Jenny Lewis
Jenny Lewis borrows the Reconstruction-era figure of the carpetbagger — the opportunist who sweeps into a devastated town to…
exploitation disguised as charm postwar opportunism control within marriage
The Cars
A synth-driven new wave track that uses driving and traffic imagery as an extended metaphor for a woman leading a secret,…
duplicity and secrecy urban alienation surveillance/control
Blue Öyster Cult
A strange, half-gothic love-and-revenge song in which the narrator addresses a duplicitous woman named Vera Marie, promising to…
betrayal and retaliation duplicity / two-facedness seduction as danger
Billy Joel
Billy Joel builds a meditation on the hidden selves everyone conceals from lovers, using the whistled melody and shifting moods…
hidden identity betrayal in relationships self-deception