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Comment by smacktoward | Hacker News Reader

No, you're just an observant enough reader to be able to see past the text of the work and appreciate the subtext.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtext

Lots of people aren't, so it's not uncommon to see people whose appreciation of some works never gets beyond the surface level.

And sometimes they're so inattentive that even the text itself is lost on them. My standard example of that is Bruce Springsteen's song "Born in the USA," which is widely understood (in America, anyway) as a bombastic, "we're number one!" patriotic anthem, played at political rallies and sports events and the like. If you pay attention to the actual lyrics (http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/bruce-springsteen-lyrics/born-...), however, it's clearly a song about how the American system screws the little guy. But most people don't listen beyond the upbeat, poppy chorus, so they miss Springsteen's entire point.

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Same with Neil Young's "Keep on rockin' in the free world", Dire Straits' "Money for nothing", and other songs even in other languages.

Personally, I've soured on the idea of being ironic in songs. Most people will miss the irony, they only listen to the catchy chorus, and more often than not, the lines you meant as absurd will be proudly paraded by the same people you were mocking. Take the recent "We the people" by A Tribe Called Quest: the chorus, taken alone, is a bigots' anthem on a catchy tune; I bet it will soon become a mainstay at neonazi rallies and the likes.

I once read an interview with Norwegian/Swedish rap metal or whatever group Clawfinger; they scored a minor hit with their somewhat provocatively named 'Nigger' - the message being something along the lines of the N word being a white invention to denigrate coloured people &c, the chorus simply being "Niggerniggahniggahniggah" or something like it. (Wonder if the HN content management system lets me get away with this...)

Anyway, the singer mentioned they had once been approached by a number of obvious neo-nazis after a gig, and he pretty much thought this was it - they were in for a serious beating at best.

Much surprise arose as shoulder-slapping and bear hugs ensued. "Awww, we love that Nigger song of yours, it is amazing the way you get away with it!" (Muted thanks and head for the tour bus. Double haste.)

Nothing is more ironic than the Beastie Boys song Fight for Your Right...

I recommend this book[0] to anyone interested in the historical origins of this sort of inverted subtext. It makes a strong case for esotericism as a way to impose a barrier to entry on intellectual sophomores, to duck critique from authorities, and to promote critical thought, among other purposes. In essence, that people who aren't inclined to do critical thinking(who are the majority at all times) will see what they already wanted to see, while the remainder take home the underlying wisdom.

[0] http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo1869230...

>the lines you meant as absurd will be proudly paraded by the same people you were mocking

You can cite centuries old examples of this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Doodle#Early_versions

>Traditions place its origin in a pre-Revolutionary War song originally sung by British military officers to mock the disheveled, disorganized colonial "Yankees" with whom they served in the French and Indian War, apparently written c. 1755 by British Army surgeon Dr. Richard Shuckburgh while campaigning in upper New York.[13] The British troops sang it to make fun of their stereotype of the American soldier as a Yankee simpleton who thought that he was stylish if he simply stuck a feather in his cap.[1]

That's a rather different point though. In the case of Yankee Doodle, the Americans new what it meant and used it as an act of defiance, where the other poster was talking about people missing the point entirely

it's easy to do with song. another good example is "excitable boy" by warren zevon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4-pexSVWzM

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