well, there is the idea that the mind who creates a work of art has some “meaning” even if they are not able to articulate it. the reason why it resonates, connects, with people is it taps right into that deeper but hard to express meaning…
The best songs are evocative without actually evoking specific things.
They’re ambiguous, often deliberately ambiguous, because that enables the listener to take part in the creative process by adding their own layer of meaning to the work.
However, the flip side of that is that some people can’t grasp that songs are often written about feelings and moods and atmospheres rather than linear stories and do not have a simple backstory that can be figured out like a crossword puzzle.
ETA: To dumb it down further: it’s about sounding cool and mysterious.
ah, good explanation
I’m in with whoever said they thought of it as a Canterbury Tales type of thing. And for the same reason. The one line “As the Miller told his tale”.
The man who wrote the lyrics disagrees.
[QUOTE=Keith Reid]
This is what people asked me right off, you know, they all started saying, “Oh, Chaucer, The Miller’s Tale.” And I’d never read The Miller’s Tale in my life. Maybe that’s something that I knew subconsciously, but it certainly wasn’t a conscious idea for me to quote from Chaucer, no way.
[/QUOTE]
But when the lyricist doesn’t know what it means, as is the case here, it is fair game for the listeners to come up with interpretations. And you don’t need to read Chaucer to know what it is about and that the Miller had a tale.
as an artist, i think of all kinds of pictures to paint or things to draw that i am influenced by, influences that i barely even remember at all…
I recall reading about a project where students were to write to authors about their works. Most of the authors didn’t bother replying but some did. The ones who did reply that where asked about their use of symbolism in their writing, most of them said something to the effect that they weren’t concerned with symbolism, they just wanted to tell the story.
WSoP came out in 1967. It was a psychedelic time and the line between introspective, inspired, thought provoking lyrics and pretentious lysergic acid infused babble was often difficult to see and sometimes completely faded out for several verses. It was a good song in it’s time. It was one of the few that featured the organ and not the guitar. And it was good for 4 minutes of very slow dancing with a pretty girl, which in Jr High was not something to thumb one’s nose at.
Only if you can find out where he’s haydn.
yes, i’ve also heard bob dylan say that a lot of his lyrics in the late 60’s, the ones more subtle and interpretive and subjective or ethereal, were influenced by contemporary french poetry of the day. also, all the lyrics of this song, well, most of them, point to in image or a concept linked to a mood (concept= there is no reason, the truth is plain to see). The song is like a series of snapshots or headlines from and evening of drinking and dancing. As to the drinking and dancing, are not those some of the best memories a person has???
love that description
I’ve long thought that some of John Lennon’s lyrics of that time (think “I Am The Walrus” and “Strawberry Fields”, for examples), besides the above mentioned influences of mine, was also Lennon playing with the sounds and rhythms of the lyrics and not the meanings of the words at all.
conversly, i’ve heard david bowie would actually change up the order of lines of lyrics to just get a random effect., the point being there was a lot of experimenting with lyrics/music in that era.
Half of what I say is meaningless – John Lennon.
Don’t turn this into a composer pun thread; I don’t think I could handel that.
Keep it up and I’m leaving. And I won’t be bach.
Bill Oddie (of the Goodies) did a takeoff of this on I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again. He did a massive, orchestral, overlay of I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside, complete with appropriate vocal gymnastics and tortured phrasing. Sounded awesome. Deep.
I loved the way the song was used in The 10th Kingdom. It was made to be sung by tempting hallucinogenic mushrooms.
well, i saw it in the movie Oblivion
I think this is what makes the song stick with us. It’s a rock song, but it sounds like a church. That’s just weird, man.
In 1967,rock music was only for cool kids with long hair who had to be careful to hide their stash, so their parents wouldn’t know what they were smoking. Remember “head shops”?
And even in today’s culture,when grandparents listen to the same music as the kids,there’s still something haunting and mysterious about that melody and the churchy sound–very different than any other rock song in history.
And the lyrics make it even more mysterious…
It’s mostly the melody.
You feel like you’re supposed to be getting close to some kind of religious revelation, or something. You want the song to mean something profound, but you just don’t know what or why.