Having spent 45 years of my life as a journeyman professional songwriter, writing for and collaborating with a number of iconic performers, I appreciate the writer's efforts to examine the origins and original intent of the lyric.

However, what I learned in my years of writing for the marketplace is that the more personal a lyric is, the more specific it is, the more emotionally truthful it is for the composers, the more universal it becomes to the listeners. A music fan is able to apply the story, the characters, and the message of a great song to their own experience. Songs are emotional creatures. So, regardless of whether the listener knows the background of the song, they can apply the emotion expressed in the song to their own lives. That's what we, as songwriters, are attempting to do.

It's one thing for a song to be banned because of some erroneous interpretation of the lyric's symbology. Obviously, that crap should be nipped in the bud. But, it's perfectly fine for a person who's been through a painful breakup to sing along with "Go Your Own Way" or "Everything I Own" and not know the precise circumstances or reason the writer wrote the song. Really.

And, a note of caution (pun intended)... don't believe everything you read on the Internet or Wikipedia. Lots of self-appointed experts are misinformed and/or full of BS.