Do people read more into lyrics than the artist intended?

Yes.   Although for a young band and their fans, there is nothing wrong in being glib and financially motivated  

If there is a song like Bob Segers 'Fire Inside' I can't help it but get into the lyrics, its the way the song is written.  However with majority of songs I am captured by the tune/melody first and lyrics quite often are just there to fill in the gaps.  However there are a lot of songs where the lyrics play an important role thats because they are supported by a very good music eg a lot of hits from Police or Elvis Presley.  Then there are artists who have it in their talent/make up to write good lyrics with music to match the lyrics eg Leonard Cohen RIP.  The only song where I sort of read more into the Lyrics then maybe the artist intended was Marc Bolan's (T.Rex) Cosmic Dancer , the lyrics are quite spooky and in the middle the lyrics say:

I was dancing when I was eight
Is it strange to dance so late
I danced myself into the tomb
Is it strange to dance so soon
I danced myself into the tomb

For me its spooky considering he died young at the age of 27 and he once predicted in an interview that he will not reach his 30's.  

I too think perhaps yes, but a while after The B. In some of their songs there was actually more than it was sung. Some artists, I believe, even put rhymes together relying on the fact that inconsequential sentences with some assonance do suggest who knows what, some kind of figuratively induced meaning... While it's only number of syllables and rhymes.

I may be wrong here,but I think that older artists lyrics...say from 1950-60 to 1990-95 had more content in their lyrics than today's artists lyrics.

Artists from that time,had of course also gone into the "hard" school,..in other words....Worked,performed at small clubs.And that way learned the profession and audience-contact etc,as well as slowly grown in fame and experience.

Today's artists, as I said before, become hyped after sending in a video and participated in some televised talent-hunting.

Below lyrics, is an example of where...Lyrics,Music and commercial impact interact.... according to me.

? USA FOR AFRICA ?
???? We Are The World ???? ….Lyrics below....????????????

There comes a time when we heed a certain call (Lionel Richie)
When the world must come together as one (Lionel Richie & Stevie Wonder)
There are people dying (Stevie Wonder)
Oh, and it's time to lend a hand to life (Paul Simon)
The greatest gift of all (Paul Simon/Kenny Rogers)
We can't go on pretending day by day (Kenny Rogers)
That someone, somehow will soon make a change (James Ingram)
We're all a part of God's great big family (Tina Turner)
And the truth (Billy Joel)
You know love is all we need (Tina Turner/Billy Joel)
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving (Michael Jackson)
There's a choice we're making we're saving our own lives (Diana Ross)
It's true we'll make a better day just you and me (Michael Jackson/Diana Ross)
Well, send'em you your heart so they know that someone cares (Dionne Warwick)
And their lives will be stronger and free (Dionne Warwick/Willie Nelson)
As God has shown us by turning stone to bread (Willie Nelson)
And so we all must lend a helping hand (Al Jurreau)
We are the world, we are the children (Bruce Springsteen)
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving (Kenny Logins)
There's a choice we're making we're saving our own lives (Steve Perry)
It's true we'll make a better day just you and me (Daryl Hall)
When you're down and out there seems no hope at all (Michael Jackson)
But if you just believe there's no way we can fall (Huey Lewis)
Well, well, well, let's realize that a change can only come (Cyndi Lauper)
When we (Kim Carnes)
stand together as one (Kim Carnes/Cyndi Lauper/Huey Lewis)
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving (Michael Jackson)
There's a choice we're making we're saving our own lives (Diana Ross)
It's true we'll make a better day just you and me (Michael Jackson/Diana Ross)
-----------------------------------------------------
? Writer(s): Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie,and also in the beginning…Stevie Wonder.
----------------------------------------------------

/Peder???? 

I would say good lyrics, Peder, but they'd have to take “God” out and any allusion to the non-corporeal!

Consciousmess posted:

I would say good lyrics, Peder, but they'd have to take “God” out and any allusion to the non-corporeal!

 

???? Consciousmess,...I also think that ????????, the reason I had this lyrics ready was, that I added it a few weeks ago in my Tina Turner thread.

It was written in 1985,when it was a famine disaster in Ethiopia.
When you listen to the song,it feels like it's for real,..if you understand what I mean....artists who really care about.
The video for "We Are The World" is among the last posts in the Tina thread.

/Peder ????

Consciousmess posted:

Oasis ..... i see that what they wrote is glib and financially motivated.

It's well-known Noel Gallagher was high, often on cocaine, when he wrote most of Oasis' hits. He admitted to spending more than £1M to feed his habit. No stretch to say there was financial motivation.

The interesting contrast would be all the lyrics written in the 1960s and early 70s under the influence of acid or pot. Relatively inexpensive drugs. Folks certainly read a lot into the Beatles' lyrics, going so far as to play them backward to search for hidden messages.

Lyrics are poetry. Musical accompaniment can greatly enhance the mood of the poetic experience, making it seem more profound.

Generally Yes, just depends on the Artist...

It could be determined whether a lyrical representation can stand up to the tides of time.

One generations ramblings could turn out to be the crucible of another's essential turmoil. 

Skit dobbee doos and other pedant free free'ers always let some other colours into language and rhymes and time.

Bob Dylan's 'Shooting Star' - about God, or a lover, or both?

wenger2015 posted:

Generally Yes, just depends on the Artist...

Definitely in the case of Yes.