What’s the thing with all the tit-for-tat song lyrics these days?
Apparently, Calvin Harris (Scottish DJ) is to release a song with thinly-veiled references to his ex, Taylor Swift (American singer) and her relationship with Tom Hiddleston (English actor tipped for next James Bond although seen to have moved to shoogly peg since started gallivanting with Ms Swift in what’s widely believed to be some sort of publicity stunt. Keep up).
This follows Taylor’s own back catalogue of break-up songs.
I must confess, I’ve only just realised this is a thing. I was aware, of course, that Adele has done very well for herself by moaning about old flames in her songs but I thought that was just her thing.
Whatever happened to the old “It’s not you, it’s me” get-out clause and a sad “I don’t think it will work if we try and just be friends” when a relationship breaks down?
Where once the worst thing you could imagine an ex doing was writing something rude about you on the wall of the school loos, now there’s the prospect that they might sing about it in front of a sell-out crowd in an arena.
I’m not saying the revenge by song lyric has not happened before (Carly Simon? You’re so Vain?) but the identity of the high-profile ex used to be a bit less obvious. And probably less recent.
I know it’s an old-fashioned concept but what happened to the notion of celebrating relationships through song? How depressing is it to be tapping your foot along to he-said-she-said and “we weren’t actually on a break then anyway?”
Please, let’s go back to the days when someone breaks up with someone. They agree to pretend it was a mutual decision and will pass that line on if pressed. That’s it. No revenge films online or song lyrics apportioning blame. Let’s get a grip.
No one else really wants to hear about your past miseries, even if you put them to a lovely tune. The only time it’s acceptable to keep going over and over the gory details is in secret diary form as a teenager.