[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

re: lyrics and interpreting and.....

>
>np: waterdeep - sink or swim
>

wow, dan, someone else knows waterdeep.  sink or swim is a Christian album i 
can stomach, though i don't care for alot of what they do.  i've seen them 
in concert twice.  love the acoustic oriented songs. . .

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

my love is a fever, my love is a fable, my love is jazz licks improvised by 
toddlers, bold ulysses by nursery rhyme, and firelight.

this is rather unrelevant to my response but i just love to quote that line. 
  but maybe i could make it relevent.  i don't get the "bold ulysses" 
reference, though i assume that it is not something exactly conducive to 
sedating small children into gamma wave mode. . .  but this song from 'eve' 
makes me do flips.  no bubblehead, i didn't say backflips, i said flips. 
backflips are much too tiddy and controlled.  i'm talking about whirl-flips, 
baby.. . . just visualize.   and then further on it's, "out of the woods now 
comes a virgin in buckskin mocc. tall thin she plays her mandolin so 
maudlin, you begin to spin. . ." (!!)   the imagery in this song is 
incredible, needless to say.

so on with my response.

the approach to interpretation which is centered around the interpreters 
whims is not something i care for.  for instance, in literary interpretation 
there are certain principles and guidelines that one must follow.  therefore 
hermeneutics is refered to as the art and science of interpretation.  one 
principle you learn from studying hermeneutics is essentially, exegesis.  
exegete!  not eisegesis!  (from the greek prefix 'ek' or 'out of', versus  
the greek prefix 'eis', 'into'.)  one thing that really bothers me is when 
people sit around in english class or, the classic case is at a little bible 
study group.  everyone goes around in a circle and says, "well martha, how 
does that passage make you feel?  what does it mean to you".   there's a 
little rhyme that some of my profs. have quoted to illustrate this.  
something like: 'wonderful things in the bible i see, wondrous things put 
there by you and by me.'  when interpreting literature like the bible, 
plato, shakespeare, etc, it's easy to read in stuff that 's not really 
intended by the author because it fits your fancy.  granted this only 
applies with literature which was written with a specific argument or with 
something specific in mind.  i think of shakespeare and the bible etc, and 
realize that the authors were trying to communicate something very specific. 
  to insert our own ideas at the expense of theirs is not what they wanted.  
it's not intellectually honest, furthermore, and it's the difference between 
ice-cream cones and filet mignon.
   the same goes for MOST musical pieces.  when bob dylan wrote 'the times 
they are changing' there is a specific context which we must understand to 
really catch what is being said.  when you listen to that song thinking 
about the culteral revolution that was taking place when bobby d. wrote that 
song in his protest years, the lights come on.
   now of course otr is much different.  maybe linford is on the new school 
postmodern subjectivism band wagon, but i don't know.  i don't think their 
songs are a chaotic splotch of paint on a canvas going for a cool million.  
alot of artists have something substantial to say through their work, 
something to communicate, and i always thought otr was more on that boat 
than not.
   now these thoughts can easily be misunderstood.  i'm not saying that when 
a person approaches a piece of work that a personal exerience does not occur 
in response, something that the artist might have no way of predicting or 
intending.  take latterdays.  if i'm correct that song was deeply personal 
to karin and linford, but how are we supposed to fully understand?  
inevitably when we listen to that song we instinctively apply it to our own 
heartaches and experience.  it speaks to us where we're at in ways linford 
could never intend.  so you guys are really helping me think through this 
and understand as i type this.
but is this the case with all songs? take 'june'.  i think june has a very 
specific message.  i don't want to paint over linfords canvas with my own 
brush.  i want to see what's there and feel what they are feeling as i 
understand.   man, maybe i'm taking this too seriously.
it's a frickin' "song" man.
how bout the seahorse.  i don't get that song!  that is a cohesive poem 
about something specific.  i want the big picture.  maybe it was that 
lysergic acid dythalamine. . . i'm lost in the forest.
my conclusion is, there's a balance.  each song can be approached 
differently.

anybody know what highway 61 dylan was talking about?  maybe i'm on the 
wrong list.  how does the number 61 make you feel, man?  anybody ever been 
to desolation row?  (i think it runs parallel to highway 61.) you should all 
nod your heads yes now. in unison. you've all been there.


they got a ranch that's called number SIXTY-ONE.  can't see it at all, less 
your flying by!
(for a select few. you know who you are)


nonsequitor,
brian


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

---------------
Unsubscribe by going to http://www.actwin.com/MediaNation/OtR/
Follow-Ups: