The Temptations
A holiday standard built on a simple, almost sermon-like premise: material gifts are fine, but love is the only present that…
generosity versus materialism universal love seasonal community
Pixies
A deliberately dumb, bubblegum-pop pastiche sung by drummer David Lovering, this is Pixies parodying the sincerity of teenage…
parody of pop convention adolescent sexuality irony vs sincerity
Bill Withers
A short, riff-driven soul cut in which Bill Withers turns groaning and moaning — sounds normally associated with pain or…
romantic satisfaction understated devotion surprise at being proven wrong
D'Angelo
A slow-groove love song built almost entirely from a single circling phrase, promising that romantic devotion is enough to…
romantic devotion as survival domestic intimacy sensuality
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
Richard Thompson
Richard Thompson's version strips a bubblegum pop hit down to voice and guitar, exposing lyrics about romantic manipulation that…
manipulation dressed as innocence performance versus sincerity gender and blame
Minnie Riperton
A love song built around the gap between feeling and expression, in which the narrator worries that her devotion isn't landing…
communication anxiety reassurance devotion
Buzzcocks
A blunt, sneering anthem of anti-affect, "Boredom" turns the emptiness of punk's stock subject into a self-parodying joke,…
boredom and apathy self-parody punk minimalism