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Which hits concealed hidden trauma?
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I was assured by a friend that Lou Reed’s Perfect Day is about being on heroin. What other songs found success despite their rather heavy origins and lyrical content?
Tony Graham, via e-mail
MOJO says: Sweet-sounding hits with a dubious subtext is a rich area for study. A good example is hoary wedding party favourite of yore, Band Of Gold by Freda Payne, which is, of course, about a newlywed couple who split immediately, possibly because the male partner can’t consummate the marriage. Like that record, some big hits are singable and toe-tapping, as long as you don’t listen to the words too closely: see Gilbert O’Sullivan’s Alone Again Naturally (futility and suicide), The Police’s Every Breath You Take (coercive control and/ or stalking) and Hanson’s MMMBop (“You have so many relationships in this life/Only one or two will last” – thanks, lads).