How do you perceive meaning in music?

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I'm the other way around. I think of the vocals as just another instrument. In my opinion, it's more important how the vocals sound than what they are actually saying (the Kurt Cobain philosophy).

I'm glad I don't listen to most music. I highly suspect I'd agree with you that most lyrics are trite and banal if I did. I tend to like music with good lyrics, but that doesn't mean I think most lyrics are good.

Speaking of garbled lyrics, listen to this. I have no idea what he’s talking about in this song but I still like it because of the bass line and how the instruments shift in and out.

Music is something that I have always had a degree of special interest in. Not so much music theory or performing, but listening often effects me deeply in various ways. Sometimes it is the lyrics, sometimes it is the rhythm, sometimes it is just the way it blends. Sometimes my special interest has been to a style of music, sometimes my special interest has been to a sub-genre, sometimes to a particular artist.

I often will be able to call and remember word for word all the lyrics on an album. One special interest album that I have is the 2nd Planet P Project album, Pink World. The entire album is the story of a non-verbal autistic 7 year old boy named Artemus, who has telekinetic abilities. Check out this video, "Do You See What I See", for a sample. The government uses the boy as part of their defense system, people come to worship the boy as their savior. Does the entire story of the album occur only in his mind?

An instrumental piece that transfixes me is Tangerine Dream's Stratosfear. Listen to the track here. I like the way it starts very slow, builds a repeating progression that reaches a crescendo at 2:57.

The compositions of Philip Glass also transfix me, and often reflect how I feel the world is passing by all around me. For example: This clip from Koyaanisqatsi, or Train/Spaceship from Einstein On The Beach. While I enjoy this style of intense and intricate composition, I quickly become overstimulated by it. But it impresses me that all the musicians are able to stay in sync with one another at that speed.

Songs that move me....

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=N-MOZ4YFGTo (and all of her songs)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2A2Jt4WOxN8
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sFJcFP9ttuA
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Sf15a2Znk
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wP3YCZvuB6A
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yjnvSQuv-H4
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JCrCpgBRpc8
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6tNbsQ8eDbA
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oe-ucZB_FWU
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hbLZvzMOZpc
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AkuWlSioQpQ

I can like a song without noticing the lyrics, but I can't if I dislike the lyrics.

The Kansas song "The Wall" is an interesting case. I fell in love with the song just from the music, without noticing the words at all. When I finally did pay attention to the words, I realized I really, really liked what they say, just as much as I did the music.

Yes, I've enjoyed Enya's music for years and I have all of her albums. Also look for the albums of her sister Moya (Marie Brennan).




Being an electronic music fan from way back I've always enjoyed the Dr Who theme, which I first heard back in 1974. The various reworkings of it by Orbital, the KLF (aka the Timelords), and others have been interesting as well. That swirling vortex of sound with a rhythmic base line is mathematically appealing to me.



I like the Vienna Boys Choir as well - however - this isn't them. The video is entirely mislabeled. The track is Benidictos by the group Libera! Libera tends have a bit more of a pop style, while Vienna tends to be more in the classical vein. I have all of the Libera albums and several of the VBC albums (they are perhaps the longest running group having recently celebrated their 500 year anniversary.)

Something about listening to music from various boy's choirs tends to soothe me when I am close to a meltdown. The young voices filled with happiness from an age during which I was very unhappy, calms my "inner child".

Initially, it's the message of the lyrics, then it's the emotional musical structure of the song. I find I can "zoom in" on different aspects such as musical and rhythmic patterns too. I can actually interpret song meanings (metaphors, similes, pathetic fallacies, etc.) very well now. Some folks have actually commented on how well I can analyse songs.

When I was very little, I used to arrange my toys, on my own, to "act out" songs I'd heard and give a full recitation plus explanation (very literal at the time you understand). My parents thought me very strange for doing this. What I was trying to do was make sense of the media barrage that inundated every moment of my waking life. I felt an insatiable need to to this. Songs and music would place vivid images in my imagination. The rhythms, the lyrics and the tunes would go round and round in my head for days. I thought that the songs contained important messages: I took the songs very literally, perhaps I almost viewed them like prophesies.

This is weird. I've read umpteen study guides that suggest using "toy soldiers" (objects etc.) to construct imaginary scenarios and think up plans of action. My parents recommended these books to me and yet called me "naughty" and "strange" for trying to make sense of the media in my own way all those years ago. Perhaps they just didn't understand the kind of material I was force fed on a regular basis. I wonder how kids today deal with media messages?

The last thing I notice about the music tends to be the artist's visual appearance, musical style, character and cultural/ethnic background. Those details just seem "irrelevant" and transparent to me. Perhaps this is because I've mostly listened to music with just the audio. Seeing videos of people dancing scares me for some reason, it kind of ruins the experience for me. I think "Oh they're just people really.", then I'm semi-afraid and intimidated of the people and feel a bit shy. When I listen to a song without the video, the song doesn't seem to originate from a person at all, but from some disembodied omnipotent force or "gods/goddesses/spirits/Muses" lol . Maybe some artists see themselves as gods or at least have large egos/influence over the population .

This is sad (as in pathetic). I can go into a restaurant/hotel that I'm familiar with and state the exact running order of the songs. I could even recite most of the lyrics and probably identify the artists if someone asked me to. I notice that they always play the same CDs over and over, that's of course until they switch on the radio.

Not really - it depends on the piece: If it is sung in a language I don't use on a daily basis, I easily can suppress the meaning of the words, but if it sung in English or German than I take care a lot how the meaning of the words are transformed into music.

I guess my problem is that caring too much about lyrics would really limit the amount of music that would be listenable to me. Sometimes I like listening to gangster rap when I'm pissed off, it's for that very angry energetic mood it has. I feel embarrassed when I focus too much on the lyrics though. They're usually way too egregious for me. I kind of blot it out and just listen to the rhythm.

When I hear a new song by an artist I like, I usually don't follow all the lyrics. Sometimes a specific line will catch my attention, especially a catchy chorus, but rarely will I really fully know what the songs about. If something draws me in right away first listen, it's the music. Still, I tend to like artists that have meaningful lyrics, and overtime my appreciation for the lyrics will often come to match that of the music. And sometimes even overpass.

Ditto. Although I do like to search up the "original meaning" from time to time... just to see how people's perceptions of such things vary from my own.

Mine is since some years already highly selective; I ended up with J. S. Bach to an extent, that my lover complained that the only music was music played for month was Bach.

the lyrics are probably the first things I notice, for me alot of meaning comes form lyrics, but I do enjoy the music too.

Just to correct something... As far as I've read, it's right-brainers who feel the emotion from music (or at least the right brain part, which means that a left-brained person could still prefer tune over lyrics), and the left brain-part which looks for details... So I guess that many of us, are using both brainparts for music (maybe have something to do with cross-wiring?).

Anyway, I always hear the music first, and sometimes get's deeply touched by it. Then after hearing the song maybe 20 times, I begin to listen to the lyrics.

Fate. Destiny. http://www.esnips.com/doc...oundtrack---Raziels-Theme .