MAB, thanks for that post about Jarrod, and the mention of the song, "As Close As I'll Get To Loving You". I googled and listenrd to it. The video happend to be one of those witht the lyrics, so you could read along while listening. To confess, I really don't remember the song, BUT, the language, the melody, and the drum groove sound current. Not sure about the violins? All of the phrases and words are still relevent today, and there were no "cliche's". Just simple straight forward language. Great example of "how to write a fresh everlasting song".
Here's an example I did on a song I'm working on. I had a line, "Never believed in love at first sight". Really liked it! Exactly what I wanted to say. BUT, then I thought about it and realized it is a cliche'. Don't know that it's that over used, on radio anyway. Maybe at writer's nights? But it was a cliche', and I wanted to avoid obvious cliche's. SO, I rewrote it to say, "Never thought love would come in jeans, the moment that we met". Says the same thing but [I think] newer, fresher? BTW, the lines are taken out of context of the song, so they rhyme with other lines.
phil g.