"This song is about..." Hold on , shut up!

As a fledging lyricist, I know that behind every lyric I write there is a special meaning. Whether the lyric deals with world hunger, American obesity, love, or heartbreak. That's the point of writing a song, conveying a meaning behind a specific thought, or maybe just trying to tell a story and doing it in a creative way. No matter how important or trivial the thought behind my lyric is, that thought can be interpreted in many different ways by the end listener.

For me, self-interpretation of song lyrics is one of the most interesting aspects of listening to other people's music. I get to put myself behind the words and in the shoes of the writer, imagining myself in countless situations that I've never encountered or reminding myself of all the hard or great times I've had throughout my life.

When I'm on the writing side, that special meaning is something that I usually like to keep to myself. I like leaving it open for people to make an interpretation of what I was trying to convey without having their ideas destroyed by another meaning, though important to me, but completely different from what might have been imagined by them.

For the most part, I like to let my songs speak for themselves. If I really need to sit there and explain the song in complete detail, did I really do my job? Probably not. If a person can't find a single thing that they can use from their experience to relate the song to themselves or something they feel strongly about, in my mind I failed.

I know not all artists are going to have the view point that is close to mine. I know their are a lot of songwriters out there that will tell you what the song is all about every time they play it. To them, it seems like it's just as important for them to explain what the song is about then for them to perform it.

But to be honest, 90% of the time I just don't want to hear it. If I wanted to hear the details of what a song was about I'd watch VH1's Storytellers or I'd seriously listen to the song and get the meaning that's important to me. When I'm standing there at a show and a lead singer insists on reading the novel that's he has carefully crafted to explain the meaning behind each song I just want to yell, "Shut up! Play the song already!"

There's nothing worse than falling in love with a song because of the personal meaning that is has for me and having it tainted by knowing that it's about the writer's love of pork. After that, that's all I can think about when I hear the words that before tugged the strings of my heart and had me floating in some dreamland that I couldn't quite capture on my own. It may not ruin the song, but it will forever be different in my mind.

I think I'm being picky. Way too picky. Or irrational. Whatever the word is, it sounds kind of stupid as I read back and think of my reasoning but it's just one of those things that's always bugged me and probably always will. It's also why you'll rarely get an explanation of what one of my songs is all about. There's the rare exception like my post "In The Mood For A Climate Change" back in November '08. But if you expect me to divulge, be ready to let me know what you think the song is about first or my lips are sealed, my friend.

In the mood for a "Climate Change?"

I wrote a song called "Climate Change" back in late March 2006. Hard to believe that was close to 3 years ago. The song sat on the back burner for quite a while, for about a year actually, until it made an appearance on my Myspace page. It now resides four tunes down in my Reverbnation music player on the right. It's very rare for me to explain the meaning behind my songs but some for some reason this one is different.

I started writing the song on a trip back to Maine from Florida, quite literally a climate change. And really, that's how the idea started, that harsh reality of having to leave the sunny, sandy beaches for the still snow covered hills of home. But the trip also had another meaning for me. It came in a point in time that felt like a last stand, a last chance to get out and do something before the responsibility of life took over, the reality of the "real" world.

I had been out of college for a year at that point but I still hadn't hooked onto a full-time job and that college mind set was still there. I still felt I could stay up late, go on road trips, hang out with friends every day of the week, be a kid. Things had to change.

A year later, I had a full-time job and my own place with my girlfriend. Another huge change was about to occur. Maybe minuscule in the mind of another but huge in mine. We were planning on moving, away from the area I had spent the last 12 years of my life, away from family, to a larger city and a new job. This song immediately came to mind and I finally had the motivation to finish it and lay it down. It really wraps up all the insecurities and worries of how this change would effect me. But also, that the change had to happen and I had to deal with it.

Hopefully someday I'll have a better chance at giving this song a decent recording and a bit more justice. Let me know what you think and take your own meaning from it, that's usually why I don't divulge. That's one of things I love about music the most, grabbing my own meaning out of songs that may never have been intended by the artist. In a way, making every song my own.

So make this one your own and I'll see you soon. In the meantime, keep rockin'!