When I first moved up here to Pelham, NY I discovered a radio station called “CD 101.9”. Their moniker was “Smooth Jazz”. They played some really great modern jazz songs, a lot of it instrumental, some of it mellow, some of it funky. I played it in the car all the time because it just seems that jazz is really good for driving.

Eventually, though, the station underwent a change and they started incorporating more World music, a lot of British and Spanish sounds, in the form of techno and Ibiza Chill, respectively. They changed their moniker to “Chill CD 101.9”, and I was chill with that. The music was still good and they still played some jazz now and then.

And then one day I got in my car and turned on the radio and I heard....rock. So I looked down at the dial to be sure I was still at 101.9 FM and, sure enough, I was. Without any announcement, without any warning, Chill became The Rock Experience, RXP 101.9.

Some would think I'd be upset about this change, but seeing as how I love rock as much as I love just about any other type of music (except Country & Western – simply not my fave), I took it in stride and decided driving to work with the Rolling Stones and the Clash was just as nice as driving to work while Chillin'. And, lo and behold, a wonderful surprise came in the form of the morning DJ. None other than Matt Pinfield of MTV fame.

Those of you who don't know Matt, well, let's just say he is a walking, talking, living, breathing rock and roll encyclopedia. The man knows more rock bands and has experienced more behind the stage moments with just about everyone in rock music that he's become somewhat of a living legend. On his morning show, he regales the audience with great background stories on the songs he lines up, as well as interesting news about the bands. He also has visitors come by for week-long morning interviews. All guests are encouraged to play unplugged right in his studio.  A few weeks ago he had Stone Gossard from Pearl Jam on all week. This month Chris Cornell from Soundgarden. And then he also does phone interviews, where folks like Sean Lennon and Yoko Ono call in and chat. Needless to say, my mornings are always interesting. Some days it's hard to pry me out of the car to get to work.

Now Matt, being Matt, has what must be the world's largest iPod. I swear he has something like 52,000 songs on it. Every morning at 8AM he has a feature where you get to call in and “Spin Matt's iPod”. Sounds kinky, I know, but basically, they just spin the dial of the darn thing until the caller says, “When” and then, whatever song is on the dial when it stops spinning gets played. Matt gives a bit of history on the song first, of course. He'll explain why he loves it so much that he had to add it to his iPod, and he'll give you the lowdown on the band and the background of the song, and then he plays it straight from his iPod. I've come to love this feature in the morning because he plays a lot of songs that aren't on the usual station line-up. Some songs of his I've never heard before. Invariably, I get to liking them so much I go home and buy them for my own iPod.

Last week one song that got picked happened to be “Rooster” by Seattle band Alice In Chains. Now, mind you, I've heard this song many a time, in fact I think I already have it on my iPod in my Alice section.  But I never really paid much attention to the lyrics. So when Matt did his usual spiel about the background of the song, I learned that it is all about the lead guitarist's father who was a gunner in Vietnam. So of course I had to go and look up the lyrics and, sure enough, it's all about being in Vietnam. Go figure. Gave me a whole new outlook on a song I thought was all about killing a rooster on a farm. Hee.

Well this got me to thinking about song lyrics and their meanings, which, by the way, is an actual website where you can look up just about any popular song and not only read its lyrics, but get a whole slough of suggestions about what the song is actually about. Which is handy for those song lyrics that simply don't make any sense. Take The Decemberists, for example. Their lyrics are are usually quite odd, and while you get the sense that they are telling a story, sometimes the story just isn't clear. Now at this website, not only can you read the song lyrics but, if you scroll down the page you can find dedicated fans of the band discussing each song lyric in detail. Of course, you don't know if the people writing these comments know squat diddly, but you do get some interesting takes on things. And so, Lesley Anne Levine becomes not just a melancholy song about the ghost of a little girl, but it becomes – possibly – tied to the star-crossed lovers from We Both Go Down Together. Maybe.

Thing with song lyrics is, you never quite know what was in the songwriter's head when he wrote the song, unless he happens to tell everyone while in an interview, or in a book, or if you're lucky, in the liner notes of his album. Take, for instance, the ultimate in lyrics you aren't really sure you understand, Don Mclean's American Pie. There are whole websites dedicated to understanding just this one song. In Wiki, it is written that Don Mclean actually approved of this specific website's take although Mclean has never gone so far as to say he agrees with it. He said, and I quote:

"You will find many interpretations of my lyrics but none of them by me... sorry to leave you all on your own like this but long ago I realized that songwriters should make their statements and move on, maintaining a dignified silence."

And so it is left to the listener to interpret a song, with, perhaps, some help along the way...and a healthy dose of imagination.

(Cross-posted from Once Upon a Paradigm)