Opus 2017-007: On the Street: The Dental Beat

I spent a total of three hours at the dentist recently.  I am so thankful for pain blocking drugs.  The romance of bygone eras is revealed as hollow by a dentists chair.  In my first session, a cleaning, I suddenly realized that there was music on.  It was so boring that I hadn’t even noticed.  I asked the hygienist if she knew the song.  She pled ignorance.  It was one of those songs that are so common today,  They have nothing distinctive about them.  They are not painful, just boring. 

Later on when I was being drilled on I noticed that the entire office was joining Smokey Robinson as he sang “My Girl”.  I bet even you started going over that in your head.  “I... guess... you’d...say, What can make me feel this way?.....”  Then more boring stuff.  Then everyone hummed along with the Beatles.  I was struck by the contrast and frustrated by the balance of mediocre.  There is so much really good stuff out there.  I keep wondering why we have to listen to all the filler.  This is true on the radio, in church, or anywhere else you go that music is played.

Are you old enough to remember the game show, Name That Tune.  It was awesome how little it took for some to recognize a melody.  This stuff I was listening to you could not identify after half the song being played. 

It could just be my taste in music but have you ever met anyone who didn’t like “My Girl”?  How about the Platters and “Great Pretender”?  Peter, Paul and Mary and “Puff the Magic Dragon”?  It could also be that some people could not recognize a beat if someone was pounding on their head or a melody if they were playing it themselves.

I vote for great music.  Until they start playing it I will listen to talk radio.

homo unius libri