Misinterpreted Song Lyrics

[musicthom]

Following on from a topic posted here it made me think so here whats in my head

lyrics can be interpeted so many ways the writer has a image / story in his mind that he or she wants to convey and unless we have the facts on the story well we all more than 9 times out of 10 put our story/ experiences to it .

being a songwriter i have allways wrote from my experiences and can be cryptic at times, and have wrote one song that on the surface appears to be a love song of man meets woman falls in love but it couldnt be further from the truth so my question is

would the facts surrounding a lyric / song change your perseption of the song ?

[Lazz]

There is one terrific example of wilful misinterpretation gives me as much amusement as consternation:

Don't know how far this treatment extends south of the border, but up here in Canada it seems not unusual for Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" to be applied to lots of 'feel-good' images and messages to do with natural environments coupled with some vague sense of benign nationalistic identity and togetherness much like an all-purpose Pepsi/Coke routine. The enormity of the irony still seems lost on most, however, who seem blithely unaware of its origin as an anthem for the Wobblies. They don't know who the Wobblies are and seem generally short on any broad sense of economic history. In a perverse way, I just love that degree of misconception where revolutionary iconography like this can get so neatly co-opted to serve whatever it was kicking against in the first place.

When it's used for an ad, the reading is all about sea-to-shining-sea, wild life, mountains, pristine rivers and smiling multiculturalism.

But when I hear the song, I am thinking about Joe Hill, and union-busting, and the depression, and the dust-bowl, and all that other nasty stuff..

Funny old world.

[cobalt21]

would the facts surrounding a lyric / song change your perseption of the song ?

[musicthom]

would the facts surrounding a lyric / song change your perseption of the song ?

it would ,of course , change my perception of the meaning of the song but to clarify, I think you may be asking would it effect the degree to which I like or dislike the song and the answer is no. Please correct if I am wrong.

Personally, if I like a song it is because of how it sounds to me. This of course includes how the lyrics sound but as far as the meaning , goes, wouldnt matter to me.

yeh your right thats what i did mean its just i told someone recently the stoty behind a song and they changed there opinion on the song from a negative one to posative one and it struck me that the perseption of the listner could be a big factor in the sucsess of a track

[Rudi]

so my question is

would the facts surrounding a lyric / song change your perseption of the song ?

of course. Context is everything.

As I said before, concider the song 'Spanish Eyes'

An old fashioned romantic balad. Now suppose for example, that it was written by a canibal?

[cobalt21]

of course. Context is everything.

As I said before, concider the song 'Spanish Eyes'

An old fashioned romantic balad. Now suppose for example, that it was written by a canibal?

Yep, I agree with your point.

There are some songs that I can see might make a difference but only the ones that I listen to specifically for the picture , image , or memories that are triggered by the lyrics and thus might be altered with information to the contrary. In My case however, those songs are very rare.

And by the way, I absolutely love spanish cooking