My Little Lyric Problem
Jan. 29th, 2009 12:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jducoeurSo there I was this morning, humming in the shower, and wound up over on "Birdhouse in Your Soul". Which led me off on a mental tangent about lyrics.
You see, I'm not a lyrics guy. I love music deeply, and I learn tunes pretty quickly, but it's very common for me to learn the tune without ever learning the words. Even when I *do* memorize the words, I often don't think about them at all. This is a lifelong habit, dating at least back to learning Tom Lehrer's entire album "That Was The Year That Was" phonetically at age eight, fully ten years before I puzzled out what all the songs actually *meant*. It made last year's LARP Desperadoes Under the Eaves especially fascinating for me, because while I was familiar with a fair amount of Warren Zevon's music, I hadn't ever really considered the stories behind the songs until I prepped for the game.
Anyway, "Birdhouse in Your Soul" is the most extreme case of this. I adore the song -- it's my favorite song by one of my favorite groups -- and I learned the lyrics by ear well enough to mostly sing them many years ago, while having not the slightest idea what the song was talking about. Truth to tell, even if I *had* thought about it, I probably wouldn't have gotten it: the song is essentially structured as a classic riddle, and while it's not a particularly difficult one, I am *dreadful* at riddles. (It's just not the way my brain works.) When someone told me in passing what the song was about, I found it weirdly hilarious in a rather "Commander Data finally gets the joke" kind of way.
So I find myself idly curious about how much of an outlier I am, and that, as always, calls for a silly poll! If you know the song, please take a second to answer the following.
[Poll #1339813]
You see, I'm not a lyrics guy. I love music deeply, and I learn tunes pretty quickly, but it's very common for me to learn the tune without ever learning the words. Even when I *do* memorize the words, I often don't think about them at all. This is a lifelong habit, dating at least back to learning Tom Lehrer's entire album "That Was The Year That Was" phonetically at age eight, fully ten years before I puzzled out what all the songs actually *meant*. It made last year's LARP Desperadoes Under the Eaves especially fascinating for me, because while I was familiar with a fair amount of Warren Zevon's music, I hadn't ever really considered the stories behind the songs until I prepped for the game.
Anyway, "Birdhouse in Your Soul" is the most extreme case of this. I adore the song -- it's my favorite song by one of my favorite groups -- and I learned the lyrics by ear well enough to mostly sing them many years ago, while having not the slightest idea what the song was talking about. Truth to tell, even if I *had* thought about it, I probably wouldn't have gotten it: the song is essentially structured as a classic riddle, and while it's not a particularly difficult one, I am *dreadful* at riddles. (It's just not the way my brain works.) When someone told me in passing what the song was about, I found it weirdly hilarious in a rather "Commander Data finally gets the joke" kind of way.
So I find myself idly curious about how much of an outlier I am, and that, as always, calls for a silly poll! If you know the song, please take a second to answer the following.
[Poll #1339813]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 05:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 04:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 05:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 05:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 07:33 pm (UTC)It does hint even more broadly at the answer to the riddle, though...
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 08:13 pm (UTC)Um, sure it does. Still no clue, here. But then, reading the lyrics just now was the first time I realized that the speaker wasn't named Luke Anary.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 07:36 pm (UTC)In general, you might check out TMBG. They're a great group, and they've put out one or two rather good kids' albums in recent years.
(I'll post the answer to the riddle tomorrow.)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 07:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 11:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 05:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 06:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 06:10 pm (UTC)Of course now that I've looked it up, there seems to be some debate that's making me question myself.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 06:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 06:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 06:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 10:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 10:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-29 11:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 12:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 12:50 am (UTC)For example: what is the Guess Who's "American Woman" about? Hint: the Guess Who were from Canada. During Vietnam. When you figure this one out, please tell Lenny Kravitz.
Another example: Everyone says that "American Pie" is about the day Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper died. That's uncanny. Listen to the words: it's about Altamont.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-02 04:02 pm (UTC)Read the lyrics and make your guess before reading the comment thread.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-03 03:08 am (UTC)