off by one for 2008 May 10 (entry 0)

Sat May 10 12:53:49 song archetypes: the list song:

I often think about different kinds of song archetypes -- songs that either in form or content, get written and rewritten constantly. One of these days, I want to do an album of all song archetypes... I suppose one approach would be to make you try to figure out what archetype it is, and the other approach would be to make it incredibly obvious... I'm not sure which strategy I'll take on this nebulous idea (file it under "probably won't ever happen").

Anyway, one archetype that, as a kid, I thought was absolutely hilarious and clever, was what I called the "list song", which basically just begged you to memorize it. Notable list songs: We Didn't Start the Fire, and It's the End of the World As We Know It. I think that American Pie is also one part list song -- it's also one part "mysterious lyrics" song, which is a different archetype I'll talk about some other time.

All three of those also have the distinction of being list songs about historical events... but I'm sure there are lots of these songs out there.

Stay tuned for more song archetypes.

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