The Unspeakable Analysis

Joni Mitchell is a Canadian singer-songwriter who according to Rolling Stones is “ one of the greatest songwriters of all time”. In the book “The Unspeakable” author Meghan Daum discusses the Joni Mitchell problem which is fans or non-fans, liking or disliking Mitchell's art for the wrong reasons. We can also call the fans and non-fans consumers. Daum makes the claim that Mitchell’s art can be interpreted in one way. Daum says the consumers see Mitchell as a romantic but to Daum that doesn’t hold true. The consumers are interpreting Mitchell’s art as pro romantic. Daum states, “They presume the lyrics are confessional. They assume they're listening to love songs. They assume this woman who writes lines like ‘ I want to knit you a sweater / I want to write you a love letter’ is the mouthpiece for romanced-crazed girls everywhere.” (Daum 151) Here Daum gives an example of lyrics she thinks consumers are incorrectly interpreting. Daum goes on to show she disagrees with the …show more content…
This argument is based on an experience I had with a song where the lyrics could have been interpreted in multiple ways and either way is fine. The song I am referring to is “XO TOUR Llif3” by Lil Uzi Vert in which he says “all my friends are dead”. In rap culture, the term dead presidents are used to represent money as dead presidents are the face of the bills. I had trouble deciding whether to interpret the lyrics as his physical friends are dead or all his friends are dead regarding his money. I googled what Uzi meant by the saying and there was not one correct interpretation available. In earlier songs on the project, Uzi talks about how a numerous amount of his friends have passed away. He also talks about the enormous amounts of money he has gained from rapping. I came to the conclusion that both interpretations were acceptable and that art can be interpreted in multiple