To be honest, I think it's silly to look only at lyrics to find the poetic "meaning" of a song. If you could get the whole idea that the song is trying to convey solely through words, then there would be no point in writing any actual music to go along with it. By ignoring the actual music itself in the analysis, you miss out on what makes the song great, which is how it sounds.
Personally, I love jazz, especially the kind without lyrics. I prefer to just listen to some people jam out on their instruments, and let their music do the talking. They don't need to write out what they're feeling when they can convey it through their vibrato or sour note. Charles Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" is an excellent example of how musicians can relate an experience or emotion without having to use language. As soon as the song starts, you can feel the abject sadness Mingus felt at the early passing of jazz great Lester Young, the disappointment at losing someone that great that early, someone they'd been losing for years to alcoholism.
It's hard to describe exactly why the song makes you feel what you feel -- I could ramble on about chord qualities, style, and subtle nuances in the song, but the main point I want to make is that you don't need to be able to articulate why it makes you feel the way it makes you feel. It is conveying Mingus' raw emotion in a way written or spoken words can't, and that's what makes it amazing. If you're looking at just lyrics, you're missing the most important aspect of the song: the music.
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