The year 1980 was the beginning of one of the most beloved decades in rock music. Among the feel-good tunes and the love songs are also some incredibly sad songs. These three rock songs all came out in 1980, and each has lyrics that are absolutely devastating.
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“Don’t Fall In Love With A Dreamer” by Kenny Rogers and Kim Carnes
On Kenny Rogers’s Gideon album is “Don’t Fall In Love With A Dreamer“. Written by Carnes and David Ellingson, the song became a hit in both country and rock.
Carnes and Ellingson wrote all of Gideon, an album based on a fictitious person named Gideon Tanner. “Don’t Fall In Love With A Dreamer” is a cautionary tale between two people who both recognize the relationship is unhealthy, even if they feel powerless to stop it.
The sad song says, “Don’t fall in love with a dreamer / ‘Cause he’ll always take you in / Just when you think you’ve really changed him / He’ll leave you again / Don’t you fall in love with a dreamer / ‘Cause he’ll break you every time.”
“I’ll do the song in every show, but I always say that I don’t really think that way personally,” Carnes tells Rolling Stone. “Because I’m a dreamer, [and] all my friends are dreamers. I think it’s a wonderful thing to dream big. The song was just written in the context of who Gideon Tanner is in this life story.”
“All Out Of Love” by Air Supply
On Air Supply’s Lost In Love album is “All Out Of Love“. Air Supply’s Graham Russell and Clive Davis are the writers of the song.
“All Out Of Love” says, “I’m all out of love / I’m so lost without you / I know you were right / Believing for so long / I’m all out of love / What am I without you? / I can’t be too late / To say that I was so wrong.”
Interestingly, Russell finished the song by himself and turned it in to their label. Davis was one of the executives at the label and liked everything about the song except for one line, which said, “I’m all out of love / I want to arrest you.
“He said, ‘What about ‘I’m so lost without you?’ This was Clive Davis, and I couldn’t say no,” Russell recalls in Playing Back the ‘80s: A Decade of Unstoppable Hits.
“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” by Hall & Oates
When Hall & Oates released “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” they were far from the first act to put their spin on the song. Written by Phil Spector, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil, the song was first a big hit for The Righteous Brothers. They released their version in 1964. In 1969, Dionne Warwick had a Top 10 hit with the song. In 1971, Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway also put their own spin on “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.”
But in 1980, Hall & Oates gave new life to the popular song, one that has a surprisingly sad message. “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” says, “You never close your eyes / Anymore when I kiss your lips / And there’s no tenderness / Like before in your fingertips / You’re trying hard not to show it / But baby, baby, I know it / You’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’, oh that lovin’ feelin’ / You’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’, now it’s gone, gone, gone.”
Photo by: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
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