I've just had a discussion on a songwriter board about how in "Lost" verse 2 invalidates the content of verse 1 thus making the song "meaningless". The text could not possibly be understood by listeners. I cite: "The reader/listener has to ‘get’ what you’re saying. If it’s too obscure it risks going from being lyrical or poetic to being meaningless.".
Fact is, not all of my songs tell stories, not all are "deep" or dead serious. Actually, I tend to keep Rock songs light, maybe a little ironic. It's different for Folk songs or Ballads. I'd distinguish three types of song lyrics:
a) lyrics that tell a story
b) lyrics that describe a particular situation or mood
c) episodical lyrics
"Lost" is one of the latter. It describes three quite different episodes, all of the referring to being lost in one sense or another. One is dead serious, the next is quite banal - so the song as a whole is not at all serious but just some Rock song you might dance to:
no sense of direction
in the dark and stormy sea
the mist obscures my vision
looks like the end of me
I am lost ...
stuck in a traffic jam
the turnoff should be near
how I can change the lane
I’ve got no idea
...
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