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THE
POWER OF AN AUDIENCE: Trust the Art, Not the Artist
Page 2
It's
About What?
The
misinterpretation of lyrics can easily be traced back as far as
Elvis Presley and his performance on the Steve Allen Show. Many
teens thought "Hound Dog" was an ode to man's best friend
after seeing Elvis croon the song to a droopy basset hound. Corporate
censors pressured Elvis into doing this to help diffuse the raw
content of the song. As Alfred Wertheimer of RCA noted, "The
hound dog bit was camouflage. I mean the song has nothing to do
with a hound dog. Now, you literally bring out a hound dog, everyone's
focus is on the dog. If you sang it the way it was intended, the
folks would catch on-hey, this is a bawdy song about a guy that
wants to get laid" (Weingarten, 33) Indeed the ploy of the
Steve Allen censors worked, and the lyrics have commonly been
misinterpreted for decades.
This
case of misinterpretation seems logical, though. When there is
a misguided visual to associate with, such as a hound dog, it
is easy to not pay full attention to the lyrics. Condit would
say that the audience's view, "is constrained by a variety
of factors," in this situation; however, what happens when
there is nothing to intentionally mislead, when the audience gets
to decide for themselves (Condit, 103)?
"Losing
My Religion" by REM is another example of a commonly misinterpreted
song. Given the title and mood of the piece, many think that this
song is about religion; however, REM singer and songwriter Micheal
Stipe tries to convince listeners otherwise. On VH1's Storytellers
Stipe tried to set the record straight, "You know, I think
I've probably said this 7,000 times but the phrase 'losing my
religion' is a southern phrase, which means that, something has
pushed you so far that, that you would lose your faith over it,
that something has pushed you to the nth degree, and that's what
this is about. Some people still think this is a song about religion,
and it's not. It's just a song about having a crush" (Stipe).
Stipe has said time and again that the song isn't about religion,
yet people always seem to think otherwise.
This
helps show that once a song is written the audience is free to
give the lyrics their own meaning. Fiske once stated that audiences
are not free to make meanings at will from mass mediated texts;
however, that is exactly what happens when people talk about "Losing
My Religion" as a religious song (Condit, 103). Songs lyrics
are often written with an ambiguity that is not seen in other
texts, and thus audiences general jump to create their own meanings.
Page 1 of THE POWER OF AN
AUDIENCE: Trust the Art, Not the Artist
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AUDIENCE: Trust the Art, Not the Artist
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AUDIENCE: Trust the Art, Not the Artist
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AUDIENCE: Trust the Art, Not the Artist
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AUDIENCE: Trust the Art, Not the Artist
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