How much concentration should be necessary to understand the words of a song.
At breakfast I was distracted by a song in the background music. My first reaction was that it was rather dull and repetitive. It was not offensive, just dull. So I started paying attention and realized I could not understand anything being sung. Part of that is my old ears but I think an even bigger ingredient was the fact that it was a muddled mess.
It happens more often than we are aware. I remember how some child thought “Lead on O King Eternal” was “Lead on O Kinky Turtle.” We often hear within the framework of our knowledge and experience. Our mind tries to put some structure to the confusion. Think of a spell check program and the offerings it will give to a word you misspelled. Think of the times when none of what is offered is close to what you want. When I use the projector at school and have names in the text they are often underlined because the computer is ignorant of the name.
How much concentration should be necessary to understand what a politician is saying? How about the car salesman or the IRS. I am not sure that I have enough energy to understand that which is designed to confuse.
Your taxes are due and we have an election going on. Pay attention.
homo unius libri
Sometimes, ignorance really IS bliss. Don't listen TOO intently to the lyrics!
ReplyDeleteI do that when I go back and listen to the words of the popular music of my day.
DeleteGrace and peace
That reminds me of my mom's story about the Sunday School class that heard all about Gladly the cross eyed bear.
ReplyDeleteGood one. New to me.
DeleteGrace and peace.
I love music but have never understood the words; really weird, I think, and possibly a hindrance to me.
ReplyDeleteOh, I so wish I had hearing aids. Is there a Crowd-Sourcing for this? I'm suffering; can't hear a bird sing, a leaf twitch or the wind blow and my days are dwindling down.
There are probably times when not hearing the words is a blessing. One of the problems with hearing aids is that they often don't filter out the background noise so even with a mechanical device it might not be much better.
DeleteAt least you can read but I guess that isn't much comfort.
Grace and peace