Should we be thinking about the theme when we’re writing a song? I wouldn’t recommend it; only because my experience has been that the theme will form of its own accord. It’s more the job of the reviewer or academic to decide whether there’s a theme and, if so, how well the song develops that theme, or works within it.

The composer has a broken heart, has lost his/her job, is missing someone; these are the emotions that drive composition. But so is necessity, desire for glory, a nice turn of phrase. It’s not possible to dismiss any of these factors when they are so much in display in their respective corner.

This is a separate concern than that found in the ideal theme for a set of lyrics; one organically grown as a consequence of exploring the implications of the scenario presented in the song. This means, despite the fact you might be writing nationalist ditties for Skrewdriver or California ditties of either the Beach Boys or Dead Kennedys variety, your fidelity to the song is what drives it, not your projection as to its place in the charts, or the fine words spent in that Mojo review praising the finished product.

If you call your song ‘Kill the Poor’ or ‘Wouldn’t it be Nice’ either way a theme begins to emerge. This is then quailfied by the lyrics as we progress through the song. And when I say “qualified” I mean not just that it explores every facet of that main notion, but that it alters our sense of what is meant.

This is not a critical exercise, so I don’t want to explore in too much depth what Jane Fonda being on the screen does to perception of what this act (killing the poor) would entail, but it does colour the content of the song; the lyrics going in slightly different direction than the audience at first expects from the title or opening lines.