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. . .
decade perhaps was this power more manifest than in the sixties when the
Beatles glamorized viewing the world through LSD's "kaleidoscope
eyes." (10) By endorsing and thereby promoting practices that society deems
illegal or immoral, pop lyrics act to accelerate the acceptance of such
behavior as the norm.
When we consider that cocaine is now peddled in the corners of our
schoolyards, and that the rate of teenage pregnancy "leads nearly all other
developed nations of the world," (11) might it not be worthwhile for
semanticists and journalists (as well as sociologists) to give serious attention to
the content of pop songs and to evaluate not only what its lyrics are saying
to society, but more importantly, what they may be doing to it?
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1. Dr. Hayakawa'a paper was originally presented at the Second Conference on General
Semantics, held under the auspices of Washington University and the St. Louis
Chapter of the International Society for General Semantics, at St. Louis, Missouri,
June 12, 1954 and published in Et cetera in Winter, 1955, Vol. XII, No. 2, pp. 83-95.
2. Henry Pleasants in Serious Music and All That Jazz (New York: Simon and Schuster,
l959), p. 194, quotes British music critic Charles Keil (Urban Blues, 1966): "It is
simply incontestable thar year by year, American popular music has come to sound
more and more like African popular music."
3. "She Bop" written by Cyndi Lauper/Stephen S. Lunt/Gary Corbett/Rick Chertoff; ©
1984 Reilla Music/Perfect Punch/Hobbler Music/Noyb Music Co.
4. 'Sister" written by Prince, © 1981 Controversary Music from the LP "Dirty Mind"
on the Warner Brothers label.
5. "Relax" written by Johnson/O'Toole/Gill; © 1984 Perfect Songs/Island; recorded by
the group Frankie Goes to Hollywood on ZTT/Island Records.
6. "Sugar Walls" written by Alexander Nevermind; © 1984 Tionna Music; recorded by
Sheena Easton on EMI America label
7. "Erotic City" written by Prince; © 1983 Controversary Music; recorded by Prince on
the "B" side of his hit single "Let's Go Crazy" on Warner Brothers label.
8. New York Times Interview with Stephen Holden, 2/15/85.
9. Kenneth Burke once described poetry as "equipment for living" whereby we are introduced
vicariously to the emotions and situations which we have not yet had occasion
to experience. Hayakawa characterized much of pop lyrics as poor equipment
for living because they gave a "false or misleading impression of what life is likely
to be" in that their ideals of love were usually impossible ideals.
10. "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" written by John Lennon/Paul McCartney, © 1967
Maclen Music Ltd. The song title is widely considered to be a cryptogram for LSD.
Though its writers have denied it, the lyric's content tends to substantiate the
allegation.
11. New York Times editorial 3/15/85 referred to a study "just released by the Alan Guttmacher Institute."
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