It used to bother me when I didn't know what a song was supposed to mean, officially.
In fact, I didn't realize until about thirty seconds ago that it DOESN'T bother me anymore. I think it might bother me more when there IS an official meaning.
Many of us have probably had a moment where we're listening to a song and it speaks to us. It feels like it's speaking directly to us, about our specific circumstances. It fits too perfectly to mean anything else.
After having one of those moments, I used to take to the internet. I wanted my interpretation confirmed. I wanted the songwriter to agree with me, or at least the majority of other fans. I wanted other people to say, "Yes, that's it, OBVIOUSLY. You got it right."
But that was never the way it happened. Instead, I'd find myself deflating as I read other people's interpretations. Either they took something beautiful and made it something ugly, or they had an interpretation that held water so much better than mine that it made me feel foolish and disillusioned.
I've never been one of those "all interpretations are correct"/"whatever it means to you is valid" types. Anyone who knows me knows that. I see so much of the world in black and white. So many things to me are as clear as "2 + 2 = 4," and it frustrates me when people think their opinions should be considered facts. (MY opinions on the other hand...yeah, I have a truly ridiculous amount of growing still to do.)
But...my opinion on song meanings has changed.
I think I prefer the songwriters' being silent. I think there is beauty in having the same song say different things to different people.
I don't necessarily want to compare all songs to scripture, but I read Psalm 5 every day for a week a few months ago and I swear it was a different psalm every day. It said different things, it was in a different tone, it convicted me of completely different things. And yet it meant what I needed it to mean every day.
Maybe music is supposed to be that way too. Songs have radically altered the trajectory of my life before—for the better. Is that any less true if my interpretations were "incorrect"? Of course not.
This post is inspired by the song Earth by Sleeping At Last. It's been in my head for four. straight. days. When I wake up, it's already in my head. It's in my head as I try to read books, as I'm on meetings. I hear it as I eat and as I watch TV. I listened to it in the car on the way to Raleigh on Tuesday.
My favorite line is "Until the sirens sound, I'm safe."
That feels like the way I've been living my life lately. I'm not really okay; there's pretty much definitely a disaster or a crash headed my direction. But hey, as long as the sirens aren't sounding, I'm fine, right?
I Googled the meaning of the song. Got a lot of stuff about religion and environmentalism. For a second, I felt the familiar foolishness and disillusionment creeping in, but then I just closed the tab on my computer.
I don't need to know what Ryan O'Neal meant. I don't need to know what JohnDoe74 or JaneDoeXO think it means. I know what it means to me, and it fills me with something that feels like truth.
I think I'm just gonna let that be for now.
~Stephanie
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