Music: Can it have a universal understanding?

[TheBig3]

I've asked a few people in the shoutbox to send me their opinions on a track, I've been trying to grasp something on my own, and now I'm asking you folks.

Is it possible for 18 people to listen to the same song, who've never met, who don't come from the same regions or life experiences, and get the same meaning, or at least gist, from a song?

I'm talking specifically about the emotional response from the music specifically. I don't care about lyrics or opinion of bands. If you're going to answer this, I'd appreciate people sparring us the talking points and giving a genuine honest answer.

Why I ask: Perhaps this defines me as certifiable, but every now and then I'll listen to a track and it will paint a scenario for me. I apply it to places I've been in my life, but regardless of locale, its the same situation. And it doesn't change even if its 14 years after the first time I've heard the song. So to come to the radical root of the question: Do musical notes, or arrangements, or some form of counterpuntal interplay draw a certain perspective inherently, if only within a cultural grouping (i.e. Does it draw the same distinction in, say, The West).

Thanks.