Herbie and Bill, I agree. I consider cliches a form of cultural shorthand. Using one does provide the advantage of *knowing* you're giving the listener a common frame of reference. Since the purpose of writing is to communicate, that's not a bad thing.

Of course I'm aware of cliches as I use them. That's part of knowing the language. i try not to be hackneyed about it--why re-invent somebody else's wheel? One should, I think, be trying either to express a new idea, or if an old idea, to express it in a new way. If a cliche helps, use it.

I got over my aversion to cliches by writing a song that was entirely cliches ("Twenty-Four Seven"). A love song, of course--if you're going to do cliches, you might as well go all the way. (It was a waltz, too.) It actually didn't come out half bad.

Stan, there are more types of love songs than you mentioned. I've got a boy-stalks-girl song, and a boy-runs-over-animal-with-his-truck-and-thinks-about-meeting-girl song, even a girl-not-so-inadvertently-kills-boy song (my baby sister's favorite, but she's a nurse).

Joe

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