Healthiest and Unhealthiest relationships in songs?

For a “that’s you telt” take on possessiveness, there’s Microdisney’s This Liberal Love:

One October, losing his job
He was drinking heavily
Living in his mother's house
Wild at weekends and sleeping all week

He believed he was right to ask for things
To be his and for him alone
And the world wasn't right with him unless
His wish was the world's command

Drunk in town one Saturday night
He met a tall, blonde older girl
In complicated bohemian clothes
She took him home though he was an oaf

Making love was his way of asking her
To be his and for him alone
Oh, though she would always act offhand
It appeared that she understood

With the weeks passing by
He began to feel the bad had gone
In her candlelit room, he had found himself
But what about her?

Then he noticed something amiss
Other men kept calling around
When, one night, he had his proof
He confronted his liberal love

He believed he was right to tell her
She was his and for him alone
Oh, and shrugging her shoulders, sad but calm
She informed him that he was wrong

"You don't own me," she sighed
"But I do, I must," he groaned
Then yelled
"Oh, what is this liberal love you gave? It's fast, it's wrong."
"You don't own me," she sighed
"But I do, I must," he groaned
Then yelled
"What is this liberal love you gave?"

It was mentioned upthread, but Flowers in the Window is lovely. I should have thought of it sooner as it was the first dance at my wedding!

When I first held you, I was cold
A melting snowman, I was told
But there was no one there to hold
Before I swore that I would be alone forevermore

Wow, look at you now, flowers in the window
It's such a lovely day
And I'm glad you feel the same
'Cause to stand up out in the crowd
You are one in a million
And I love you so
Let's watch the flowers grow

There is no reason to feel bad
But there are many seasons to feel bad, sad, mad
It's just a bunch of feelings that we have to hold
But I am here to help you with the load

Wow, look at you now, flowers in the window
It's such a lovely day
And I'm glad you feel the same
'Cause to stand up out in the crowd
You are one in a million
And I love you so
Let's watch the flowers grow

So now we're here and now is fine
So far away from there
And there is time, time, time
To plant new seeds and watch them grow
So there'll be flowers in the window when we go

Wow, look at us now, flowers in the window
It's such a lovely day
And I'm glad you feel the same
'Cause to stand up out in the crowd
You are one in a million
And I love you so
Let's watch the flowers grow

I haven't read the whole thread but "Run for your Life" by The Beatles always freaks me out. I absolutely love them but this song is rank.

I'd rather see you dead, little girl,
Than to be with another man.
You'd better keep your head, little girl,
Or I won't know where I am.

You'd better run for your life if you can, little girl,
Hide your head in the sand, little girl,
Catch you with another man,
That's the end ah, little girl.

Well you know that I'm a wicked guy
And I was born with a jealous mind.
And I can't spend my whole life
Tryin' just to make you toe the line.

😁
Let him go back to his mother and set her mind at ease
I hear she is an old, old woman, very hard to please
It’s slightin’ me and talkin’ ill is all she’s ever done
Because that I was courtin’ her great big ugly son

Mind, for every song like that there’s a Still I love him …

He stands at the corner and whistles me out
His hands in his pockets, his shirt hanging out
Still I love him, I’ll forgive him
I’ll go with him wherever he goes

He bought me a handkerchief, red, white and blue
And then to clean windows he tore it in two
Still I love him, …

He comes down our alley and whistles me out
And when I get out there he knocks me about
Still I love him, …

He took me to the alehouse and bought me some stout
Before I could drink it, he ordered me out
Still I love him, …

Have some self-respect, woman, ditch the rotten fucker.

Edited: That’ll teach me to RTFT before posting! Of course a PP got there first!

Surely the older woman was at fault in Maggie May - he says he should be "back at school" which either means actual school or at least college - still very young.
editing to add, I see Rod said he based it on losing his virginity at 16 to an older woman at a jazz festival

Not only a brilliant lyricist, a man with a bit of taste as well. Good. I can go on admiring him, then.

I didn't particularly like Bill Wyman even before he became seriously creepy, or at least complicated: as Wikipedia puts it, "In 1993, Wyman's son Stephen Wyman married Patsy Smith, the 46-year-old mother of Wyman's ex-wife Mandy Smith. Stephen was 30 years old at the time. Consequently, the ex-Rolling Stone became his own son's ex-son-in-law, the father-in-law of his ex-mother-in-law, as well as the stepgrandfather of his ex-wife."

Any fifty-two-year-old who marries someone of eighteen he's been having sex with since she was fourteen is NOT OK as far as I am concerned!

No I think he did, but I guess Wyman thought he could sell it to him. Nope!

This couplet is pure poetry. 'Mickey' also known as 'Hey Mickey'. Written by Nicky Chinn & Mike Chapman. A worldwide hit for Toni Basil.

Oh, Mickey, what a pity you don't understand
You take me by the heart when you take me by the hand

I always had a feeling Dury wrote his own lyrics; was I wrong? Have I been admiring the cleverness of the man all these years without good reason? Meep!

Oh God, I remember that, it was in the charts!

I believe he originally wrote it for Ian Dury, who funnily enough didn't want it.

Shudder

Bill Wyman - Je Suis un Rock star

We could go on the hovercraft

Across the water

They'll think I'm your dad

And you're my daughter

"Don't give up" by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, is sad and lovely. A strong relationship in a hard time.

I like 'Just the way you look tonight' , so tender and wistful.
It takes a bit of a turn at the end, 'Never never change...' but I think the point is that the beloved will never change in the mind of the lover:

Some day, when I'm awfully low
When the world is cold
I will feel a glow just thinking of you
And the way you look tonight

You're lovely, with your smile so warm
And your cheeks so soft
There is nothing for me, but to love you
And the way you look tonight

The lyrics were written by Dorothy Fields (1904-1974), who also wrote 'A Fine Romance/My friend, this is/a fine romance/with no kisses' sung by Fred Astaire
and Pick yourself up/dust yourself down/start all over again'
plus about 400 more songs!

She was once asked why aren't there more women writing songs -

There aren't more lady songwriters for the same reason that there aren't more lady doctors or lady accountants or lady lawyers; simply not enough women have the time for careers. The man in our society is the breadwinner; the woman has enough to do as the homemaker, wife and mother. Yes, I do think song writing is a man's game. It requires push, energy, movement, mixing; and it is a field that is and has been dominated by men.
No, I do not think men have more talent.

People ask "Are lyrics poetry?" - some of us say yes, some say no. Elizabeth Barrett Browning could write a poem 2 pages long. Could she have brought it to a music publisher?
He'd say "Put it in 32 bars and we'll take it!"
We're confined to a framework of music, and I feel that the words can be poetic, but I wouldn't say poetry in the strictest sense.
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“When I’m 64” is about lasting love, that seems quite healthy!

It's been said that the Beatles' You're Gonna Lose That Girl off the Help! album is the darker side of She Loves You.

It was very different to the old cliche of a singer professing their love for someone.

It just has a friendly feel. They had a knack of making all their fans, male and female feel part of the gang.

I always thought that aspect was lovely and clever, especially as there were two singers in the band. It is very down to earth, like a conversation between two lads in the pub or at a bus stop, one has been a bit of a dick but the other cares enough about him and his girlfriend to have a word.

They also did it on "When I saw her standing there"

A healthy one - Emily Sande “Mountains”.

She wrote it about her parents and I read she wanted the track to have a grand feeling while describing a very ordinary situation.

“He said I'm going to have a bed with lots of pillows
And that we're going to build a house with lots of windows
And when we have the kids we'll tell them to remind we
Of where we were now so we never get lazy
Yeah we'll climb mountains
Climb mountains together
Yeah we'll climb mountains
Climb mountains together
I'd never work these hours if I didn't love you
My hands are always red and sunshine I sleep through
If you say we're going to move somewhere with neighbors less crazy
You know I'm going to be there, 'cause I trust my baby
Yeah we'll climb mountains
Climb mountains together
Yeah we'll climb mountains
Climb mountains together
I keep my fingers crossed that we're going to be able
I touch the wood for luck, on our broken table
I know that it's our heart that's gonna save us
If we never come back how can they blame us?
Yeah we'll climb mountains
Climb mountains together
Yeah we'll climb mountains
Climb mountains together”

All time best positive song (IMHO) is Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks. Beautiful music, gentle lovely lyrics.
My husband's favourite song - a big tick in his favour when we first knew each other!

That's the song I was thinking of when I said 60s songs about young girls. I guess at least he does know he's 'out of line'.
Another one - 'you're 16, you're beautiful and your mine' 😝

The Folks Who Live on the Hill, sung by Peggy Lee. The joy of two people in a loving partnership growing old together. Kicks all those dubious predator lyrics into touch and then some!

Someday we'll build a home on a hilltop high
You and I
Shiny and new, a cottage that two can fill
And we'll be pleased to be called
"The folks who live on the hill"

Someday we may be adding a wing or two
A thing or two
We will make changes as any family will
But we will always be called
"The folks who live on the hill"

Our veranda will command a view of meadows green
The sort of view that seems to want to be seen
And when the kids grow up and leave us
We'll sit and look at the same old view
Just we two

Darby and Joan who used to be Jack and Jill
The folks who like to be called
What they have always been called
"The folks who live on the hill"

Healthy
Flowers in the window

Happiness is Me and You - Gilbert O Sullivan - a gentle song of contented love
It’s a lovely song worth a listen (sorry I do t know how to share)

“When the evening is over
Put your head upon my shoulder
And I'll tell you something
I believe is true
Happiness is me and you
In a world so distorted
Where the worst is best reported
Love maybe something
That will see us through
Happiness is me and you
There maybe girls that I'll remember
That made me happy for a while
But none of them compare with you my love
However hard they they all may try
If the bus that we're taking
Has for ages kept us waiting
What does it matter
Even in a queue
Happiness is me and you
There may be days when you discover
I'm not the man you think I am
But through it all we will recover
Without the aid of any plan
When the weeks turn to hours
And in June it's April showers
I'll tell you something I believe is true
Happiness is me and you
Happiness is me and you
Happiness is me and you”

Off topic a bit by McCartney's Women and Wives off his relatively recent album Macca 3 sounds a lot like Hurt - except he actually wrote it.