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Song Lyrics Reflect Narcissism in Our Culture | Smart Journalism. Real Solutions. Miller-McCune.
One of these days I'd like to find a way to inbed these articles into my posts so that I don't have to paraphrase or cut and paste portions of the text but for the time being I think that asking readers to go read that article and come back to my discussion of it is a little much, plus the article is short, so just read it...
Song Lyrics Reflect Our Narcissistic Age
New research finds a shift in emphasis in pop song lyrics over the decades, from “we” to “me.”
An academic look at top 10 songs over the last 30 years shows that pop music lyrics have veered steadily toward the narcissistic. (Mario Alberto Magallanes Trejo / stockxchange.com)
Clear evidence of American society’s increasing narcissism can be found in our best-selling popular songs. That’s the conclusion of a study just published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts.
Compared to a quarter-century ago, “Popular music lyrics now include more words related to a focus on the self,” reports a team of researchers led by University of Kentucky psychologist C. Nathan DeWall.
Curious to find whether the increasing levels of narcissism documented in previous studies would be reflected in the music young people listen to, DeWall and his colleagues analyzed the top 10 songs in the U.S. for each year between 1980 and 2007 (as measured by Billboard magazine).
Using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count program, which “counts the percentage of words in a body of text that correspond to various categories,” they analyzed the content of the lyrics in several related ways.
The researchers found the use of first-person plural pronouns (we, us, our) declined over the years, while the use of first-person singular pronouns (I, me, mine) increased. Words reflecting anger or antisocial behavior (hate, kill, damn) became more prevalent over the 28-year period.
Conversely, terms depicting social interactions (talking, sharing) became less common, as did the use of words conveying positive emotions (love, nice, sweet). These findings mirror “recent evidence showing increases in U.S. loneliness and psychopathology over time,” the researchers write.
This is troubling in the light of other recent research that found songs conveying antisocial messages tend to promote aggressive thoughts and hostile feelings, while those with lyrics promoting peace and love can increase empathy and encourage selflessness.
DeWall doesn’t view pop music as a cause of increased narcissism and social isolation, but he and his colleagues do see it reflecting and supporting this societal trend. Psychological processes and pop-culture products “mutually reinforce each other,” they write.
At the moment, the attitude they’re mutually reinforcing seems to be self-centeredness. We’d might as well face it: We’re addicted to self-love.
I think there are several important issues here as they relate to the worship arts but first and foremost for me is how this translates to worship music. For quite some time now worship leaders, predominantly outside the "contemporary" music movement, have been critical of the language used the our songs. The principal criticism has been that the songs our first person/experiential rather than corporate in nature and as such perpetuate an inward version of spirituality rather than one that is expressed to and with others.
This has it's parallels in theology as well. The dominant form of Christianity for perhaps the last thirty years has been primarily concerned with personal salvation as opposed to other very biblical themes like peace, social-justice, human rights and so on. However, there is certainly a turn in the modern church towards service of the poor and needy as way to live out one's faith and that is making it's way back into music.
As we create a new worship space, service and incorporate new types of worship music we are absolutely conscious of modern culture and are trying to find ways in which we might find common ground so that people can find a place in which they can take a rest from the ways of the world. I believe that if we were to create an environment so foreign to them that we were using radically different language, styles of music, attire and setting then it would prove to much of a culture shock and they would never truly feel welcome. Ok, so we already have that in "traditional" worship and for many it doesn't work.
I think we need to be careful in how we structure the language of our songs. I think that in the scope of one song (I wouldn't do this on all) that it is possible to move from ones' own personal and admittedly small viewpoint to focus on something bigger and better than ourselves. Indeed, I believe that is at the heart of the teachings of Jesus and I do believe that our culture is yearning for just such a thing.
By way of example I would like to submit to you a new single by the ultra-hip band "Fleet Foxes" called "Helplessness Blues". The song has made quite a buzz on the internet after it was released earlier this year. The much anticipated album will be released in May and I for one can't wait to hear what the rest of the album will be like.
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues by subpop
I was raised up believing
I was somehow unique
Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes
Unique in each way you can see
And now after some thinking
I'd say I'd rather be
A functioning cog in some great machinery
Serving something beyond me
But I don't, I don't know what that will be
I'll get back to you someday soon you will see
What's my name, what's my station
Oh just tell me what I should do
I don't need to be kind to the armies of night
That would do such injustice to you
Or bow down and be grateful
And say "Sure take all that you see"
To the men who move only in dimly-lit halls
And determine my future for me
And I don't, I don't know who to believe
I'll get back to you someday soon you will see
If I know only one thing
It's that every thing that I see
Of the world outside is so inconceivable
Often I barely can speak
Yeah I'm tongue tied and dizzy
And I can't keep it to myself
What good is it to sing helplessness blues?
Why should I wait for anyone else?
And I know, I know you will keep me on the shelf
I'll come back to you someday soon myself
If I had an orchard
I'd work till I'm raw
If i had an orchard
I'd work till I'm sore
And you would wait tables
And soon run the store
Gold hair in the sunlight
My light in the dawn
If I had an orchard
I'd work till I'm sore
If I had an orchard
I'd work till I'm sore
Someday I'll be
Like the man on the screen
**********
Now anyone with a critical ear will immediately here a direct connection to a group from the late sixties with similar lyrical content and a similar sound ... Simon and Garfunkle.
I would like to point out that this already has parallels in "worship" music. As a worship leader and musician Gungor is perhaps the biggest influence on my work right now so it will come as no surprise that the song I am referring to is "Beautiful Things" by Michael Gungor. The song very gently takes the listener, who is also a singer/participant from an introspect place "All this pain, I wonder if I'll ever find my way" to an outward and almost grateful expression in the chorus.
All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us
All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us
You make me new, You are making me new
You make me new, You are making me new
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us
***********
I don't think I can say it any better... "All around, hope is springing up from this old ground. Out of chaos life is being found in You."
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