The beep song and vulgarity in lyrics of film songs

Recently, in Tamil Nadu, a song by actor Simbu and by music composer Anirudh has caught on like wildfire, for the wrong reasons. The reason was that there were a lot of beeps used in the song indicating profanity in language - in the lyrics. Due to so much profanity / vulgarity in the lyrics, the song had almost only beeps (cleverly used where you can comprehend the words), thus gaining notoriety as a 'beep song'!  While the actor has said that it was a private recording, the composer has stated that he has not composed the song. Nonetheless, both are facing a lot of flak for this song.

(image source: www.pledgie.org)

As is the norm, vulgarity in lyrics of songs, particularly film songs revolves in the explaining a sexual act or shaming the female anatomy with weird, retrograde words and blaming women as the one reason for everything that is gone wrong with a man's life. Vulgar, obscene, squirmy, queasy, objectionable, suggestive, titillating - by whatever name you call, these lyrics are regular part of film songs.

I  love music (I have even written a post on how to enjoy music), but I am not a big fan of lyrics. I listen to songs from a lot of languages - language is not a bar for me - and even in the languages I know, I do not pay much attention to the lyrics as for me, music overrides anything else. Hence I do not have a chance to rate the lyrics. There are few which I do try to dissect, but, as again, really few.

Some songs - whatever period they belong to - are so lyrically cheap and suggestive that it is impossible to listen to them once you grasp the meaning, however good the tune is. I can reel out songs which are of a bygone era too where lyrics did border on profanity and tastelessness.

What are the reasons for such lyrics?

I think that the primary reason is that women lyric / dialogue writers are virtually absent / very few in number. I doubt whether women would indulge in writing songs that regularly demean themselves. I am sure if there are an increasing  number of women writing lyrics for songs, such obscenity will not creep in, atleast not at this rate.

Secondly, there is this reasoning among movie makers and distributors that most movies are for the mass audience and the front benchers are to be titillated. Well the issue I have with this reasoning is that obscenity droops to such levels that this actually acts as an intoxicant to such people. With visuals that border on soft-porn, They go around with an air of cheap superiority and objectify women. Crimes against women are also a reason because of these.

Thirdly, when you are new to the industry, in this dog-eat-dog word and cutthroat competition, you as a lyricist are not established and need to give in to the demands of the producer / director. If you are an established lyricist, then you can take a moral stand that "I will not write this or that". But, it is certainly not possible because if you refuse, there is another person to take your place. Lyricists are not creatively challenged; I have heard songs with really beautiful lyrics. It is just that they are forced to toe a line due to commercial interests.

Fourthly, lyrics mirror a society. I can vouch for a fact that in the last three-four years in Tamil cinema atleast, there have been a slew of songs containing lyrics on liquor bars and men failing in love and women being reasons. So much that I would just puke on hearing a mandatory dance bar song in a movie. Once a song becomes a hit, then the same template is followed in every movie, till it goes out of fashion. The increasing number of liquor bars and being the biggest contributor to the State Government's exchequer is a factor. It is almost like the Government was a lot more people to hit the bars and drink, so that it can earn more revenue. This lifestyle - people spending increasing time in bars - has resulted in lyricists writing the 'mandatory' item song set in a bar. It is a cheap tactic that works, till it works.

The fifth but major reason I see is that there is not much of a reaction to these types of lyrics. Yes, there are protests here and there but by and large it remains muted. Perhaps, if such songs are rejected by the audience, it could push the lyricists to write better. Sometimes, families encourage children to perform to such songs and .........well, what else is there to say? With everything being accessible to children, what is needed is proper oversight.

Words are intrinsic to the soul of a song; they in fact are the character of a song. I personally squirm and sometimes, gasp at raunchy and sexist lyrics because they do that to me. Very embarrassing. But, there is no way forward. We can lament and just move on.

A defence offered is if you don't like it, don't hear it. Well fair enough, but if something is public then it does impact a larger population.

Have you noticed the lyrics of some western songs, particularly rap - Nicy Minaj, Eminem etc.? Listened to 'Cockiness' from 'Rude Boy' by Rihanna? Do so and you know what I mean. The Hindi song 'Choli ke peeche' would seem an angel in comparison!

Sigh!