Friday, March 21, 2008

Vague Lyrics and Double Meanings


When you are writing a song, there are things that "work" in a vague story and things that don't. If you've ever read any Jung, or even Joseph Campbell, you'll have some understanding of the way certain great themes work on the subconscious, even if the conscious mind can't say just what they're about. A lyric can consist of a number of disjointed phrases which invoke feelings of, say, "loneliness," and it will work, even if it's not specifically "about" something. The songwriter can still look at the lyric, line by line, and ask themselves, "is this line working for me or against me?"

Somewhat akin to vague lyrics are lyrics which work on more than one level. The Beatles' song "Julia" was written about John Lennon's mother, but it works as a normal love song just as well. It makes the song more meaningful if you know the "subtext," but it doesn't prevent the song from working for the person who is hearing it, unexplained, for the first time.

Occasionally, I'll write a song where the "real" meaning of the song is never stated, but at the same time, I'll try to make the song work on some more "obvious" level. Maybe the inspiration for the song was my favorite sports team losing a big game, but I'll try to write it so that it also works for the listener who thinks it's just one person consoling another person in a time of trouble.

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