Conveying Lived Experience through Rock and Pop Music Lyrics

Conveying Lived Experience through Rock and Pop Music Lyrics explores rock and pop music lyrics of the last seventy years to elucidate a broad spectrum of themes about the collective human experience. The opening chapters discuss personal topics, with a first chapter about developing a romantic relationship and a second chapter about breaking up. Subsequently, lyrics describing nostalgia, that is, the longing for the past, as well as those about leaving home, going on the road, and returning home are considered. More social topics are treated in chapters devoted to lyrics about the outsider in society, those experiencing mental illness, and alcohol and drug use. Next, songs of social and political critique are surveyed, followed by an examination of utopian and dystopian lyrics. Finally, rock and pop songs about religious topics are considered, first with a chapter on the use of the prophetic voice, and then with a description of lyrics about hell and the devil, as well as heaven, angels, and God. This broad survey of several hundred songs, using a close reading approach, shows how rock and pop lyrics convey the lived experience of people in contemporary society.