Suffet's Real Folksinger thread reminded me of a dilemma I've been thinking about. It is generally reckoned that the 'contemplating your navel' songs, and 'singing your diary' songs are generally not terribly interesting to listen to, and are pretty much frowned upon. However - I often find that I write contemplative songs about entirely fictitious situations. I wonder then whether if people don't know that, then they might think they are navel-contemplative-diary songs about my life (god forbid!). My gut feeling is that I would be predisposed to dislike a song that was diary-ish, but would give more credence to a song that was fiction-ish. The former would strike me as self-indulgent and pushy, whereas the latter would strike me as a story. I wonder if there's really any difference - can songs stand or fall entirely on their own merit, or does the audience's perception of whether they are personal & why they were written have an effect? I suppose the question is really about how far context affects the reception of a song. Which again maybe relates to the importance of setting the context of a song by introducing it (for all songs, not just for the self-penned).