I'd Like To Talk To You About A Song

It's a song about me. It's a song about you. It's a song about. . . another song.

Perhaps you are familiar with "An Old Fashioned Love Song", by Three Dog Night? At some point recently, it occurred to me that it is a song about another song, the "old fashioned love song" itself. That seems rather unusual, says I. Whatever could it mean?

I suppose their song could actually be the old fashioned love song, since at least part of the lyrics deal with the emotions and memories evoked by hearing this song over the radio, but then it would be a song about itself, and that's very much a case of eating one's own tail, isn't it? Not that it's out of the question, just seems an odd stylistic choice.

The line that sticks with me is the one from the chorus that says 'You swear you've heard it before as it slowly rambles on'. Could that be referring to their song somehow being a throwback in style to love songs of some earlier decade? Could it be a reference to the song having been written by Paul Williams, who wrote hit songs for other groups during that time period? Could Williams have been suggesting this is similar to the other songs he'd written for other bands, and that's why it seems familiar?

I suppose it could a reference to the commercialized aspect of popular music. Once a label finds something that sells, they jump on that bandwagon and ride it until it falls apart (and probably beyond). I guess that's true of entertainment industries in general. That the song says 'you swear you've heard it before', from which I infer that the listener hasn't heard this song, but thinks they have, because everybody is putting out songs just like it, and has been for awhile.

Yet the music still evokes memories of past events, such as 'the sound of someone promising they'll never go'. Does that mean consumers are easily manipulated, that even though this isn't the song where someone who meant a lot to the listener said something important to them, it can still make them think of that? There's also the bit where they sing about how they're sure it was written 'for you and me', and as the "me" gets stretched out, it's overlapped by the next line, which speaks of building dreams as they listen to the song. It all sounds lovely, but the cynic in me thinks the "me" getting drug out is a jab at audiences claiming some sort of ownership of the songs, because it has a connection to an important moment or place for them.

It's reminiscent of the scene in the Street Fighter movie when Chun-Li relates to Bison how he killed her father and how it changed her life forever, and Bison says while it may have been the most important day of her life, to him it was just Tuesday*. Likewise, this song may have been the moment your sweetheart accepted your marriage proposal, but for the people who made the song (and whoever it is that actually owns it), it's just another song they pumped out lickety-split to make some bank while the group was viable.

That was more cynical than I'd planned.

* Did I give you whiplash with that sudden transition? I'm sorry, it was a flash of inspiration.