@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard
First off thanks to pointing me to those songs, they are rad.
I can see why you singled out these songs as philosophical. They certainly hit philosophical themes and do so in interesting poetic ways…But it still doesn’t really read as philosophy to me. I’m guessing this is because the experience of reading in engaging in philosophy is radically different than taking in art. I’m critical when I engage philosophy and since philosophy is usually presented within persuasive writing (unless you’re Camus) this sort or thinking is encouraged by the form the philosophy is presented in. I don’t really get that with art.
With art I sit back take it all in and determine whether or not it’s my cup or tea. If for some reason I feel like critiquing I’m looking at things like is this effective? What was the intent of the artist? Did his execution achieve his intent? Honestly I rarely critique the “message” a chunk of art communicates. I either agree with it or don’t or something in between (assuming the message was one I was able to interpret). But because of the metaphoric presentation ideas often take on in the arts they they don’t have the same qualities of persuasive writing. They might be narrative or expository, but those are telling forms, not argument forms. I don’t think philosophy is about telling, for me it is a thought process. Though all sorts of arts and music can and do incorporate the product of that process, including the songs you referenced, they don’t really engage in the process. To do so would almost certainly sacrifice what makes the piece beautiful and interesting: its ambiguity.
This may just be a personal character flaw on my part, I just don’t see most artistic forms as effectively engaging in philosophy. For what it’s worth philosophy almost never successfully engages art either. With the possible exception of Camus.
Sorry it took me a bit to get back to you. It takes more time to take in music when I’m listening for philosophy rather than just taking in the music.