Although song styles and structures were not quite the same as they are in pop music today, songs were still about telling stories. Why did so many of them sound like tales of queer love? Sometimes, it's all about perspective.
From ragtime numbers to sentimental songs about home, composers created songs for the public to hear. Radio, records and film all helped to spread the songs, and vocalists of all genders performed them exactly as written, with lyrics unchanged.
Although song styles and structures were not quite the same as they are in pop music today, songs were still about telling stories. Why did so many of them sound like tales of queer love? Sometimes, it's all about perspective.
Many queer sounding songs in early popular music included a love interest, with descriptive lyrics staging the scene. Who and where were vocalists singing about... and what messages were they conveying?
As the 1930s came to a end, so did the era of casually queer songs. Follow the big shifts in culture and music that made this the case, as we keep searching for ourselves in the songs.