About

Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of listening to music is deciphering the meaning behind the lyrics. Listeners are able to penetrate the sometimes vague words of the artist with the certainty of their own interpretations, each song eliciting a broad span opinions. However, sometimes lyrics are hidden behind a wall to definitive to scale. Songs that are grounded in history often require some level of familiarity with the subject matter, otherwise meaning is very difficult to capture. A glance at the lyrics of The Clash’s ‘Spanish Bombs,’ reveal an intimidating role call of Spanish names and places unfamiliar to most. The impact of Neil Young’s polemical ‘Southern Man’ is lost without knowledge of its harrowing inspiration. This blog aims to provide listeners with the information to overcome this barrier, examining one song in each post and exploring the history behind it; its lyrical legacy.