Art is funny. A single piece can be interpreted in so many different ways by different people.
Songs fall into that category. One song can have many meanings. It all depends on who's listening, and under what conditions.
Case point: Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" has many different interpretations. I've heard anti-rock music protesters say it's about the arrival of Satan, because of the term "There's a feeling I get when I look to the West." They back that claim by saying when Christ returns to the earth, he will come from the East.
There are those who believe the song is about the Lady Galadriel, elf-queen in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings." They cite the same looking-to-the-West line and say it's about Galadriel yearning to leave Middle Earth for the undying lands.
Another song that has different interpretations is the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." Some say the title's acronym refers to the hallucinogenic drug LSD. But John Lennon, who wrote the song, said it was based on a drawing by his song Julian, who was a young boy in 1967. "I asked (Julian) what the drawing was, and he said, 'It's about a lady in the sky called Lucy.' "
Last week I wrote a column about the name chosen by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie for their newborn, Shiloh. I wrote that I always felt the name reminded me of a dog because of Neil Diamond's song "Shilo." I always thought the song was about a dog. But after the column ran, I received numerous e-mails telling me the song was about Diamond's imaginary childhood friend.
After rereading the lyrics, I see that that could be true.
However, there was one e-mail that went beyond the childhood-friend and dog meaning. This particular woman (a major Neil Diamond fan) wrote that when she was young, she thought the song was about an imaginary friend. "But when I listened to the song as a more mature woman, I realized that (Diamond) could have actually been singing about his (private parts)."
Needless to say, I have never heard of that interpretation before.
Other songs that have had varied interpretations include:
Twisted Sister's "Under the Blade," although written about surgery, was targeted by Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Center in the 1980s as being about sex.
Elton John's "Empty Garden" has been criticized for being about marijuana because of the line, "he raised good crop." But John has said it was a tribute song about John Lennon after the former Beatle was assassinated in 1980.
Former Styx frontman Dennis DeYoung wrote and recorded a song in 1984 called "Desert Moon." Many fans and critics have gone on record saying the song was about the loss of a first love. But recently DeYoung's wife, Suzanne, has said the song was written about Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel "Dune."
Ozzy Osbourne's "Suicide Solution" has been cited by anti-rock protesters as a call for committing suicide. But Osbourne has said it is an anti-alcohol anthem based on his own life experiences.
As long as there is music, there will always be debates about what songs are about. And while a songwriter may have an idea in mind when he or she writes a song, the listeners can interpret those lyrics any way they want.
Dogs, imaginary friends or whatever.
E-mail: scott@desnews.com