Cleverness In Pop

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Do you appreciate what I'm going to call 'cleverness' - wordplay, allusion, non-standard structures, etc. - in pop music? Is it something you look for? Who does it well?

Do you think there's an opposition between cleverness and directness (in emotional or physical impact)? Should pop be cleverer?

(Qn arising from today's Popular entry)

Comments

[koganbot]

Another Dylan example, full of allusions but still a brutal power punch:

Cinderella she seems so easy
"It takes one to know one," she smiles
And puts her hands in her back pockets
Bette Davis style
And in comes Romeo he's moanin',
"You belong to me, I believe,"
And someone says, "You're in the wrong place, my friend.
You better leave."
And the only sound that's left
After the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweepin' up
On Desolation Row

Of course, when aped by hundreds of non-Dylans, stuff like this becomes insufferable.

[koganbot]

You see, the way this works, Cinderella is a poor mistreated step sister so Romeo, who perhaps thinks of himself as romantically warm-hearted, expects her to be easy pickings, to respond immediately to his generous offer of love, or cash, or whatever. (Yeah, I'm projecting that onto the allusions, but that's what allusions are there for.)