Songwriting, as with all art forms, is a two-way process. The act of writing and constructing a song, then letting it out into the wider world invites listeners to absorb and find resonance and meaning in its lyrics. While some songs might wear their primary narrative and thematic concerns clearly on their sleeve, other artists tend towards writing in more obscure ways, shrouding their true meaning under layers of ambiguity.
The question is, are any listeners who might have interpreted the song differently to what the artists originally intended actually wrong to do so?
To be clear, we’re not just pondering those more esoteric and not immediately obvious compositions here - even songs with hammered-home, seemingly clear meanings can be (and have been, as we'll see) read with a subtext the writer didn’t actually mean, or perhaps the whole thrust of the song’s message could be interpreted differently.
While it’s natural to think of the songwriter’s intention as the canonical interpretation, many artists relish in the myriad meanings their songs unlock in their audiences' imaginations.
An artist who has long wallowed in a universe of thematic ambiguity, Kate Bush, had this to say about people misinterpreting her work; “I'm really very happy if people can connect at all to anything I do,” Bush told The Fader. “I don't really mind if people mishear lyrics or misunderstand what the story is. I think that's what you have to let go of when you send it out in the world. I'm sure with a lot of paintings, people don't understand what the painter originally meant, and I don't really think that matters. I just think if you feel something, that's really the ideal goal. If that happens, then I'm really happy.”
