Oh Daddy

[David]

I don't think these questions of whom a song is "about" are ever conclusively answerable. They are more or less speculative, even when the songwriter says otherwise.

I put about in quotes, above, to imply that it's a problematic idea; what does "about" mean? In that 1976 People magazine article on Christine that somebody just posted, Chris says that she usually writes songs about other people & not about herself directly because she finds songwriting about her own predicament too uncomfortable. So let's say she used to call Mick "daddy" -- or Mick used to call himself "daddy" -- & decided to borrow that nickname & idea behind it (of someone who takes care of his family, his band, his duties) & apply it to another relationship she was seeing at the time. Now what is the song "about"? Is it about Mick? Is it about the other couple? Is it about Christine herself still?

The search for "about" in all these songs always struck me as too quixotic, & the conclusions drawn too facile, too pat. There is a theory of reader response that centers on how the lyrics make me feel -- the connotative atmosphere they create rather than the denotative or strictly semantic ciphering they lead to. I think a track like "Sara," with its reflective lyrics about movement (flying, swimming, returning home, wind blowing) & its orchestration like majestic clouds in the morning sky, is well suited to such response theory. I think the atmosphere is the message.