Good question, Rob. Like you, I consider this topic to be pretty central to what we're here for -- not BS at all.

As for your "reverse engineering" approach, I like it. I would add that the other thing that makes these songs worthwhile is the fact that so many of us can relate to them. Not only were the writers looking into themselves, but by looking within they saw things that were larger than themselves. You don't need to have had the specific experience of walking out Sunday morning with a hangover and smelling fried chicken to relate to Kristofferson's song, or of being an unpopular teenage girl to relate to Janis Ian's. But the emotions they convey are similar to the emotions a lot of us have felt as a result of our own individual experiences, and they are communicated with a skill that allows us to recognize ourselves in them. That's what good songwriting is all about to me -- finding the connection between the personal and the universal, and communicating it effectively. Not everyone is talented enough to do it, and perhaps a lot of the "navel gazers" cannot. But some of them can, and their songs are worth listening to.