Last night I was listening to the Police song Every Breath You Take. While it is an amazing and was an incredibly popular song, the lyrics of this song are creepy. The song describe a man's obsession with a women saying that he is always watching and that "[she] belongs to [him]". But the song was misinterpreted by many people. Sting, the lead vocals and songwriter of The Police, in many interviews believed that the song has been taken the wrong way by many. When writing the song Sting said "he was thinking of Big Brother, surveillance and control" but couples have told him "that it was the main song played at their wedding" and many more believe it is a beautiful love song.
This song and the confusion behind it remind me of the poem by Theodore Roethke, "My Papa's Waltz". This poem describes an abusive and drunk father and relationship with his son. He describes a night with his father where the father is drunk and is beating the son while dancing. This poem, like the Police song above, was very misinterpreted when it first came out. Many believed and still believe that the poem represents a joyous moment between a son and his father, as represented by Dr. O'Conner's (an educator at Millikin University) analysis of the poem here. It was not until recently that people noticed a abusive undertone to the poem.
In what ways do songs and poems get misinterpreted? And how does this reflect the individual who analyses them and the time period in which the original analysis was made?
Anna-
ReplyDeleteTotally with you on the fact that people misinterpret lyrics all the time. I can think of one especially notable example which is Frankie Goes to Hollywood's 1983 hit "Relax". The song's lyrics are seemingly overtly sexual but a lot of its fans had no idea what the song meant. I think it has a lot to do with prejudices we have about the song or poem. In this case people didn't expect to see such a sexual song in the mainstream pop scene so they discredited that interpretation of the lyrics.
A very common problem, Anna. Do you think you could relate it to our deep examinations of text in the classroom?
ReplyDeleteAnother example you might explore is Springsteen's "Born in the USA", which was used by a politician named Ronald Reagan in a way that probably wasn't intended by the author.
But does it matter? Many artists do not want to lock down the meaning of their songs, choosing to give the interpretation over to the listeners.