"and a feeling of identification with the song's context"
Thanks for that Gordon
Virtually every one of the older singers we interviewed on this "saw" their songs as moving pictures - Walter Pardon, the Irish singers and the Travellers
If there was no described location they provided one for themselves - Mikeen McCarthy used to say of one character in a song, "we used to travel past that feller's cottage regularly"
Walter used to picture his 'Pretty Ploughboy' "ploughing in that field" (opposite his house).
Even blind-from-birth Traveller, Mary Delaney used to describe her characters' clothes
This approach elevates songs to more than just a collection of words.
Jim Carroll