Song Means: Analyzing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song - Book Review

This book review provides a comprehensive analysis of Song Means: Analyzing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song by Allan F. Moore. The book highlights the importance of music and the meaning interpreted from it effectively. It argues about the importance of song and the meaning interpreted from the song. The book includes various examples from around 1960 which enables the reader to understand that the listening to the song helps interpreting its meaning more effectively and efficiently. The book clearly specifies the proper analysis and interpretation of recorded songs, and in order to do so the author takes an example from various songs of 1960 to 1970 and proper interpretation is also determined in this book. The author also highlights the importance of the listener in interpreting the meaning of the song.

Music book review

Table of Contents
Song Means: Analyzing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song........................................1

Song Means: Analyzing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song
The musicological study of famous music has been evolved, specially over the last
twenty years in an well defined aspects of the discipline. The various academic community is
now well placed to determine and discuss what is happening in any example of famous music
and the theoretical foundation for such particular work has also been set. Allan F. Moore offers a
detailed study of the recorded famous songs, from the recordings of 1920s to the current days.
The analysis and interpretation are considered to be separable but interdependent approach to
songs, Allan Moore starts Song means: analysing and interpreting recorded popular song through
asking what meaning can be determined from a song and how it leads to creating those
meanings. The author focus on answering these questions through focusing how we analyse and
determine meaningful relationship with the popular music songs. Throughout the book the author
also highlights the role of the listener in constructions of meaning. Moore has used effectively
used twenty years of his own academic writings. The first half of the book highlights the
mechanics of popular music songs, author focus on songs from the late 1950s to 1960s, that can
be applied to any style and decade of the famous songs. The book also focuses on recorded
music, throughout the book it is analysed the author's foundational methodology has helped him
to effectively interpret the meaning across the genres.
The second chapter of the book focus on providing methodology for the analysis in the
form of shape, form, delivery and style, the author approach enables him to reach wide range of
readers making them understand the important of music and the meaning interpreted from it
effectively. He is able to deliver the prior musical knowledge, along with the ability to read
notation and determine chordal analysis. Moore uses a value neutral approach throughout the
book using majority of the examples fore 50s and 60s rock genres, not placing any kind of value
judgement on the analysis or the interpretative of individual songs. In the chapter 7 and 8 the
moore mainly focus on the value of judgement, the factors like Persona, references, Belonging
and synthesis is given more focused by the author. It helps in removing lost of rockiest value
perceptions of authenticity. Through the book it is analysed that the role of the listener plays an
essentially role in interpreting the meaning of any kind of song. It depends of the listener, what
does the song mean and what meaning can be interpreted from it as well. Through the book in
chapter 10 the author focus on creating awareness regarding the role of the listener, Moore writes
about his own position on the autism spectrum disorder and how it make us aware of his writing
1

style. The author own subjectivity affects his own writing style leading to creating impact on
how author write his book or the writing style taken into consideration by the author effectively.
The book highlights about importance of music and meaning interpreted from it effectively. The
book highlights the important questions like so what? Is listening not enough? It is analysed
through seeking deeper into a song, we learn about ourselves.
The book argue about the importance of song and the meaning interpreted from the song.
The book includes various example from around 1960 which enables the reader to understand
that the listening to the song helps interpreting its meaning more effectively and efficiently. The
book clearly specify the proper analysis and interpretation of recorded songs, and in order to do
so the author takes an example from various songs of 1960 to 1970 and proper interpretation is
also determined in this book. The author also highlights the importance of listener in interpreting
the meaning of song. This book has enable the reader to determine and analyse and interpreting
recorded popular songs enabling the readers to effectively interpret the meaning of the songs.
This book also highlights that the musicological study of the popular music has become an
essential aspect of the disciple, the book revolves around the areas musicological study of
popular music as well as it analysis and interpretation. The book is an contribution to the field of
disciple enabling reader to determine and analyse the meaning of the song. The book is related
with the current trends or debates in the field of musicological study of the popular music, the
book take on the concept of the current musicological study using various examples from 1960 to
1970s effectively. The book is well written by the author, using various facts and figures as well
as using various examples making it easy for the reader to understand the concept that readers
wants to convey. As compared to other books Moore presents study of the recorded songs, that is
also the recording for the 1920s till the present day. The author also makes it easy for the readers
to easily analyse and interpret different songs, in addition to this the analytical theory is revisited,
covering the major domains like harmony, melody and rhythm.
The author focus on making the readers to analyse the importance of these factors in the
musicological study of famous songs. The Moore also includes various strategies in order to
make his writing more understandable and more effectively. Lastly, the books is an helpful guide
in understanding the importance of music and meaning drawn from the music effectively. The
books follows an effective and well defined structure making it easy for the readers to understand
the concept of musicological study of the famous songs and how it can be useful for the readers.
2

Proper and systematic structure is followed throughout the books also the accurate information is
used by the author.
3

4