I DON’T EVEN KNOW THE LYRICS TO THIS SONG
“YOU ARE IN A UNIQUE POSITION TO CONFIRM OR DISCONFIRM THAT SUSPICION.”
How important are the actual lyrics of a song for you? And how many songs would you say you know the lyrics to?
Sometime back in the early 90s, I was in the car with my folks. My dad turned up the volume as one of his favorite new songs came on and we were drivin’ and vibin’ and having a most excellent time just humming along. By the time the chorus came on, mum was flabbergasted and furious at my dad for jammin’ out so loudly to a song with such horrendous lyrics.
“What? What lyrics? What are you talking about?” dad asked.
“Are you not listening to these lyrics?” mum furiously responded.
“…No, I just like the rhythm,” dad cautiously replied.
My mum was paying attention to the lyrics of the song. What was this song’s message? She’s always been the first one I know to bring attention to the lyrics of a song on the radio. She prefers music with lyrics that are positive and good. And the way the lyrics are delivered matters to her, too - she’s not a fan of songs that sound “too angry” or “too aggressive.” (I can even remember singing along to songs by Pantera and Black Sabbath and mum would lament that I “was making ugly faces” while singing along. But, honestly, can you fault her?) Ain’t nothin’ wrong with only wanting to hear things that are “positive and uplifting.”
Dad, on the other hand, was not paying much attention to the lyrics. He is, and always has been, all about music as a whole - he doesn’t separate vocals from arrangement - there’s no singular part to be listened to first. It’s all one thing, one statement, one thesis. One feeling. The song comes on and dad just feels it.
I think about that conversation with my folks a lot. Maybe because it was one of the first times I really ever heard my folks talk about music. Maybe it’s because, in that specific way, I’m just like my dad. There’s always music on in my life - I listen when I go to work, it’s on all day at the store, it’s on all evening after work. One could argue I have an addiction. Yet, with all the music I have on, and the frequency I go back to some of my same favorite songs, I’m utterly clueless about the lyrics to most of the music I so enjoy.
Lyrics are a very small part of the whole musical package for me. I listen to music for the feeling that it gives me. The vocals just blend into the rest of the arrangement as if it’s truly just another instrument layered in. The vocals have their place in the melody and the musical piece becomes one cohesive thing. Lyrics can be a massively important part of the song, and there are a lot of lyrics I thoroughly enjoy. It’s just not the first thing I listen to or for. I just like the complete arrangement. Just like dad.
It’s strange, though, that when some of my favorite songs do come on, I can sing along pretty decently. However, as soon as you remove the vocals and ask me to sing, I’m as good as dead in the water without a life preserver. I was recently watching a reel on Instagram of an 8-bit style cover [for those unfamiliar, 8-bit refers to retro video game style music - think 1980’s Super Mario style, no vocals, just the music] of a particular song I’ve heard countless times. The guy in the video was mouthing the words along. Gotta admit, I had no fucking clue what words were next. I could only hear the melody of them in my head.
For some people, lyrics are the most important part of a song, they’re words to live and breathe by. For others though, they just blend into the whole arrangement. Which one are you? Or is there another I’m completely missing?
Oh, and by the way, that awful song with the horrendous lyrics my folks were talking about? Yeah, that was “Loser” by Beck. My mum absolutely hated the lyric “I’m a loser baby // so why don’t you kill me”. I mean, I get it from mum’s perspective- she’s a super happy positive woman so that lyric to her was just straight horrible. But to my dads credit, that song is catchy as all hell.
So anyway, here’s November.
“NO NONSENSE NOVEMBER”
NOVEMBER 1 - GANG STARR - NO MORE MR. NICE GUY, “JAZZ MUSIC” [NOT ON SPOTIFY]
NOVEMBER 2 - ALANÍS MORISSETTE - JAGGED LITTLE PILL, “YOU OUGHTA KNOW”
NOVEMBER 3 - THE CHIFFONS - 16 GOLDEN CLASSICS, “ONE FINE DAY”
NOVEMBER 4 - DOLLY PARTON - GREAT BALLS OF FIRE, “HELP!”
NOVEMBER 5 - GEORGE CARLIN - ON THE ROAD, “HOW’S YOUR DOG?” [NOT ON SPOTIFY]
NOVEMBER 6 - INTERPOL - TURN ON THE BRIGHT LIGHTS, “OBSTACLE 1”
NOVEMBER 7 - YANKEE WUSS - MASTURBATION FOR VICTORY, “THANK GOD IT’S FRIDAY” [NOT ON SPOTIFY]
NOVEMBER 8 - X-RAY SPEX - GERMFREE ADOLESCENTS, “IDENTITY”
NOVEMBER 9 - ROD STEWART - BLONDES HAVE MORE FUN, “DO YA THINK I’M SEXY?”
NOVEMBER 10 - QUEEN - THE GAME, “CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE”
NOVEMBER 11 - PAT BENETAR - TRÓPICO, “WE BELONG”
NOVEMBER 12 - NAT KING COLE - THE BEST OF NAT KING COLE, “THOSE LAZY-HAZY-CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER”
NOVEMBER 13 - MOTT THE HOOPLE - ALL THE YOUNG DUDES, “JERKIN’ CROCUS”
NOVEMBER 14 - ERIC CLAPTON - AT HIS BEST, “BOTTLE OF RED WINE”
NOVEMBER 15 - EARL SCRUGGS - THE EARL SCRUGGS REVUE, “SALTY DOG BLUES”
NOVEMBER 16 - EARL SWEATSHIRT - SICK!, “LYE”
NOVEMBER 17 - DUKE ELLINGTON - DUKE ELLINGTON & JOHN COLTRANE, “STEVIE”
NOVEMBER 18 - DOLLY PARTON - NEW HARVEST… FIRST GATHERING, “APPLEJACK”
NOVEMBER 19 - YUSUF // CAT STEVENS - TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN, “WILD WORLD”
NOVEMBER 20 - BEE GEES - BEST OF BEE GEES, “NEW YORK MINING DISASTER 1941”
NOVEMBER 21 - ARETHA FRANKLIN - ARETHA FRANKLIN’S GREATEST HITS, “EVIL GAL BLUES”
NOVEMBER 22 - ALICE COOPER - MUSCLE OF LOVE, “MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN”
NOVEMBER 23 - DONNA SUMMER - BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE [OST], “MACARTHUR PARK”
NOVEMBER 24 - CROSBY, STILLS, NASH, AND YOUNG - 4 WAY STREET, “OHIO”
NOVEMBER 25 - BAD COMPANY - BAD COMPANY, “READY FOR LOVE”
NOVEMBER 26 - MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE - THREE CHEERS FOR SWEET REVENGE, “HANG ‘EM HIGH”
NOVEMBER 27 - PATTI LABELLE - WINNER IN YOU, “YOU’RE MINE TONIGHT”
NOVEMBER 28 - “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC - EAT IT, “EAT IT”
NOVEMBER 29 - STRAY CATS - BUILT FOR SPEED, “STRAY CAT STRUT”
NOVEMBER 30 - THE TITANICS - THE TITANICS, “STAYIN’ ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF SATAN”
You know the drill by now. I’ll surface again sometime next month with yet another rambling and playlist. As promised, here’s that playlist of savory savvy selects from this months albums. Enjoy blasphemously.
Don’t forget to check out The Hesh Files.
[Wherever you stream your podcasts]
Skål, scalawags.
In Hesh we trust,
S. Jones
