i see your point, however i've also seen a lot of artists avoid meaning with that. some people don't want to explain what they've written, and i think you're right, it takes personal interpretation to truly "get" a song, but if you don't understand what's inside it, sometimes you can get caught up in that. or in this case, curiosity sparks interest in this genius, and you find that Bird, whether or not he intends it, writes from a place that is quite beautifully poignant.
you see a very large movement in history, especially in the mid-1800's in France, with the symbolist movement headed by figures like Rimbaud (who's inspired his share of rock musicians). the interesting thing about these guys was that they turned from what was previously understood as poetry into very intense imagery. this is the first good representation of people writing from drugs, and also a thing called "synesthesia"--where all a person's senses collide into one interpretation of reality. i've never done LSD or pot, but from what I've heard, this is very easily attainable through those drugs. I would suppose opium would also contribute. a good idea of that sense would be hearing people talk about the smell of colors, or how people with perfect pitch hear notes with color.
interestingly enough, Rimbaud thought of himself as a prophet. he called himself "le voyant" - the seer - and he thought it was his call to bring to the world a universal language. his thinking on this language was that in the very essence of language must be this understanding of the sounds we hear, in the way that certain words will sound beautiful before we even know meaning. he believed that a universal language could be attained where perhaps nothing of dictionary meaning was even said, but the sheer power of the sounds of the words would move the soul from somewhere far beyond the constructs of ascribed meaning. Rimbaud's sense of idealism and his mission were so incredibly strong however, that he eventually abandoned the field of poetry altogether. perhaps his ideas were synonymous with those of the most idealistic of revolutionary youth, as he began his career at age 15, delved heavily into experimenting with absinthe and opium with Paul Verlaine (his mentor, eventual lover, then bitter foe after a quarrel that ended in gunfire), and it's my opinion that he moved so fast with his ideas that he burnt out on the concept, and realized the impossibility of this task without utterly his own self. check out "The Drunken Boat" for one of the best example's of Rimbaud's poetry, and also a good idea of how the guy could've burnt out. he sort of predicts his own demise, realizing that, upon seeing the most incredible of things, a person simply can't not strive for them if they become unattainable, and he wishes he'd never seen them in the first place. he eventually has to abandon his dreams altogether as he has to battle reality harder and harder to achieve this "synesthetized" state in which this universal language comes together.
all that dissertation to say, perhaps what is appealing so strongly about andrew bird is his innate understanding of the beauty of language. i don't believe we could truly achieve a universal language based on sounds alone, but i think some people are more gifted with a sense of aesthetics towards such things, and it would not surprise me if a. bird is one of those people, who the beauty of language comes naturally to. some people write b.s. lyrics and they sound like it, and then when have men who write in lyric in such a fashion as this, where there is something just beyond the surface that holds us captive, something in between the words themselves, and i don't believe that's anything anyone could ever work toward, but a beautiful innate gift of God that should be celebrated just in the way we're doing here. the interesting thing, is the words that bird chooses, even if only b.s.-ing, have such meaning attached to them as we're finding out when we start to tear into his work.
i see your point, however i've also seen a lot of artists avoid meaning with that. some people don't want to explain what they've written, and i think you're right, it takes personal interpretation to truly "get" a song, but if you don't understand what's inside it, sometimes you can get caught up in that. or in this case, curiosity sparks interest in this genius, and you find that Bird, whether or not he intends it, writes from a place that is quite beautifully poignant.
you see a very large movement in history, especially in the mid-1800's in France, with the symbolist movement headed by figures like Rimbaud (who's inspired his share of rock musicians). the interesting thing about these guys was that they turned from what was previously understood as poetry into very intense imagery. this is the first good representation of people writing from drugs, and also a thing called "synesthesia"--where all a person's senses collide into one interpretation of reality. i've never done LSD or pot, but from what I've heard, this is very easily attainable through those drugs. I would suppose opium would also contribute. a good idea of that sense would be hearing people talk about the smell of colors, or how people with perfect pitch hear notes with color.
interestingly enough, Rimbaud thought of himself as a prophet. he called himself "le voyant" - the seer - and he thought it was his call to bring to the world a universal language. his thinking on this language was that in the very essence of language must be this understanding of the sounds we hear, in the way that certain words will sound beautiful before we even know meaning. he believed that a universal language could be attained where perhaps nothing of dictionary meaning was even said, but the sheer power of the sounds of the words would move the soul from somewhere far beyond the constructs of ascribed meaning. Rimbaud's sense of idealism and his mission were so incredibly strong however, that he eventually abandoned the field of poetry altogether. perhaps his ideas were synonymous with those of the most idealistic of revolutionary youth, as he began his career at age 15, delved heavily into experimenting with absinthe and opium with Paul Verlaine (his mentor, eventual lover, then bitter foe after a quarrel that ended in gunfire), and it's my opinion that he moved so fast with his ideas that he burnt out on the concept, and realized the impossibility of this task without utterly his own self. check out "The Drunken Boat" for one of the best example's of Rimbaud's poetry, and also a good idea of how the guy could've burnt out. he sort of predicts his own demise, realizing that, upon seeing the most incredible of things, a person simply can't not strive for them if they become unattainable, and he wishes he'd never seen them in the first place. he eventually has to abandon his dreams altogether as he has to battle reality harder and harder to achieve this "synesthetized" state in which this universal language comes together.
all that dissertation to say, perhaps what is appealing so strongly about andrew bird is his innate understanding of the beauty of language. i don't believe we could truly achieve a universal language based on sounds alone, but i think some people are more gifted with a sense of aesthetics towards such things, and it would not surprise me if a. bird is one of those people, who the beauty of language comes naturally to. some people write b.s. lyrics and they sound like it, and then when have men who write in lyric in such a fashion as this, where there is something just beyond the surface that holds us captive, something in between the words themselves, and i don't believe that's anything anyone could ever work toward, but a beautiful innate gift of God that should be celebrated just in the way we're doing here. the interesting thing, is the words that bird chooses, even if only b.s.-ing, have such meaning attached to them as we're finding out when we start to tear into his work.
what a peculiar thing this man's genius is.