In my opinion, part of the power and beauty of these songs is that they can mean different things to different people.

I wholly agree, and it applies to other songs and poems as well. I often think that when people try to pin down a song to a particular meaning they can miss the point entirely. Images and incidents in songs and poems may well have a specific origin, but that doesn't tie them down. And that applies also to the intention of the writer - that's interesting, but songs and poems can grow to take on other meanings.