In those days it didn't take much imagination to come up with something that required great lyric development skills. You just thought of an experience that you might have gone through and write it down.
I definitely wasn't cool in high school. I really wasn't. I did belong to many of the clubs and was in leadership on yearbook and did the musical theater route so I had friends in all areas. But I certainly did not know what to wear did not know how to do my hair all those things.