Music Blogs

Great songs offer a cleansing truth by oversimplifying difficult situations. Love and hate are powerful emotions. But most of us spend our time in that netherworld of indifference. And it's not just the medication. We're complex human beings with many needs and desires. Imagine if songwriters confronted that wall of doubt. Imagine when they scream that big chorus that has everyone standing on their chairs and raising their cellphones in communal glee, they suddenly go into a long, ponderous explanation of what they really meant. It could mean curtains for their careers - or turn them into Neil Peart -- but it would bring a new level of understanding to us, the great unwashed masses.

In what I hope can be a recurring theme here, I offer you the first five songs that if I were a college professor, I would implore my students to expand on their answer. Think of it as being a bit like all those classic reissues that suddenly come Remastered and Expanded with bonus cuts and extra noodlings smartly left off the original albums:

The Doors, "When The Music's Over":  We want the world and we want it now! And if not now, then very shortly, as we're growing tired of the way the older generation has been habitually abusing its authority and not tending to the proper conservation of the environment, sacrificing the good of future generations for the greed of big money today.

Billy Joel, "We Didn't Start The Fire": We didn't start the fire but if we did we would admit it, since we are responsible Americans and we don't take matters such as pyromania seriously. We didn't start the fire and if you check the insurance records about this particular incident you will see that we had nothing to do with it.

John Lennon, "Imagine": Imagine there's no heaven it's easy if you try because really who can say for sure what happens next, since none of us have been there and if it's really as wonderful as stated then a description in mere words would not do it justice anyhow.

Johnny Paycheck, "Take This Job And Shove It": Take this job and shove it, I'm not working here anymore because the working environment is not safe, I do not feel I am adequately compensated for my labor and the men's toilet is never cleaned.

The Rolling Stones, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction": I can't get no satisfaction but I try and I'm not just saying that. I've taken self-improvement classes at the local college and even considered going back for an advanced degree and I've participated in psychotherapy with a qualified therapist to better understand my grievances and I've tried to learn to be a better listener and yet I don't feel that I'm accomplishing my true potential and perhaps that's why I'm not feeling satisfied at the moment.