Making Meaning in Popular Song: Philosophical Essays

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For Theodore Gracyk meaning in popular music depends as much on the context of reception and performers intentions as on established musical and semantic practices. Songs are structures that serve as the scaffolding for meaning production, influenced by the performance decisions of the performer and their intentions. Arguing against prevailing theories of meaning that ignore the power of the performance, Gracyk champions the contextual relevance of the performer as well as novel messaging through creative repurposing of recordings. Extending the philosophical insight that meaning is a function of use, Gracyk explains how both the performance persona and the personal life of a songs performer can contribute to (or undercut) ethical and political aspects of a performance or recording. Using Carly Simons Youre So Vain, Pink Floyd, the emergence of the musical genre of post-punk and the practice of cover versions, Gracyk explores the multiple, sometimes contradictory, notions of authenticity applied to popular music and the conditions for meaningful communication. He places popular music within larger cultural contexts and examines how assigning a performance or recording to one music genre rather than another has implications for what it communicates. Informed by a mix of philosophy of art and philosophy of language, Gracyk's entertaining study of popular music constructs a theoretical basis for a philosophy of meaning for songs.

Reviews

This book and its theories will be a starting point for all future scholarship on popular music songs. Gracyks philosophical and critical acumen are on display in every chapter. Reading this book, one not only gets a theory of how popular songs communicate, but also a theory of musical covers versus remakes, an account of collective creation with a solution to the Pink Floyd problem, and an analysis of post-punk and why it matters. * Tobyn DeMarco, Professor of Philosophy, Bergen Community College, USA *
We all know that popular songs can pack a punch, but Gracyk shows us why. He demonstrates ways that they function as context-specific acts of communication, with many factors affecting their meaning. Offering a rich array of entertaining examples, he sheds light on songs power as social forces, their ethical significance, and their place in the cultural scheme of things. Gracyks account yields insight into why popular songs stay fresh and relevant and why meaning is not a peripheral add-on, but basic to their value. * Kathleen Higgins, Professor of Philosophy, The University of Texas at Austin, USA *

Author Bio

Theodore Gracyk is Professor of Philosophy at Minnesota State University Moorhead, USA. He is the co-editor of The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism.