Left-wing Youth Vision of the Bipolar World: the USA and the USSR in Singersongwriters’ Lyrics
Journal title MONDO CONTEMPORANEO
Author/s Paolo Carusi
Publishing Year 2023 Issue 2022/2-3 Language Italian
Pages 20 P. 157-176 File size 205 KB
DOI 10.3280/MON2022-002007
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By analyzing the lyrics of the singer-songwriters, the essay will seek to define how left-leaning youth envisioned the two superpowers in terms of positive and negative values, inherent contradictions and vision of the future. It will become clear that the narration and depiction of the bipolar world in singer-songwriter lyr-ics took three different routes: firstly, criticism of both the superpowers, by ex-pressing the anxieties unleashed by the arms race and the nuclear build-up; sec-ondly, an anti-US stance, based on a critique of the contradictions of capitalist so-ciety. The third and final element sees the singer-songwriters take aim at the incon-gruities of the Soviet system. Although less pronounced in the 70s, the theme grew rapidly in the 80s, concomitant with the decline of Communist internationalism. At the end of the decade, the lyrics mulled over the demise of the Soviet block and considered the future chances of the new world politics.
Keywords: Singer-songwriters, political collective imagination, Cold War, left-leaning youth, mass consumption, cultural history
Paolo Carusi, Il futuro del mondo bipolare nell’immaginario giovanile di sinistra: Usa e Urss nei versi della canzone d’autore in "MONDO CONTEMPORANEO" 2-3/2022, pp 157-176, DOI: 10.3280/MON2022-002007