I confess to having trouble finishing A Confederacy of Dunces, tho the very fat Ignatius has met and is in a strange kind of non-sexual love for Myrna, so it’s not quite unrequited love, and there are no songs in this book.
It’s 2am and the storm from Vienna has hit and it’s now pouring rain with wind, after a blistering 38 C (~100F!) Friday.

Standing on the corner watching all the girls go by.
Standing on the corner watching all the girls go by.
Brother, you don’t know a nicer occupation,
Matter of fact, neither do I,
Than standing on the corner watching all the girls,
Watching all the girls, watching all the girls,
Go by

I’m a cat that got the cream.
Haven’t got a girl, but I can dream.
Haven’t got a girl, but I can wish.
So I take me down to Main Street and that’s where I select my imaginary dish.

Standing on the corner watching all the girls go by.
Standing on the corner giving all the girls the eye.
Brother, if you’ve got a rich imagination,
Give it a whirl, give it a try
Try standing on the corner watching all the girls,
Watching all the girls, watching all the girls,
Go by

Saturday, and I’m so broke,
Haven’t got a girl, and that’s no joke.
Still I’m living like a millionaire
When I take me down to Main Street and I review the harem parading for me there

Standing on the corner watching all the girls go by,
Standing on the corner underneath the springtime sky.
Brother, you can’t go to jail for what you’re thinking,*
Or for the “Woo!” look in your eye.
You’re only standing on the corner watching all the girls,
Watching all the girls, watching all the girls,
Go by

* Written before the #MeToo days, obviously.

Yes, I know that was your point, and I agree with it.

I was dealing with another aspect of what you wrote, having to do with the interface (or lack thereof) between rock or pop stars’ lives (compliant women everywhere) and the themes of their songs.

Also, it was the Bee Gees who did write that last song “Heart Like Mine,” which is about yearning for someone as yet unmet. I find that rather interesting.

neo:

Sure and even the Beatles wrote songs about unrequited love and loneliness. However, the topic here as you’ve delineated it is more specialized :
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One song theme I’ve noticed before is that of a person who is imagining a love somewhere in the world, someone he or she has never met but wants to meet – sometimes desperately wants to meet, depending on the singer’s degree of loneliness.
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There don’t seem to be as many of those as I thought. That’s my point.

I presume this longed-for lover is somewhere beyond the sea because if he/she were next door, the problem would have been solved.

Is there a category for next-door still being unrequited?

In all my many CD mixes for car play, which I often listen to at home, this is one of only two of these types of songs I have, and listen to again so often. [It’s also applicable to me personally, especially the ending -never again, I’ll go sailin’ -]

The other is Escape (the pina colada song).

Some of the existential loneliness seems to be part of the search for God & meaning, and some the impossibly contradictory desires of:
a) comfortable, familiar, safe
b) different, exiting, risky.
And wanting one other person, one soul mate, to totally satisfy all desires.
Ain’t gonna happen – CAN’T happen, at least not always over time. Tho there are many specific times when lots of desires and dream are fulfilled, even the contradictory ones. Like horror movies or thrilling rides, exciting yet safe.

Wife and I just reserved a two week vacation escape to Corfu, Greece, along with two of our kids plus her 80 year old still in good shape mother.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN2dWOkvH8A

BTW I always loved the way Goodnight My Someone foreshadows the melody of 76 Trombones.

Great column, Neo!