Lyrics versus the Truth

There is an unwritten principle in the world of song writing.

It is something along the lines of do not let the truth get in the way of what sounds like a good lyric.

We have all pondered, when listening to our favourite popular music, about the factual basis of certain phrases but perhaps out of reverence for the artist or artists have not pursued it with any real commitment.

Some just do not stand up to examination in science, mathematics, astro-physics, geography or meterology amongst many other disciplines.

Zoology, for example, really puts into context the lyrics of the Tight Fit hit of the Lion Sleeps Tonight. "In the jungle, the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight". It is a nice image but lions do not live in the jungle.

In the natural world physical features like mountains are immoveable objects. John Denver in Country Roads sings of the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia. In this short phrase the slight and bespectacled singer ups and moves the range of mountains into a county in which, in reality, they hardly feature.

History provides a wealth of source material for song writers but it is important to get basic facts correct. U2 in their hit Pride use the assassination of Martin Luther King as their theme lamenting the shot that rang out in the early morning of April 4th. The tragic end of the great man took place at 6pm.

Blandness is rife in modern pop songs but then again I would say that with my own music experiences peaking in the arguably best ever decades of the 70's and 80's. Rihanna in Man Down refers to the subject of her song that he could have been someone's son. I will not dwell on the sheer nonsense of that.

Some singer songwriters could benefit from a good map and scale rule when putting together a lyric. Sade sings about coast to coast, LA to Chicago when on the ground the windy city is actually 700 miles inland.

Ambiguous references just invite ridicule and lampooning. The serious New Order are just asking for it with the, at face value, beautiful "Here Comes Love, It's like honey, You can't buy it with money". Some witty soul challenged this with the information that Asda have a jar of the yellow nectar at £2.84.

Scientists must be aghast and despairing at some of the lyrics in circulation today.

Coldplay refer to birds flying at the speed of sound. At 760 mph or thereabouts this is just an impossibility. However, in extreme temperatures the speed of sound does reduce significantly to 200mph which is the top speed of a Peregrine Falcon.

Fleetwood Mac seem to think that thunder only happens when its raining. In some hot desert environments in the dry season this cannot happen as any precipitation evaporates before it hits the ground.

Katy Meleu is probably quite close in her estimate of the number of bicycles in China but astronomers are entirely justified in pulling her up in her comments that the edge of the observable universe is 12 billion light years when it is recorded at 13.7 billion.

The most topical song for examination is the re-release of the Live Aid record.

It is probable, yes, that there won't be snow in Africa in populated areas but if you are planning a trip to the continent assuming the lyric to be infallible then avoid the mountainous regions of Algeria and Tunisia and simply avoid the Atlas Range in Morocco.