| re: Looong Total Eclipse Of The Heart dissection | |
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Posted by: |
Bright_Eyes 03:58 am UTC 09/23/07 |
| In reply to: | Looong Total Eclipse Of The Heart dissection - Willis 02:36 am UTC 09/20/07 |
| A criticism I've read of Steinman's songs is that they don't give the listener a chance to discover for herself the emotions or an interpretation of the song. Instead, they hit her over the head with the emotion, spell it out too much, and then repeat it all ten times over. Not sure if I agree with the criticism, but I think it touches on an important characteristic of Steinman's writing. The lyric usually does come right out and describe what the song is supposed to be about, as far as I'm concerned. To an extent the songs analyze and interpret themselves. I think that's why I haven't put much thought into what a particular Steinman song "really means" or is "really about". Whereas, for some other songwriters I might be more inclined to do so and interpret. If somebody asked me what Total Eclipse is really about, I'd say, "It's about somebody who is so much in love, and in such a dark way, that there is no more light, only dark in her life". Which is more or less what the chorus said. Similarly, for pretty much all the other Steinman songs, I could pick out some part of the lyric that says what I would say the song is "really" about, without need for further interpretation. Steinman had a blog entry where he says he writes as a character speaks. That may be true in some ways, especially the popular expressions and colloquial phrasing of things. But he also writes characters who seem to analyze themselves as they are telling their story. His songs are like capturing somebody at a rare moment when they're making the very private very public. So when I hear them I feel there's little or no room for me to guess what the character in the song is really feeling. | |
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