MusicExplained: A Site Open To Interpretation
by
on July 22, 2007,
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come across new websites that leave me quizzical and a tad annoyed. One such place is MusicExplained, a database (though one very much lacking in substance at this point) whose mission is to tell you what that lyric from that tune from that album written by that band during that year actually means.
Some of you may be wincing in anticipatory agony at the moment. Apologies for putting you through this.
Firstly, I do have to say that I understand the reasoning behind this project. Whether music fans speak of their curiosity when it comes to verses and chorus lines or choose to keep their lips sealed, lots of ‘em really do wonder what the heck it all means. Are those phrases really plain as day or is there an underlying message? They wanna know.
But more often than not, there’s nothing to know. For the most part, the musical messages we like, dislike, etc., are either constructed to be vague and apply to life in many ways or pieced together in arrangements that can address many things. That might appear to be a statement replete with redundancy, but if you give it a closer look you’ll probably see what I’m getting at. Or maybe not. Whatever. See what I mean?
To sum this whole thing up, there’s really no guide to lyricism. Lines are put together in any way their constructors wish, and if you get it, you get it. If not, no biggie, ‘cause there’s probably nothing astoundingly “deep” or momentous anyhow. Sure, some musicians and groups sometimes try to make much of their tracks and albums and such in order to come off intellectually profound, but there’s absolutely no reason to actually buy such hogwash.
Not that there isn’t meaning to anything written as an anthem or whathaveyou, just that you can take music as you will. That’s kind of the point of it all. To make of it what you wish. You can have it be important to you, or you can toss it to the garbage heap. Your call.
That said, I think there’s absolutely no need for a service like MusicExplained. But you might. If so, do venture over there. See what you can find “between the lines.” Or give your take on what that latest apocalyptic single by Muse or that chaotic Arcade Fire tune means to you. Whatever that means.
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Svetlana Gladkova
Vamsi Kishore
Peet McKimmie 
65bus 
Irel Johnson
interesting review of my site……
Yeah, we only launched last week, so we building up content at the moment.
I can see your point of view here, but I think there will be a lot of people who think differently.
We are trying to encourage people to submit their subjective interpretations of what a song means to them, theres no right or wrong answer in these cases, as its just interesting to discover and share thoughts/feelings and interpretations of your favourite song or lyric etc….
It can also be humourous(sp), if someone submits an interpretation that you would consider to be completely and utterly wrong, or if someone tries to interpret a song like aquas barbie girl or something…..you can see a similar process occuring on urbandictionary, where it is entertaining to see peoples views on what a slang word means.
Further to this, we will actually source artists interviews, where they describe themselves the motivations behind a song or lyric, or what a song means to them.
Again, in a similar vein to urbandictionary…and this was the actual inspiration for the site, was to discover some of the references and slang used by lyricists.
And finally, as my friend pointed out, we will provide meanings of songs with foreign lyrics..which would also be humourous to see peoples attempts here….
Anyway, as I say, I understand your point of view, but thought it best to explain my motivations for starting the site, and our intentions..
Cheers
naime
This site, while not the most technologically advanced thing to pop out from the web2.0-shere, does offer an interesting formula from a simple idea, namely the subjectiveness behind song meanings. I think this site could be a great reference point for such information partic. those records which have little or no lyrics. I tend to search for lyrics and generally find what im looking for but without any further explanations or meanings, so like the above poster says, could work well like urban dictionary (which is one of my fav sites)
My only issue is the lack of content
Kel
Naime,
Thanks very much for your thorough explanation about your site. I can see how the atmosphere around urban dictionary acted as an inspiration for MusicExplained. However I feel about the concept or the subject matter of the site, I wish you luck with it.
Paul Glazowski
Naime,
Actually my first thought when I read about MusicExplained was that it was intended to collect foreign-language songs for people to know what their favorite bands sing in Spanish or in French, for instance. But I’m afraid that would have evolved more into a community for translators. But anyway it is a pleasure to know you are going to have such functionality on your website and I personally will be looking forward to seeing it. I will also try to add explanations for the Russian songs English-speaking users will be interested in.
Svetlana
hi svetlana….
thats brilliant..
Im very much interested in providing translations of foriegn lyrics on the site and would vastly appreciate your help….
Not too aware of russian songs myself, so would you be able to assist here?
You can drop me an email at namtax@musicexplained.net to discuss a bit further
many thanks
Namtax,
Well, it may not be brilliant but that was just my first thought. And when I talk about sharing meanings of foreign songs, I mean that for example a user wants to know what a Russian song he heard means so he posts the name or the description maybe and some Russian-speaking users provide an explanation. I definitely would not want to spend all my time on your website translating all the popular songs I know into English (I guess my boss won’t be happy about it at all
) but if people want to know something I will definitely be happy to participate. You know, I’m not even sure what Russian songs are known in the English-speaking world at all 
Svetlana
ha ha dont worry sventlana, it wasnt my intention at all for you to translate all the popular russian songs into english…
I just appreciated your support of my idea for the site thats all…
Im unsure of any popular russian songs at the moment, but please drop by the site as we add more content, and im sure you will see something that will interest you to make comments about…
If anything specific comes up, ill give you a shout if thats cool
cheers
naime
Thanks for the explanation
I will definitely follow your site progressing, it may be interesting to contribute when you add the features to interpret foreign songs.
Best,
Svetlana