Category Archives: 1980s songs

The best 500 songs from the 1980s. Lyrics, meanings and interpretations from the eighties. The Cure, Prince, Michael Jackson, Cindi Lauper, The Smiths, The Cars, REO…see what artist ranks highest in our greatest all-time songs rankings.

1980s songs, love songs

#324 Can’t Fight This Feeling- REO Speedwagon

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What started out this friendship has grown stronger/
I only wish I had the strength to let it show.

Kevin Cronin writes about a beautiful friendship that he wants to turn into something more. With his girl: “she takes me to places alone I’d never find”.  REO Speedwagon’s “I Can’t Fight This Feeling” doesn’t tell us much about the woman, but it tells a lot about how she has changed the narrator and how she makes him feel. It has made him realize that this is the feeling that he has been searching for and he is ready to give up the chase if she’ll have him.

I Can't Fight THis Feeling
REO

This is the quintessential power ballad from the 80s and I feel it stands the test of time. The singing and the melody are both great. The intro piano which gives rise to the added guitars and guitar solo is formulaic, but it sounds better than comparable songs from this time period. Also, the subject matter is somewhat nuanced. It is a story about the discovery of the feelings he has within himself for this girl and the things he now must do to ensure he communicates his feelings to her.

Can't Fight this Feeling Meaning
REO Speedwagon

Can’t Fight This Feeling Lyrics

I can’t fight this feeling any longer,
And yet I’m still afraid to let it flow.
What started out as friendship has grown stronger,
I only wish I had the strength to let it show.

I tell myself that I can’t hold out forever,
I said there is no reason for my fear.
‘Cause I feel so secure when we’re together,
You give my life direction, you make everything so clear.

And even as I wander, I’m keeping you in sight.
You’re a candle in the window on a cold, dark winter’s night.
And I’m getting closer than I ever thought I might.

And I can’t fight this feeling anymore,
I’ve forgotten what I started fighting for.
It’s time to bring this ship into the shore,
And throw away the oars, forever.

‘Cause I can’t fight this feeling anymore.
I’ve forgotten what I started fighting for.
And if I have to crawl upon the floor, come crashing through your door,
Baby, I can’t fight this feeling anymore.

My life has been such a whirlwind since I saw you.
I’ve been running round in circles in my mind.
And it always seems that I’m following you, girl,
‘Cause you take me to the places that alone I’d never find.

And even as I wander, I’m keeping you sight,
You’re a candle in the window on a cold, dark winter’s night.
And I’m getting closer than I ever thought I might.

And I can’t fight this feeling anymore,
I’ve forgotten what I started fighting for,
It’s time to bring this ship into the shore,
And throw away the oars, forever.

‘Cause I can’t fight this feeling anymore,
I’ve forgotten what I started fighting for.
And if I have to crawl upon the floor, come crashing through your door
Baby, I can’t fight this feeling anymore.

Songwriters: Kevin Cronin

1980s songs, growing up

#321 End of the Innocence- Don Henley

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When “happily ever after” fails/
And we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales.

Listen to the piano. Can you hear that is Bruce Hornsby? He cowrote this song with Henley. This song is about three examples in the narrator’s life about times when he realizes the that the fairy-tales he’s been told his whole life won’t match reality. Henley calls this the “end of the innocence”. Each of us experience many of these throughout our lives.

End of the Innocence Meaning
Don Henley

Of specific importance to him (or at least the ones he discusses in this song) are the disillusionment related to the breakup of his parents, the corruption of the Reagan administration and saying goodbye to his first love. At what moments in your life did your innocence end? There is a moment when you realize, I am not going to be a professional baseball player, am I?

The song’s tone is nostalgic: Henley does that well. There are moments when the song sounds bright—as we remember happier days—and times the music sounds darker—like during the sax solo at the end. The song is well composed. The song hits home because this is a theme that everyone has wrestled with at some point in their life: you might refer to it as “the end of your innocence” or just “growing up”. This song conveys these emotions well. This sound is quite different from his work with The Eagles.

End of the Innocence Lyrics

Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky?
Didn’t have a care in the world,
With mommy and daddy standing by.
When “happily ever after” fails,
And we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales.
The lawyers dwell on small details
Since daddy had to fly.

Oh, but I know a place where we can go,
Still untouched by man;
We’ll sit and watch the clouds roll by,
And the tall grass waves in the wind.
You can lay your head back on the ground,
And let your hair fall all around me.
Offer up your best defense,
But this is the end,
This is the end of the innocence.

O’ beautiful, for spacious skies,
But now those skies are threatening.
They’re beating plowshares into swords,
For this tired old man that we elected king.
Armchair warriors often fail,
And they’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales;
The lawyers clean up all details
Since daddy had to lie.

Oh, but I know a place where we can go,
And wash away this sin.
We’ll sit and watch the clouds roll by,
The tall grass waves in the wind.
Just lay your head back on the ground,
And let your hair spill all around me.
Offer up your best defense,
But this is the end,
This is the end of the innocence.

Who knows how long this will last?
Now we’ve come so far, so fast.
But somewhere back there in the dust,
That same small town in each of us.
I need to remember this
So baby, give me just one kiss.
And let me take a long last look,
Before we say good bye.

Just lay your head back on the ground,
And let your hair fall all around me.
Offer up your best defense,
But this is the end,
This is the end of the innocence.

Songwriters: Bruce Hornsby / Don Henley

1980s songs, memories

#320 Pictures of You- The Cure

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If only I’d thought of the right words/
I wouldn’t be breaking apart/
All my pictures of you.

We are not clear whether The Cure’s “Pictures of You” are physical photographs or thoughts in his mind, but nonetheless, the picture are of an ex love and he begins to reminisce. Perhaps he looks at photographs and he begins to picture past events in his mind. He remembers standing in the rain holding her close and kissing as she was afraid. He remembers running after her in the snow as she laughed. He remembers good times.

Pictures of You Meaning
the Cure

But there were bad times too. He remembers struggling to hold on to her while she tearfully told him she didn’t love him anymore. He remembers how white she looked. If he only had the right words to turn her heart around. And now the narrator feels like he has lost everything. It leaves him wanting to smash these pictures to pieces.

The lyrics in The Cure’s “Pictures of You” are nuanced and mature and a strength of the song. The song sounds like a mixture between The Smiths and The Cars. The unique sound comes from the accent and voice of lead singer of Robert Smith. He sounds pained as he sings this song, and that connection to the song is what makes it work. Electric guitars are used for both rhythm and lead and also a synthesizer.  Very 80s sounding. However, the song manages to transcend the typical trite 80s sound with a resonant message, great melody and well-delivered vocal.

Pictures of You Lyrics

I’ve been looking so long at these pictures of you
That I almost believe that they’re real
I’ve been living so long with my pictures of you
That I almost believe that the pictures
Are all I can feel

Remembering you standing quiet in the rain
As I ran to your heart to be near
And we kissed as the sky fell in
Holding you close
How I always held close in your fear
Remembering you running soft through the night
You were bigger and brighter and whiter than snow
And screamed at the make-believe
Screamed at the sky
And you finally found all your courage
To let it all go

Remembering you fallen into my arms
Crying for the death of your heart
You were stone white
So delicate
Lost in the cold
You were always so lost in the dark
Remembering you how you used to be
Slow drowned
You were angels
So much more than everything
Hold for the last time then slip away quietly
Open my eyes
But I never see anything

If only I’d thought of the right words
I could have held on to your heart
If only I’d thought of the right words
I wouldn’t be breaking apart
All my pictures of you

Looking so long at these pictures of you
But I never hold on to your heart
Looking so long for the words to be true
But always just breaking apart
My pictures of you

There was nothing in the world
That I ever wanted more
Than to feel you deep in my heart
There was nothing in the world
That I ever wanted more
Than to never feel the breaking apart
All my pictures of you

Songwriters: Robert James Smith / Simon Gallup / Roger O’donnell / Porl Thompson / Laurence Andrew Tolhurst / Boris Williams