The same way with Morrissey’s “You Have Killed Me.”

The first time I heard it, I kind of hitched a little at the “I entered into nothing, and nothing entered me, till you came with the key” line – and the friend I was with pantomined something which added up to what popped into my head – but the more I listened to the song, this initial impression dissapeared.

Now when I hear it, it is about a person’s first time with a lover, someone who didn’t think they ever would be loved, someone who had put up walls to keep people away. Someone broke those walls down, utterly disarming the person. Then…they left, in effect killing the person, or at least a large part of them.

I’ve had an experience like that, so when I hear that song, that is what it conjures for me.

I think it is the mark of a great songwriter to be able to capture people’s imagination in such a way that if you ask ten people what the song means, you will likely get ten different answers.

I plan to cover this on at least one occassion with my band, and I know I’ll probably take some flak for it from the type of crowds we tend to draw, but I don’t care because it is an absolutely awesome song. When I say “That was a Morrissey song” I’ll probably have to dodge a beer bottle or two, but if it gets even just one person in the crowd to go buy the album and fall in love with the song like I did, then the odd scar will be worth it.

Of course this is specualtion. and homosexuality is not a bad thing. :)