If you read poetry in its regular format, there’s endless room for interpretation and symbolism. But if you put poetry to a melody, all of a sudden, the audience wants to take things at face value. The three classic rock songs below are all interpreted very literally, despite being unpinnable poetic works.
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“Hotel California” (The Eagles)
“Hotel California” is one of the most highly discussed rock songs ever. The mysterious narrative told in the lyrics has fascinated fans since its release, prompting an endless string of theories. According to the band themselves, the song was supposed to be taken figuratively, but many listeners took the story of a mirage hotel out in the desert far too literally.
“Some of the wilder interpretations of that song have been amazing,” Don Henley once said. “It was really about the excesses of American culture and certain girls we knew. But it was also about the uneasy balance between art and commerce.”
No matter how many times the band explains the intent behind this iconic classic rock song, there will always be some who believe something bigger is at play.
“American Pie” (Don McLean)
Don McLean’s “American Pie” is one of the longest songs ever recorded, and it’s jam-packed with lyrical content. Given the song’s cultural context, fans have tried to pick apart every line to figure out what it’s referring to. According to McLean, though, the song is more poetry than prose.
“You know how, when you dream something, you can see something change into something else, and it’s illogical when you examine it in the morning, but when you’re dreaming, it seems perfectly logical,” McLean once said of this song.
“So it’s perfectly okay for me to talk about being in the gym and seeing this girl dancing with someone else, and suddenly have this become this other thing that this verse becomes, and moving on just like that,” he continued. “That’s why I’ve never analyzed the lyrics to the song. They’re beyond analysis. They’re poetry.”
“Sympathy for the Devil” (The Rolling Stones)
Upon the release of “Sympathy for the Devil,” The Rolling Stones got accused of an affinity for the darker sides of life. Like many other rockers, The Stones were linked to devil worship and other occultism, largely thanks to this hit. But, under the surface, this song is not an act of devotion to the devil, but about humanity’s capacity for evil.
“You might as well accept the fact that evil is there and deal with it any way you can,” Keith Richards once said of the sentiment behind this song. “‘Sympathy for the Devil’ is a song that says, ‘Don’t forget him. If you confront him, then he’s out of a job.’”
(Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)
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