotta Get A Message To You
Bee Gees
About a death-row inmate attempting to send a last-minute message to his wife/lover/former lover/mother/sister (or whoever) on the day of his scheduled execution.
Lady Jane
Rolling Stones
A song about marijuana in disguise, using names of "mistresses" as metaphors.
Smackwater Jack
Carole King
About an active shooter
Timothy
Buoys
About trapped miners who end up resorting to cannibalism in a desperate attempt at self-preservation.
Tar and Cement
Verdelle Smith
Harbinger of the perils of continued development via desecration of natural habitats and resources.
That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be
Carly Simon
An upper-middle-class bred vicarious "free spirit" who dreads having to "sell out" to the ethos of the tradition of conventional marriage, and how she's seen that not all personality types necessarily benefit from following through on collective traditions and conventions.
Do It Again
Steely Dan
How some addictions are strong enough to hold the addict captive to the point where not even adverse consequences are enough to make said addict let go of or at least ward off his/her behaviors for long.
Skating Away (On The Thin Ice Of The New Day)
Jethro Tull
An intimate account of the experiencing of events in life from the ephemeral perspective of the one everything is happening to, of how one is affected by the world around them, and the feeling that one is more a witness to their own existence rather than a partaker.
Ian Anderson and crew seemed to be very big on writing and performing anthems about being disillusioned by deception and the false promises made by the world and society.
Oh Falling Star
The Four Knights
"There's someone for everyone" they say.
Apparently I'm not "everyone".
Class of '57
Statler Brothers
How life usually ends up being more of a disappointment than anything for most people. Especially disappointment in themselves and the way they wind up turning out, just as much so as in fate and circumstances beyond their control.
Girl On A Swing
Gerry & The Pacemakers
Using the stereotypical imagery of "childhood innocence" as a metaphor for the notion of "brotherly/sisterly love conquering the evils of hate and prejudices"
Fancy
Bobbi Gentry
About the way those living on the fringes without means and support often have to resort to methods considered improper and subversive in order to try to "level the playing field" for themselves in their desperate
efforts at "obtaining their fair share in this world"
Riverboat
Faron Young
Often I think the term "Justice System" is just that---merely a clinical term. Something altogether different from the literal definition of the word "justice".
I mean, being charged with "murder" for shooting someone in self-defense who's trying to attack you with a lethal weapon of their own?
And, I'm assuming that the main character is "sitting in the Memphis jail" awaiting trial. Because when one is convicted of a felony they'll serve their time in prison, not in any city or county jail.
The Son Of Hickory Holler's Tramp
O.C. Smith
Pretty much the same theme as FANCY.
How those in desperate situations have to often resort to unorthodox means of obtaining an equitable standing with the rest of the world.
Names, Tags, Numbers, Labels
Association
How society routinely pigeonholes its citizens. And how the citizens pigeonhole each other.
When It's Springtime In Alaska (It's Forty Below)
Johnny Horton
How easy it is for anyone to unsuspectingly walk into a situation and find themselves in a lot of trouble without necessarily having done anything morally wrong
Bad Moon Rising
Creedence Clearwater Revival
An anthem about how vulnerable we all are to potential natural disasters
This Door Swings Both Way
Herman's Hermits
About how reality itself has a split personality and can't be relied upon to remain consistent
Les Bicyclettes De Belsize
Engelbert Humperdinck
Romantic song lamenting the way we have little to no control over the affairs of the world around us and often have to resign ourselves to the whims of fate---and that the best we can do for ourselves is just to simply live and savor the best moments as they come around
Come And Get It
Badfinger
About a wealthy eccentric who discovers, when he tries to freely give away some of his wealth randomly to whoever happens by, that most people are so apprehensive and suspicious of his motives they wind up being too paranoid to take advantage of their brief window of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an immense expansion of their personal finances
D.O.A.
Bloodrock
First person account of accident victim as he's dying from his fatal injuries
Where Evil Grows
Poppy Family
How being in the company of less-than-exemplary individuals can have an eventual adverse effect on your own character.
Gotta Travel On
Billy Grammer
Loose-knit commentary on society's disdain and contempt for those who live a little too free lance and try to be a little too independent.
Lizzie and the Rainman
Tanya Tucker
A cynical girl calls an alleged scam artist on the carpet for attempting to deceive the local townspeople---only to find out the guy is actually sincere, the real deal.
Riki Tiki Tavi
Donovan
How government agencies, charities, religions, public schools, and organizations are often so incompetent and corrupt the individual winds up still being on their own, to have to figure their own way out of difficulties and tight situations.
Run Run Run
Third Rail
Topical/social commentary song using a network radio news style "New York Stock Exchange" parody as a metaphor for some of the more pressing social problems of the time.
Don't It Make You Want To Go Home?
Joe South
Same basic theme as TAR AND CEMENT---how runaway development is destroying both the environment and precious past memories.
2+2
Bob Seger
Criticizing the ethics and priorities of the military, the draft, and of the U.S. presence in Vietnam
Skinny Legs And All
Joe Tex
A cavalier novelty song that finds humor in social discrimination
Delilah
Tom Jones
Jealous lover stalks two-timing girlfriend, sees other guy leaving her place early in the morning, knocks on her door, confronts her----then stabs her to death. Then waits for the authorities to come after him
Under My Wheels
Alice Cooper
Psychopath gets fed up with badgering girl friend and comes up with "the ultimate panacea" for getting rid of her once and for all.
A few things this "Einstein" overlooked: namely the cops, the courts, and a possible death penalty or life imprisonment.
...otherwise his plan DID work---he DID manage to accomplish what he set out to do
Baby Let's Wait
Royal Guardsmen
Critical of teen marriage and the potential perils of teenage sex
Fire and Rain
James Taylor
Mourning the loss of a close friend in a freak plane crash
Summer (The First Time)
Bobby Goldsboro
A 30-something man reminiscing about when he was a small town older teen who lost his virginity to a local "cougar" in a preplanned one night stand
Transfusion
Nervous Norvus
Making fun of reckless and dangerous drivers
The Fool On The Hill
The Beatles
Sequel to Eleanor Rigby and Nowhere Man. Another "social outcast" anthem
One Piece At A Time
Johnny Cash
Relishing incremental employee grand theft pulled off right under GM's nose
The Cover Of "Rolling Stone"
Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
Sardonically scathing commentary about the pretenses of the commercial music business
Mack The Knife (Three Penny Opera)
Louis Armstrong/Bobby Darin
Maxwell's Silver Hammer
The Beatles
Cheerful, upbeat songs about psychopathic homicidal maniacs and serial killers
Book Of Love
Monotones
An instruction book on how to properly carry out a romantic relationship?
White Bird
It's A Beautiful Day
How oppression, restrictions, and isolation causes one to miss out on all the amenities and beauty life has to offer
Gino Is A Coward
Gino Washington
Even a tough macho man can be taken aback by the realization that hot chick he's infatuated with is also just as much a total stranger as anyone he runs into randomly on the street, or on the bus, or in a store
...making the thought of approaching her suddenly frightening.
The Morning Side Of The Mountain
Tommy Edwards/Donny & Marie Osmond
What best fits a person or is in a person's best interest are often things that are withheld from that person, or someone they may never come into contact with
I Know What I Like
Huey Lewis & The News
Celebrating individuality and individual choices and preferences
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