by James Olny

Created on: February 21, 2007   Last Updated: April 08, 2007

Throughout time, every kind of person you could imagine, from every ethnicity, religion, and every walk of life has written a song or songs. The idea behind writing a song is to of course, convey a message (in most cases). Sometimes, the author is very explicit with the message they mean to interpret, and write their lyrics to reflect that, as plain as day. Sometimes, the intended meaning is a bit more convoluted and harder to immediately ascertain. This is where the art in music lies, in the ability to create a song that will be interpreted and heard in a thousand different ways.

For instance, a good example is the song "Stellar" by Incubus. At first listen, this song appeared as just a song about outer space, as that seems to be a very common thread in Incubus' song lyrics. Without examining it any further than that, it also appears to be a love song right off the bat, the premise being a man who wants to take a girl into outer space to "watch the earth rise" and to simply "spend the night." So two common themes of Incubus' lyrics and imagery are present; outer space and new age romance. However, if one listens closely, they will notice the lyric,

"Meet me in outerspace
I will hold you close, If your afraid of heights
I need you to see this place, It might be the only way
That I can show you how, it feels to be inside of you "

This is a verse I'd passed up many a time with no thought at all, however, the final line reveals a potentially different spin to the song, "That I can show you how, it feels to be inside of you." It is my belief that at this point, the artist is no longer singing a simple love song, but a more sexually charged love song. He wishes to take her into outer space because he feels it is the only way to show his woman in comparison, how she makes him feel when they engage in coitus. She "takes him into outer space." Therefor, it can be assumed that he intends to take her into outer space as well, but in a more physical sense, than the metaphor he implies in that line. In review, it is a love song still, with lyrics that portray his admiration and affection for this girl, but at the same time, transcends beyond the norm of a typical love song and details the more physical aspect of it, as the give the listener of the song more of a clue as the the mood and feeling of the song, and when this is realized, gives the song a whole new feel to it.

Do you have an interpretation of a song that you don't believe to be a mainstream view of it? Do you have a point of view of a song that sheds all new light on it? If so, post them here and share your thoughts.

Learn more about this author, James Olny.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.