Results for “non-monogamy and compersion”

Songs

Compersion, Pt. 1

Arab Strap

A long-term couple narrates the intimacy and friction of their open relationship, moving from private rituals of knowing each…

non-monogamy and compersion aging bodies and long familiarity jealousy versus chosen openness

Everyday

Weyes Blood

A wry, melancholic meditation on romantic uncertainty in the age of dating apps and open relationships, where the narrator's…

romantic insecurity the decline of monogamy self-doubt

I Want Your Sex, Pts. 1 & 2

George Michael

George Michael turns a single, blunt demand into a sustained argument about desire, patience, and monogamy, dressing up a simple…

sexual desire and frustration persuasion and rhetoric monogamy versus promiscuity

2/1

Brian Eno

"2/1" is the second piece on Ambient 1: Music for Airports, built from a small set of slowly looping piano phrases and wordless…

stasis and drift impermanence non-intrusive listening

Playing In the Band

Grateful Dead

A loose, almost koan-like set of verses built around a single refrain that functions less as narrative than as mantra: the band…

non-attachment and faith without doctrine music as vocation and refuge humility versus judgment

Next Lifetime

Erykah Badu

A woman confesses to an overwhelming attraction to someone who isn't her partner, and instead of acting on it, she defers the…

temptation fidelity vs desire self-restraint

Very Special

Big Daddy Kane

A straightforward late-80s love rap in which Big Daddy Kane trades his usual braggadocio for sincerity, declaring devotion to a…

romantic devotion vulnerability beneath machismo soul music homage

My Love, My Life

ABBA

A quiet, aching breakup song in which the narrator reads the end of a relationship in a partner's silent expression rather than…

resignation in love non-verbal communication possessiveness vs. release

Doughnut for a Snowman

Guided by Voices

A brief, dreamlike sketch of a girl's day rendered in candy-colored Americana imagery -- doughnuts, ice cream trucks, strange…

childhood innocence American ephemera/nostalgia absurdist non-sequitur

Stereo

Pavement

A collage of disconnected images and pop-culture asides that never resolves into a clear story, built around a chorus fixation…

media saturation non-sequitur as method celebrity as trivia

The Weekend

SZA

SZA casts herself as the mistress in a triangle and refuses the shame the role usually carries, framing her position as a…

infidelity and complicity self-worth versus desire possession and comparison

When the Love Light Starts Shining Through His Eyes

The Supremes

An early Supremes single that plays out a small courtship drama in miniature: a woman rebuffs a suitor's advances, only to be…

courtship and resistance non-verbal communication gendered power in romance

A Long Walk

Jill Scott

A courtship song that trades the usual seduction script for an invitation to talk, think, and simply spend unhurried time…

conscious courtship spiritual/intellectual intimacy Afrocentric romance

Third Uncle

Brian Eno

A frantic, propulsive art-rock song built almost entirely out of disjointed inventory lists that refuse to cohere into a story.…

disorientation and non-sequitur domestic violence undertones ritual and destruction

Lou's Got The Flu

Roger Miller

A string of folksy, proverb-like observations about moderation and balance keeps bumping up against a refrain about a man named…

balance and excess folk wisdom versus absurdity the unpredictability of fortune

Make Some Noise

Beastie Boys

This is the Beastie Boys doing what they do best: rapid-fire boasting, absurdist non sequiturs, and a chant-along hook, all…

comeback/reassertion braggadocio as comedy collective unity vs individual ego

Hang With Me

Robyn

Robyn negotiates the terms of a romantic non-romance, laying out conditions for an intimacy that both parties agree won't be…

ambiguous intimacy self-protection the friends-with-benefits negotiation

Honey Bee

Tom Petty

This is Tom Petty in full blues-rock costume, cranking up a swaggering come-on riff with lyrics so absurd they tip into parody.…

parody of blues machismo sexual bravado as performance absurdist humor

Duty Free

Vic Chesnutt

A miniature travelogue of discomfort, following a weary traveler through an airport's non-place as he spills scotch and fries on…

alienation in transit loneliness loss of control

Respect

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin's reworking of a song originally about a working man asking for domestic peace turns it into a declaration of…

self-respect reciprocity in relationships female autonomy

I Know What I Know

Paul Simon

A slippery, satirical cocktail-party exchange dressed up as an Afro-pop groove, in which Paul Simon strings together…

social performance and vanity emptiness of small talk passivity and resignation

Ha Ha I'm Drowning

The Teardrop Explodes

A short, agitated post-punk song built around a lover's evasive non-answer: pressed repeatedly to say whether he loves her, the…

evasion and emotional withholding power dynamics in intimacy defensiveness as self-protection

Chasing Pirates

Norah Jones

A short, hazy meditation on insomnia and mental overdrive, triggered by a brief, ambiguous exchange with someone the narrator…

insomnia overthinking unspoken longing

I'm Hanging Up My Heart for You

Percy Sledge

A reformed ladies' man publicly renounces his old habits and pledges fidelity to one woman, framing monogamy as a kind of…

redemption through love fidelity and renunciation gratitude

Glory

Television

Television's "Glory" plays a lopsided, almost cartoonish romantic squabble against a chant that sounds like religious…

romantic confusion transcendence vs. absurdity surrender of anxiety

Yonkers

Tyler, The Creator

A dense, deliberately abrasive verbal assault built on non sequitur, shock imagery, and sudden lurches into confession. Beneath…

alter-ego and fractured identity provocation as defense mechanism absent father

Monkey Suite

Madvillain

A dense, freewheeling verse from MF Doom that piles up internal rhyme and non-sequitur imagery to sketch a self-portrait through…

identity through negation authenticity vs. costume/disguise street survival and hustling

All That You Have Is Your Soul

Emmylou Harris

A mother's warning becomes a hard-won personal confession, as the narrator traces her own failures to heed advice about…

inherited wisdom moral compromise self-possession versus loss of self

The Unsinkable Fats Domino

Guided By Voices

A cryptic, riddling GBV track that uses Fats Domino's real-life survival of Hurricane Katrina as an emblem of resilience, then…

survival and resilience flood/water imagery as threat and purification fame versus obscurity

Winter Wonderland

Cocteau Twins

This is Cocteau Twins' reading of the 1934 pop standard, included on the Lullabies to Violaine compilation. The interest here…

nostalgia and seasonal ritual innocence and childhood play domestic fantasy and courtship

Shady Lane

Pavement

A wry, deadpan tour through the small humiliations of dating, class anxiety, and suburban aspiration, filtered through Malkmus's…

class and status anxiety suburban aspiration irony and detachment

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Nirvana

A grunge anthem built almost entirely out of non-sequiturs and slogans, the song channels teenage apathy and irony rather than…

apathy and irony alienation consumerism and spectacle

Cut Your Hair

Pavement

A satire of the early-90s alt-rock signing frenzy dressed up as a shaggy-dog non-sequitur song. Pavement mocks the music…

music industry cynicism image vs substance selling out

Harness Your Hopes (B-side)

Pavement

A loose, digressive song built from non-sequiturs and internal rhyme games that only occasionally resolves into something like…

evasion of intimacy irony versus sincerity pop-cultural detritus

All Caps

Madvillain

A pure showcase of technical rap virtuosity built almost entirely on internal rhyme chains and boastful non-sequiturs, "All…

braggadocio persona/mythmaking criminal alter-ego

Bodies

Sex Pistols

A brutal, non-narrative screed about abortion that refuses either a pro-life sermon or a clean feminist statement, instead…

abortion and its aftermath dehumanization class and institutional cruelty

So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings

Caroline Polachek

A breakup-adjacent pop song that treats long-distance longing as a comic, almost physical ailment — attraction itself becomes a…

long-distance desire emotional overexposure humiliation as intimacy

Wild Child

The Doors

A short, incantatory piece that builds a mythic figure out of contradictions—savior and predator, child and ancient…

messianic imagery primal/animal nature collective identity vs. individual

(Roamin' Thro' the Gloamin' With) 40.000 Headman

Traffic

The song is a loose, almost collage-like apology addressed to a fictional 'Uncle Albert,' stitched together from half-finished…

guilt and excuse-making family obligation absurdism

Come Together

Joe Cocker

This is a cover of the Beatles' famously opaque nonsense-blues, re-rendered through Joe Cocker's gravelly, gospel-soul delivery…

surrealism and nonsense as style unity through ambiguity countercultural identity