danajohnhill.org | Hard Times Come Again No More

It is a sad but established fact that Americans are less knowledgeable about math and science than their Western peers. Actually, the same holds true for history and geography, as well. In any case, the deficiencies are apparent and shocking, though it’s hardly any wonder: popular music is only exacerbating the problem. Let’s look at two embarrassing examples of lyrical disinformation.

Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 hit “Dreams” posits that “players only love you when they’re playing.” That may or may not be the case (while I’m pretty sure some player somewhere has legitimately loved before, the statement is, at best, non-falsifiable). But their earlier assertion that “thunder only happens when it’s raining” is demonstrably false.

An even more egregious misstatement of fact can be heard in Vanessa Williams’ 1992 song “Save the Best for Last.” First she accurately iterates that “sometimes the snow comes down in June.” Indeed, this is a verifiable meteorological phenomenon; snow has been observed in every month of the year many places on Earth. But then she tries to claim that “sometimes the sun goes ’round the moon.” I am not sure from what sort of Dark Ages textbook Ms. Williams studied “science,” but Copernicus quite convincingly disproved the notion of geocentrism–let alone lunarcentrism–in the mid-16th Century. Simply put, the Sun never goes around the Moon.

Both of these songs employ a similar rhetorical device: they juxtapose a seemingly implausible assertion with an outrageous lie.

Alas, if American students continue to glean their scientific insights from decades old adult contemporary pop, we will never close the education gap.

Filed under: Popular Music, Rantings on March 21st, 2008