Have you ever loved a song for a long time and then truly, for the first time, listened to the lyrics?

I heard those lyrics.  They are deeply disturbing.

 And, yes, I do that all the time.  I hear a song and years later actually listen to the words.  I used to, when young, memorize all the words. Now, I'm lucky if I can tell you what the song is about.    Arcade Fire has a lot of good albums.  The Suburbs is their masterpiece and I have heard it at least 100 times and I still don't know all the words. If it were out when I was around  18?  I would have had the entire thing memorized in a week.  

We hippies were very vested in our music and the singers were prophets back then.  We memorized everything the Beatles said, the Stones said, the Doors said, Led Zepplin, Cream and it continured with me from there.  

As a songwriter myself, I subconsciously analyze lyrics as I hear them. Sometimes I can miss a cryptic message between the lines, but I usually know what the song is overtly about. Unless the diction of the singer(s) is so bad that nobody can hear the words.

I remember that one. It came out at the same time as "Luka" by Suzanne Vega. Similar messages- 10,000 Maniacs addressed domestic violence in relation to child abuse and Vega discussed spousal abuse. Both were quite meaningful to me at the time and may be part of the reason why I always seek out the lyrics and try to understand the meaning behind songs.


That said, I think you are an empathetic person. Think for a moment. Why did you like the song? I think you felt it. You didn't need the lyrics. You felt the emotions of the song. You didn't need the particulars to make that connection. 

I've done the same. Years ago, I fell in love with a hauntingly beautiful song in French that would play on my online radio station. It was the early 2000s, so I wasn't geared toward looking everything up online at the time, but each time the song played, I'd be taken away. I could feel the sorrow. When I finally looked up the words and translated them, I was shocked to learn what they were and that there was historical significance to the lyrics. I wasn't expecting it to be about what it was about. But, the emotions, those I felt and knew, even though I didn't speak a word of French. I think I've shared this before, but I'll share it again.