Hidden Meanings

If you’ve written a song you may have had the experience of seeing, at a later date, something within the lyric which you hadn’t noticed when you wrote it.

I always think it’s good to aim to make the meaning of a song as crystal clear as it can be. And yet often I and other writers dive into our song creation trying to discover something, rather than to say something.

Anyway, there is always something opaque about “meaning” at the best of times. Think of a discussion or argument you’ve had. One in which you’re pretty sure you couldn’t have made a certain point any clearer. But still it remains beyond the understanding of your friend/spouse/child/parent/enemy.

We multiply the possibility for Hidden Meanings when we attempt to use poetic language. That’s a good thing as long, I think, as we aren’t pretentiously and consciously trying to do it.

It’s really just about being open. We won’t even know it happened when it happens. We can’t take credit, because we didn’t even know it was happening. Because our brains do their best work out of sight.

And I suspect we should probably write more songs which are open to interpretation. By our listeners and even by ourselves.

nb. As I sit here trying to edit these unpoetic words (which isn’t a bad thing) I’m left with the thought that sometimes, when the words are out there, we should just let them be.

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