Music with Motif: Love is in the air

Love is in the air, and Valentine’s always reminds me that I may be the only person to have first been exposed to queer relationships from a FIFA soundtrack. Specifically, ‘I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You’ by Black Kids, which details gender curious lyrics of a long-time crush dancing with them, but walking home to her boyfriend. The upbeat nature of the track adds a certain level of pre-determined tragedy to the rejection, which can only leave you laughing at the situation, as the only agency they can take is not to teach him how to dance with her.  

A comical track that has subtle critiques of punk snobbery and how we ignore our principles for love or material needs

On the topic of angsty love, The Dead Milkmen’s ‘Punk Rock Girl’ is a comical track that has subtle critiques of punk snobbery and how we ignore our principles for love or material needs. The lyrics follow a charming punk rocker discovering his dream girl is secretly the Vice-President’s daughter, despite her punk aesthetic, with him realising, “You’re for me, punk rock girl” (‘Punk Rock Girl’, The Dead Milkmen). Unfortunately, I’ve never met a Vice-President’s daughter; I have only met Sex Pistols fans.  

No two albums reinforce my cynical views on Valentine’s Day more than Penis Envy by Crass and I Love You, Honeybear by Father John Misty. Firstly, Crass’s album, with its endlessly quotable deconstruction of marriage, love and in turn patriarchy, like in ‘Smother Love’, “Our normality justifies tomorrow” (‘Smother Love’, Crass). The pinnacle of the album, ‘Berkertex Bride’, begins with the first half of the track through a luscious, soft, and feminine presentation of the wife being the wrapped object of her husband’s possession, then explodes into a typical Crass track with roaring guitars and lyrical precision that you would quite believe was written in 1981. The album ends with ‘Our Wedding’, which was sold as a freebie in the magazine Loving, with the band changing their name to ‘Creative Recording And Sound Services’, and they masked their typical abrasive style to blend in as a wedding song. When you listen a little harder, verses that should be, “I’m giving you my love” become “I’m giving you my lie”. That must have been played at some weddings.  

It doesn’t come across as preachy, and when it does, it is to destroy Father John Misty’s own ego

Funnily enough, Father John Misty’s lyricism is as critical and satirical as Crass’, with a more apparent mask of pop charm, but in my opinion, it has a more mature conclusion. After a hyperbolic declaration of love in the title track, juxtaposed to verses like, “I brought my mother’s depression / You’ve got your father’s scorn and wayward aunt’s schizophrenia” (‘I Love You, Honeybear’, Father John Misty), to honest confessions about his own ways described as, “the horny man-child Momma’s boy” (‘When You’re Smiling and Astride Me’, Father John Misty) throughout the album, the honeymoon phrase is deconstructed and spat on. However, through this character portrait, we circle round to wider contradictions and issues with the world on the track ‘Holy Shit’, yet he endearingly asks, “Maybe love is just an economy based on resource scarcity / But what I fail to see is what that’s gotta do with you and me” (‘Holy Shit’, Father John Misty). I think what makes I Love You, Honeybear such a masterpiece is that it doesn’t come across as preachy, and when it does, it is to destroy Father John Misty’s own ego, which acts as a subliminal critique of the modern world. The satirical presentation of the album, even his stage name, Father John Misty, helps conceptualise the absurdity of love from an abstract perspective, making critiques effectively land.  

However, often I find the most heartfelt lyrics are the simplest, and none quite compare to Daniel Johnston’s extremely raw ‘True Love Will Find You in the End’, which embodies a wise, omniscient voice that always feels warm to embrace.