Personally, I believe that the song is about the music industry, in general. It's saying that music can be a wonderful form of expression, and can make life better, when made for the right reasons.
It's saying that the music industry can ruin music. It can fill people with the wish to make music soley for money, for profit, and no other reason (and the words of the profits were written on the studio hall... and echoes with the sounds of salesmen) and that this makes many musicians compromise their art, their music, for the money (glittering prizes and endless compromises...). It's also saying that it doesn't need to be this way, "it's really just a matter of your honesty". It's up to the musicians to make the music for the right reasons.
@Philosophic_Musings I never really thought about those lines being applied to musicians but I totally see your point. I took the “glittering prizes” as the call-in contests on radio stations (I won my fair share back in the day) and “echo with the sound of salesmen” as a reference to radio ads but I think it can be taken both ways. Even the line “all this machinery making modern music” could refer to musicians’ instruments or the broadcast gear at a radio station, although the line “not so coldly charted” is a specific dig at radio’s top 40 charts. Same...
@Philosophic_Musings I never really thought about those lines being applied to musicians but I totally see your point. I took the “glittering prizes” as the call-in contests on radio stations (I won my fair share back in the day) and “echo with the sound of salesmen” as a reference to radio ads but I think it can be taken both ways. Even the line “all this machinery making modern music” could refer to musicians’ instruments or the broadcast gear at a radio station, although the line “not so coldly charted” is a specific dig at radio’s top 40 charts. Same with “words of the profits were written on the studio walls” could be radio station studio or recording studio. Thanks for adding a second perspective to my take on the song.
Personally, I believe that the song is about the music industry, in general. It's saying that music can be a wonderful form of expression, and can make life better, when made for the right reasons. It's saying that the music industry can ruin music. It can fill people with the wish to make music soley for money, for profit, and no other reason (and the words of the profits were written on the studio hall... and echoes with the sounds of salesmen) and that this makes many musicians compromise their art, their music, for the money (glittering prizes and endless compromises...). It's also saying that it doesn't need to be this way, "it's really just a matter of your honesty". It's up to the musicians to make the music for the right reasons.
@Philosophic_Musings I never really thought about those lines being applied to musicians but I totally see your point. I took the “glittering prizes” as the call-in contests on radio stations (I won my fair share back in the day) and “echo with the sound of salesmen” as a reference to radio ads but I think it can be taken both ways. Even the line “all this machinery making modern music” could refer to musicians’ instruments or the broadcast gear at a radio station, although the line “not so coldly charted” is a specific dig at radio’s top 40 charts. Same...
@Philosophic_Musings I never really thought about those lines being applied to musicians but I totally see your point. I took the “glittering prizes” as the call-in contests on radio stations (I won my fair share back in the day) and “echo with the sound of salesmen” as a reference to radio ads but I think it can be taken both ways. Even the line “all this machinery making modern music” could refer to musicians’ instruments or the broadcast gear at a radio station, although the line “not so coldly charted” is a specific dig at radio’s top 40 charts. Same with “words of the profits were written on the studio walls” could be radio station studio or recording studio. Thanks for adding a second perspective to my take on the song.