Hellooo!
I'm going to talk about music again and in particular about the difficulties of interpreting it. I think that music, all genre of music, makes part of e
veryone's life. Who doesn't have at least one favourite song? ;) Well, I think the answer is quite obvious because music is a great part of everyone's life, we are musical human beings!
Few days ago I came across with the problem of misinterpretation of songs. We were talking (me and my peers in my English class) about Coldplay's song Viva la Vida. The band has yet to make public their interpretation, the right one. When I listened to it I immediately thought about a love song. Through the use of sacred metaphors the author wants to represent a man that had everything from life but stupidly has lost everything. Then, reading some people's comments I thought that this song is a hymn of joy for J.W.Bush's fall in the latest US elections and for Obama's win (or perhaps I like very much this interpretation and I convinced myself of its truth!).
Songs interpretation is sometimes very difficult. I surfed the Net for a while searching for "misinterpreted songs" in the history. I found out two interesting blogs presenting some songs that have been and still are misinterpreted. Derek Powazek writes about the American Top 10: Most Misinterpreted Songs while Vicki Santillano writes about Eight Commonly Misinterpreted Songs. Go and have a look at them if you wish.
What struck me the most was the misinterpretation of The Police's song Every Breath You Take. This song is not about love, affection and devotion but talks about "a controlling character-person who keeps on watching every single thing the ex-girlfriend does" (Powazek, 2009). I always thought it was a love song...gulp! Now I realize that I never paid too much attention on it because I took its meaning for granted.
This is the video of this song performed in Torino in 2007. I found it on YouTube but I was there too! A great band and a wonderful concert!
Bye bye!
Chiara ;)
(photo source)
I'm going to talk about music again and in particular about the difficulties of interpreting it. I think that music, all genre of music, makes part of e
veryone's life. Who doesn't have at least one favourite song? ;) Well, I think the answer is quite obvious because music is a great part of everyone's life, we are musical human beings!Few days ago I came across with the problem of misinterpretation of songs. We were talking (me and my peers in my English class) about Coldplay's song Viva la Vida. The band has yet to make public their interpretation, the right one. When I listened to it I immediately thought about a love song. Through the use of sacred metaphors the author wants to represent a man that had everything from life but stupidly has lost everything. Then, reading some people's comments I thought that this song is a hymn of joy for J.W.Bush's fall in the latest US elections and for Obama's win (or perhaps I like very much this interpretation and I convinced myself of its truth!).
Songs interpretation is sometimes very difficult. I surfed the Net for a while searching for "misinterpreted songs" in the history. I found out two interesting blogs presenting some songs that have been and still are misinterpreted. Derek Powazek writes about the American Top 10: Most Misinterpreted Songs while Vicki Santillano writes about Eight Commonly Misinterpreted Songs. Go and have a look at them if you wish.
What struck me the most was the misinterpretation of The Police's song Every Breath You Take. This song is not about love, affection and devotion but talks about "a controlling character-person who keeps on watching every single thing the ex-girlfriend does" (Powazek, 2009). I always thought it was a love song...gulp! Now I realize that I never paid too much attention on it because I took its meaning for granted.
This is the video of this song performed in Torino in 2007. I found it on YouTube but I was there too! A great band and a wonderful concert!
Bye bye!
Chiara ;)
(photo source)
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