Even more than most of these posts, this is just an opinion.  But my opinion is…

Except in certain types of songs, it’s almost always better to use ‘I’ instead of ‘we’.

Many writers, from famous to obscure, like to generalize, or maybe they’re attempting to universalize or philosophize, by using the word ‘We’ (in a general way, not about couples – ‘Tramps like us, baby we were Born To Run’ is a whole different thing!).  For instance, this is a type of lyric I’ve heard many times –

We break each others’ hearts
When we know we really love
The one we hurt

OK.  But I ask myself, Why not sing something like –

I break your lonely heart
When I know I really love
The one I hurt

To me, the second one is so much stronger.  As a listener, I connect and identify with the ‘I’ perspective… it tells me the narrator has done this themself, they’ve actually experienced and felt what they’re singing about (whether the writer really has or not).  I believe them and I identify (only if the song itself is emotionally convincing, of course).

The ‘We’ position is general; it’s a philosophical, intellectual observation, not an emotional experience.  In a song, I think it’s much weaker than the first person (‘I’).

So why do people use ‘We’ so often?  I can suggest a few possibilities.

For one – they disagree with me and like it better (that’s always a possibility!).  For another, maybe they like to philosophize or teach in songs (I don’t), which is certainly their prerogative.

Also, I know sometimes it’s hard to sing vulnerable things from the ‘I’ perspective; it’s scary…  If the song’s narration really is autobiographical, even somewhat, one is exposed that way… if the song is sung by a character way different from the writer, maybe we’re sometimes afraid that people will think it really is us.

There is a great place for “We’ in songs, and that’s in anthemic songs, usually ones that are written with the idea of groups of people singing along, such as ‘We Shall Overcome’, ‘We Are The World’, ‘We Are The Champions’ , or ‘We Are Family’.  Then it makes perfect sense and can be great.

But what if the lyric to ‘Amazing Grace’ was –

Amazing Grace
How sweet the sound
To save wretches like us

It’s easy to slip into this “We’ thing… and I think one should think twice and thrice before going there.  In each case, I think it’s worth asking if the ‘I’ perspective isn’t much more powerful.

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