This has been done endlessly over the years, but it is probably time for another rebirth.
You can get songs with lyrics, which to be honest, are pretty non challenging. I am thinking of “Dead Skunk” and “Mashed Potato Time”. (No links, look them up you lazy bastards).
Here, I am thinking of songs where the writer actually makes the listener think and there are several- possibly numerous- different interpretations.
If you could list song, artist (writer if you know who) and reasons for the dichotomy that would be great.
I’ll start:
Me and Bobby McGee . Notably Janis Joplin, written by Kris Kristoffersen. It does not immediately become clear what:
Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose,
Nothing, that’s all that Bobby left me, yeah,
actually means.
Ode to Billy Jo. Bobby Gentry. No idea who wrote it.
What was thrown off that damn bridge?
Over to you guys.
was about the joy of being free together with nothing tying them down, and
was about the pain of being “free” of the relationship. (With some subtext in the verse about Bobby wanting to settle down but the singer wanting to remain free.)
For years, I listened to Richard Thompson’s “The Hand of Kindness” without any double takes. When going through a rough spot in life, I was listening to the song and suddenly the middle verse struck me. For reference:
“Well I scuppered the ship and I bent the rail
Well, I cut the brakes and I ripped the sail
And they called me a Jonah, it’s a sin I survived
Well, you stretched out your hand, I stretched out mine”
It’s the last clause of the third line. When I hear the song now I inevitably wonder whether ‘the fact that he survived is a sin’ or if ‘he has survived an act one would consider a sin’.
I’m not the world’s most masculine man
But I know what I am and I’m glad I’m a man
And so was Lola.
For the longest time I thought the lyric was “and so is Lola”, which is so much more less ambiguous but no where near as clever.
Can you please explain why “was” is cleverer than “is,” because I am not seeing it. “Is” gives an interesting and clever ambiguity (maybe Lola is a man, or maybe Lola is glad I am a man, or, most likely, both). “Was” just seems flat-footedly literal to me.
Also, do you have any reliable evidence that “was” is actually correct? (Hint: Internet lyric sites will not convince me. A quote from Ray Davies might.)
Because it isn’t clear if Lola is a man or if she was glad the singer is a man. However, if you know something I don’t ( a distinct possibility), why not just come out and say it?
It’s never made unambiguously clear in the song itself whether Lola is a man or a woman. But there are numerous hints that Lola is a man dressed up as a woman.
Outside of the song, Davies has said the song is about a male transvestite.
Yes, with “is” it is not clear, which is clever and interesting. It also suggests that the narrator has a continuing (presumably homosexual) relationship with Lola. With “was” it seems to me that you lose most of the ambiguity (yes, Lola was a man, as if we hadn’t guessed already) and all the implication of a continuing relationship. “Was” gives you the plain story of a naive rube who dances with a transvestite and realizes it afterwards. “Is” gives you (or, rather, cleverly hints at) the story of a naive man discovering that he is gay, and finding he is okay with that. In 1970, that was still something daring and shocking to sneak into a hit pop song.
Now, tell me again why you think “was” is better.
No, I don’t have any special privileged knowledge of the true lyrics, although, having just listened to the song twice I fairly clearly hear it as “so’s Lola”. Indeed, if he pronounced either “is” or “was” distinctly, it would not scan properly. I suppose “so’s” could be either, but “is” does seem the more likely interpretation. Normally, if you wanted “was” there would be at least a hint of the W sound.
It was you who claimed to know that it is “was” rather than “is”. It is conceivable that you are right, and I will concede the point if you have evidence, but I will be saddened. It will mean that Ray is not as good a songwriter as I thought he was.
This is about right. Changing the tense doesn’t mean that Lola was definitely a TV, a male or female, if the relationship is/was ongoing or a one time thing, etc… and means nothing in clarifying anything about Lola, except Lola’s position in a space time continuum…
more or less?