Most chart-topping musicians often write about topics like relationships, breakups, or their luxurious lifestyles. Consider the current top 10 track, “Prada” by Cassö, RAYE & D-Block Europe. As suggested by the title, it focuses on designer clothing, luxury hotels, and costly cars. Yet, some artists find satisfaction in exploring more mundane themes—songs rooted in everyday life, with lyrics about the ordinary. Social and literary realism have long been essential in capturing the daily experiences of people and have been a mainstay in popular music for many years.
When The Kinks released “The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society” in 1968, it was perhaps one of the first albums to deliberately highlight the ordinary aspects of life in Britain. This focus was vastly different from the psychedelic self-reflection popular among the leading bands of that era, such as The Beatles with their “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The Kinks celebrated the smaller pleasures in life, with songwriter Ray Davies crafting songs that mentioned items like strawberry jam, draught beer, and custard pies, painting a picture of a familiar and relatable world for listeners.
The Kinks set a trend. In the 1980s, The Smiths chose their band name to be as plain and uninspiring as possible, positioning themselves as a contrast to the more glamorous bands like Spandau Ballet and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Lead singer Morrissey stated in an interview, “It was the most ordinary name, and I thought it was time for ordinary people to reveal themselves.” With songs depicting rental rooms, high-rise buildings, and motorway service stops, Morrissey wrote about unremarkable, everyday experiences that contrasted sharply with the extravagant themes of the New Romantic bands.
While The Smiths offered a counterpoint to the pretension of early 1980s music, The Streets’ debut album, “Original Pirate Material,” arrived in 2002 in a UK music scene dominated by cliché lyrics like “I’m flying high ‘cause your love’s made me see” and “Baby I would climb the Andes solely to count the freckles on your body.” Mike Skinner, the lead vocalist, aimed to “write good lyrics about contemporary British life.” His songs about Playstations, London Underground travel cards, cans of Carling, bottles of Smirnoff Ice, smoke-scented jeans, McDonald’s, and KFC chronicled the lives many of us were living.
When COVID swept the world in 2020, and we were confined to our homes, looking out at a world we couldn’t access, songs with everyday lyrics became even more significant. After all, did we want to hear Ed Sheeran singing about finding love in a bar when we couldn’t go out, or Dua Lipa talking about dancing when clubs were closed? Many of us craved lyrics that resonated with our reality, stripped of glamour and excitement.
Lyrics in 2021 songs like Niko B’s “Who’s That, What’s That?” (“Copped a Big Mac, milkshake and some large fries…take the gherkin out of the inside”) or Lady Leshurr’s “Quarantining” (“I went Sainsbury’s just to get bog roll”) became meaningful. Even renowned love song artist Paul McCartney reflected on everyday chores in his song “When Winter Comes” (2021), with lines about “digging a drain by the carrot patch” and “fixing the fence,” avoiding any mention of luxury or opulence.
Sixty years since The Kinks celebrated everyday themes, ordinary lyrics remain vibrant. Mike Skinner has resumed releasing albums with The Streets after a ten-year break, and new contenders like Leeds’s Yard Act are set to release their second album, “Where’s My Utopia.” The band has been lauded for their depiction of modern life in Britain, with lyrics like “We’re gonna put Poundshop terracotta frogs everywhere / And wrap solar power fairy lights round the gutter… I got a prosecco o’clock poster half price in Ikea,” continuing to uphold the charm of everyday life. Songs about love, breakups, and extravagance will no doubt continue to dominate the charts, but amid it all, there is always room for something a bit more ordinary.