I Don't Know, But...has two recent blog posts about what he refers to as "evil songs". These include songs like "Sweet Dreams", "Owner of a Lonely Heart?", etc..
I am not surprised that these songs are described as evil, because quite frankly they are. The thesis of "Sweet Dreams" is that love is a lie and people are only looking to use and abuse people. The music is ghastly as are the lyrics. It sounds like someone has been so badly hurt by a luckless relationship that they have given up on ever knowing love.
"Owner of a Lonely Heart" is even more disturbing with the line "Better than the owner of a broken heart". If I may steal from the recent opera The Enchanted Island, hearts that love all will be broken. You cannot love without risking pain. C.S. Lewis once noted that the only place where you are safe from the pains of love is Hell. I myself have heard it said that it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.
I have sung many songs about unrequited/spurned love, but they were more about how the narrator couldn't go on living without the beloved or dying on a kiss. They never crossed the line by saying that love was a lie or that it was better to never love at all. People need to know that they are loved, and it starts with one person making the decision to love someone. This is not limited to just romantic love, but to friendship and familial love as well.
Granted one person hearing "Sweet Dreams" might say, "Right on," while another says, "I love a sad song." But it's still very sickening to hear such nasty and wicked lyrics oveer the radio.
