So often, when one hears a song, especially when it’s played at a significant moment or time in one’s life, one thinks of it as a perfect song. There’s nothing that could be added or subtracted to improve it.
Sometimes, that response will change over time. A song starts playing on the radio, or on a streaming service, and you listen, and think, “Wow, this is not as good as I thought. Meaningless lyrics, doesn’t quite work, something seems off.” That golden record is somehow tarnished.
The idea of no possible improvement does not apply to much contemporary music, of course. I’ll hear something in a store, and my response is often, “There are robots singing at me.” The vocals sound heavily synthesized, you can barely understand the (likely repetitive) lyrics, and there’s no discernible melody that you can find in order to sing along. Not that you would want to. Other than to fill time, there seems to have been no reason to create that song.
On the other end of the spectrum for me is: “One Tin Soldier.” For some reason this entered my mind the other day, and began playing on repeat. But I haven’t minded it. It’s not an intrusive earworm; I revel in its reappearance each time. There’s a good melody, brilliant lyrics with a strong message, a great hook, and it all sounds great in the mix. I include it here, I hope for your enjoyment.
MUSOFYR 