Good discussion, all. One thing I think we have to remember is that the "It was just a lot of words which sounded good together. It doesn't mean anything at all" response from a songwriter isn't necessarily the whole truth. It may just be that the songwriter doesn't want to get into the personal and nuanced meaning of every line with every reporter in the world. That's not to say it's not true in all cases, but.
Second, I think WO'N is working from a different definition of "song" than Jackie in this case. To WO'N, a "song" is a carefully crafted poem set to music. "Miss American Pie" is one, "Oops, I Did It Again" is not one. I don't know what term he might use for it (actually, I know several four-letter ones he might use for it), but it's not in the same league for him. The interesting thing to me is that Brittney Spears and other Popsters literally DO NOT write their own songs. They are written, mostly, by professional songwriters. People like Diane Warren have written dozens of hits sung by pop musicians all over the genrical map, from Meat Loaf and Aerosmith to Brittney and Celine Dion (I just found out she also wrote the theme to "Star Trek: Enterprise"!). While they may not have the level of soul-searching and integrity that WO'N is looking for, they clearly resonate with several million of our fellow travelers.
