Incomprehensible

I just wrote a song that has absolutely no meaning. I mean, I wasn't trying to give it one. I was actually trying to write utter nonsense. The trouble is, it's kinda catchy and everyone I play it for says they got some meaning out of it. My daughter even said the music pulls her emotionally and makes her think the words are deep, even though she knows they aren't.

So this must be what makes a hit song - not careful crafting of lyrics, but enough vagueness that the song becomes everything to everyone. One person said the song was about leaving behind a lost love. Someone else said it was uplifting and encouraging to be strong no matter what life brings you. So, not to say that this actually will become a hit song, but I'm beginning to understand why I sometimes have such a hard time figuring out what hit songs are about. Maybe they're not about anything!

It all started when I was reviewing lyrics of some songs my son wanted to put on his iPod. (He hates the review process. My husband and I are apparently overprotective and stifling and are ruining his social life, which somehow revolves around a device that only one person can listen to at a time. Oh well, that's our job.) There was one song that's really good musically, but when I sat down and read the lyrics... well, three weeks later, I STILL haven't figured out what it's about. It ticked me off, so I thought, "I could write a song that doesn't mean anything."

So I did. I wrote down every catch phrase that came to me without bothering to tie it in to the line before it. The whole thing took me five minutes, because I wouldn't let myself stop and think. I actually did manage to tie some lines together in spite of myself, but it did come out delightfully vague.

I will be really upset if out of all my songs, this one is the one that makes it to the radio. Well, no, I can't say I'll be upset, actually. But still...

Then again, I don't just write songs to write them, and certainly not (fortunately enough) to make money. So this was an interesting experiment, but I don't think I'll be repeating it. I'll continue to wait until I have something worthwhile to sing about before I put it to music. Music is too important a tool to be used to stir up emotions for emotions' sake. The race is too short and the battle too important for me to waste my best gift on entertainment.

Stepping off my soap box now... it so annoying when I come to and find myself up here.