What Does the Song Mean?

By Sam Burnham

Through the magic of the Internet and a college friend I found myself reading another blog last night. It stuck with me. In fact, it has me listening to some old tunes that I can only imagine are just as good as they were 60 or 70 years ago.

Credit where credit is due: http://www.nextavenue.org/blog/why-harry-connick-jr-couldnt-sit-idle-during-idol is the inspiration for this post, with special thanks to Mr. Harry Connick Jr.

So I read the article. I hope you gave it at least a once-over. The article is all I know of what happened. I'm not an "Idol" fan and that comes as no surprise if you have followed this blog for long. I don't sing or play any instrument. I'm the least musically capable person in my home. But I love music. For me it is so emotional...almost otherworldly. It is oh so very important to me. From a Southern perspective, Blues, Jazz, Bluegrass, Southern Rock, Soul and (though I'm not much of a fan) Country are all a part of our culture. It tells our story...often times to us.

That is why I tend to grow frustrated with popular music. It has no soul, at least not one I can detect. Then someone gets after a song, wailing on, trying to impress with something physical and ruins the whole thing. A perfect example is Joan Baez recalling the anguish of Virgil Caine of which she knew nothing...and it showed.

But the philosophy of today is to sing louder, carry a note farther, belt out a note that will wow the audience, after all the show is what matters. Who cares what the song means?

But that philosophy doesn't end with the music. It infiltrates our history, our philosophy, our language, our literature and our religion. Who cares what it means? Meaning is nothing as long as the presentation is awesome!

So I ask, what does the word "love" mean? We love our spouse, our kids, our dog, our favorite sports team, that joke we heard last Thursday.

When one of these modern day crooners belts out "...that our flag was still there..." do you really feel what Mr. Key was feeling as the first rays of light brought Ft. McHenry into the visible spectrum? Do you even know what Ft. McHenry is? A recent poll of Americans seemed to suggest that a large percentage believed that the song was referring to Ft. Sumter.

Really?

After seeing a video of a youth pastor crashing his dirt bike into a church's interior wall while trying to "make an entrance" this morning...well, that sort of speaks for itself.

Why did we fight the Civil War? The Vietnam War? The Revolutionary War? Not the knee-jerk answers. The truth. When our government tells us they are doing something in the name of "freedom"...what does that mean? We love freedom. Except for that guy over there. We don't agree with him so "common sense" dictates we "regulate" his freedom.

Common sense you say? These are indeed the times that try men's souls.

And so to borrow a quote from a friend. We need to define our terms.

Knowing what the "songs" mean helps us to "sing" them the way they were meant to be sung. We don't have to buy into propaganda, advertising or hype. You can recognize a lie when you know the truth. When the sun comes up in the morning, you can know which fort you are looking at. I can love my wife and kids while I show partiality to my Gamecocks and enjoy the joke I heard last Thursday. I can allow my fellow American to exercise a little freedom while I demand to be allowed to exercise my own.

So you have a song to sing. There is an audience waiting. You can sing in the way the establishment tells you so that you can become rich and famous but your song will mean nothing. Or you can sing your heart out and tell the world your story, the true story.

Is your song worth the risk?