Can you interpret songs (or anything)?

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roygerdodger
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15 May 2008, 4:29 pm

I can't. Today (and yesterday) in my special ed class, we did this thing called interpreting songs (it's when you find out what the song really means) and I had a hard time understanding that, and when I wrote down, "I didn't really understand what the song meant, but it was a nice song anyways", the teacher got upset at me about that.



Nan
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15 May 2008, 4:50 pm

Oh, I'm sorry to hear the teacher got upset.

I "interpret" every song I hear. I have no idea if that's what the person actually writing it meant by what they said, but I always manage to put a "message" on the words.

I did know a professional musician who wrote some very well-known popular songs and who was always amused by the "meanings" the people put onto them. One of the songs he wrote he always said had no real meaning whatsoever, he just strung some phrases together that made a relatively coherent statement and people were always reading "deep and meaningful" stuff into it, amusing him to no end! :lol:



zghost
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15 May 2008, 5:54 pm

I pefer songs that are vague enough that I can interpert them any way I want.



hartzofspace
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15 May 2008, 6:05 pm

I went through that in English 10, in college. We had to read "The Great Gatsby." My interpretation about what the symbols in the story meant, did not match what the instructor wanted to hear. :roll:

I always think that what one interprets from a piece of music, art, or literature is subjective. I have been accused of being sarcastic or of being a "smart alec," by my interpretations of music while in High School.


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slowmutant
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15 May 2008, 7:52 pm

Were you a smart-alec in high school? Wisecracks used to get me into trouble.



joku_muko
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15 May 2008, 9:45 pm

Yes, I can interpret anything. Whether it was meant as that or not I could care less. :D If you mean generally accepted things then no I usually don't.



marshall
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16 May 2008, 2:16 am

My interpretations hardly ever agree with the consensus for some reason. Other times I have trouble articulating my interpretation of a piece of art. With me it's more a feeling than something that can be put into language.



craola
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16 May 2008, 3:35 am

I struggle with some.
I could never do poetry or books where the language was similar to that of poetry. Shakespeare is ok, but Chaucer was impossible.

If I was given the lyrics to a song I could probably come up with something but it would be totally irrelevant to what it was really about.
Songs with innuendoes in I never pick up, they can stare me in the face and I would still miss them.
I cannot tell what a song is about from just listening though, I would have to read it.

Im sorry you're teacher got upset, that's not fair, but don't worry you're not alone.



samantca
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16 May 2008, 6:23 am

I always interpret songs (dont know if i interpret them right, but i dont really care) They mean something to me atleast :)



ThatRedHairedGrrl
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16 May 2008, 6:44 am

Ah, the deep and meaningful lyrics game...

"Why in the hell do journalists insist on coming up with a second rate freudian evaluation on my lyrics when 90 percent of the time they've transcribed the lyrics incorrectly?" - Kurt Cobain.

I write songs, and other people probably wouldn't have a clue what half my lyrics mean - and quite often, I like it that way. Assume people are going to find their own meanings in things, and let 'em guess.

They used to do a thing on the BBC World Service, I think, that was designed to teach English as a foreign language through the use of popular song lyrics. I remember listening with absolute incredulity once as this very plummy man and woman half-explained, half-ham-acted their way through Dire Straits' 'Romeo and Juliet'. Hilarious!


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Sora
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16 May 2008, 10:55 am

I can. Wow, I suprised myself there today.

Anyway...

I just got almost full marks for a successful, well-structured and persuasive interpretation of a poem.

I was the only one I guess, although all the others were non-autistic students... well... people without autism can also be utmost horrible at interpretation of poems.

I have the impression they just know better how to cover up.


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craola
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16 May 2008, 11:43 am

Sora wrote:
I have the impression they just know better how to cover up.


Thats so true, I think they are also more willing to cheat? I don't mind asking for help but I will no just copy.
Although to be fair im pretty sure that even if I had gotten my work right in my AS year my teacher would have marked me wrong.



Randy
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16 May 2008, 11:55 am

I usually interpret songs according to my own personal experiences.



Sora
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16 May 2008, 11:58 am

craola wrote:
Sora wrote:
I have the impression they just know better how to cover up.


Thats so true, I think they are also more willing to cheat?


Maybe. I'm the only autistic in my year that I know of and most of the others really do cheat in tests. I tried cheating once back in 8th grade, but I didn't do it again.

I wouldn't try cheating again, but not because I'd feel bad, but rather because I'm really awkward at cheating. I never know how the other students can successfully do it! I'd get caught.


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craola
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16 May 2008, 12:11 pm

Yeah I tried once as well and I just couldn't do it right, I also tried writing the first letters of words that I found hard on my hand but I still didn't know what the words were.
There's no point copying work either because then you still don't understand what you're meant to be doing.

Im so glad I'm not at school anymore.



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16 May 2008, 3:39 pm

I usually can... just takes me a few weeks, months, sometimes years (phantom of the opera's 'music of the night')