What are you listening to right now?

I was talking about music with my friend and damn, he is AMAZING at finding meanings in songs.

We started out with Billy Joel. Scenes From An Italian Restaurant is explaining that the past is not always an indicator of the present and that times can change. Leningrad is explaing that wars only exist between nations, and that people are the same everywhere.

Moved along to Elton John. The King Must Die explains the inherent strife between people and corporations, where the "King" is really corporations. Sixty Years On explains the lonliness of soldiers returning from war. Take Me To The Pilot means that just because you aren't perfect, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to better the world, even if it's something small.

David Bowie was next. Space Oddity explains how fame changes your perspective on life. Unwashed and Slightly Dazed was about how everyone has good and bad qualities. Janine was about a schizophrenic trying to find love.

Pink Floyd's Cymbaline is about the downsides of being famous and being always watched.

Loreena McKennit's Bonny Portmore is about how love can destroy someone.

Rush's The Trees explains why forced uniformity is bad.

Fleetwood Mac's The Chain explains how being hurt then lied to is worse than being just hurt.

Stevie Nicks' Edge of Seventeen tells how life experience is valuable.

He found this out just by listing to them.
 
I listen to the words, it's just that I don't have such a clear view of their meanings.

A lot of them I do understand, but he can see them as metaphors. Like, take Space Oddity. I thought that it was the story of a guy going into space and getting lost. He thought that it was a metaphor for how fame affected Bowie.

He just gets the deeper, metaphorical meaning, whereas I get the surface meaning.

Edit - Oh, and I'm listening to One Night In Bangkok by Murray Head. Coolest. Song. Ever.
 
Altron - there is a difference between passive listening and active listening. 98% do passive...it's background noise, or at most they hear the hook or the chorus and that's it. That's why most music "fans" have no idea who sings a certain song after it leaves the charts.

Active listening requires headphones, sufficient volume, and preferably time alone. It requires listening to the same song repeatedly, and over time, with an ear tuned to catch nuances. Listen to the song once as a piece, then "filter" out all but the drums, then all but the bass, then all but the guitar, etc etc. You will be amazed, and you might just discover that you don't like what you think you like.

The best song I know of for this is "Diary Of A Madman" by Ozzy. Randy's guitar layering on that is intricate beyond human comprehension. The lyrics chronicle a cycle into schizophrenia/madness and the fear/apprehension/powerlessness that accompainies it. The arrangement is almost orchestral in its layering, tempo, theme, and dynamics. The choir voices lend an eerie feel, but also add a dimension of depth. And the great thing is, in time you'll discover songs on your own that you can disseminate like this. Took me over 10 years to catch everything in that song, and every time I listen to it properly I hear something else I hadn't noticed or had forgotten.

Moral: Pop music is for the casual fan. Serious music demands and deserves your appreciation on many deeper levels.





Oh...listening to right now...it changed from the time I came in here, now it's Green Grass And High Tides by The Outlaws.
 
SouthernN'Proud said:
Altron - there is a difference between passive listening and active listening. 98% do passive...it's background noise, or at most they hear the hook or the chorus and that's it. That's why most music "fans" have no idea who sings a certain song after it leaves the charts.

Active listening requires headphones, sufficient volume, and preferably time alone. It requires listening to the same song repeatedly, and over time, with an ear tuned to catch nuances. Listen to the song once as a piece, then "filter" out all but the drums, then all but the bass, then all but the guitar, etc etc. You will be amazed, and you might just discover that you don't like what you think you like.

The best song I know of for this is "Diary Of A Madman" by Ozzy. Randy's guitar layering on that is intricate beyond human comprehension. The lyrics chronicle a cycle into schizophrenia/madness and the fear/apprehension/powerlessness that accompainies it. The arrangement is almost orchestral in its layering, tempo, theme, and dynamics. The choir voices lend an eerie feel, but also add a dimension of depth. And the great thing is, in time you'll discover songs on your own that you can disseminate like this. Took me over 10 years to catch everything in that song, and every time I listen to it properly I hear something else I hadn't noticed or had forgotten.

Moral: Pop music is for the casual fan. Serious music demands and deserves your appreciation on many deeper levels.





Oh...listening to right now...it changed from the time I came in here, now it's Green Grass And High Tides by The Outlaws.
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Yep, I know about that, and I like to do it. I'm one of the few people among my friends who can listen to music. Not hear music while doing something else.

Sometimes it weirds people out, like if I go over to my friend's house, with his nice B&W system, and it's like, I'll turn down the lights and put on an album and kick back. We'll get about about four minutes in before he gets itchy and starts being like "you wanna do something else?". Actually, no.

For those real listening sessions, I usually do SACD with my big vintage reciever to my big vintage AKG K340 electrostatic headphones. It's awesome. People wonder what I'm doing though "He's been sitting in the same spot with the lights off and the headphones on for like an hour without moving an inch, is he still alive or what?"

I don't think it's a question of listening to music as it is analyzing literature, something he's good at. Hell, he likes hardcore techno music without words.
 
My hearing impairment means that I suck shit when it comes to discerning lyrics, but it's all good - I get more enjoyment from what the song sounds like overall than what they're singing about.
 
My kid has brought a lot of Japanese music into the house, that I have grown to like, and listening to music without being concerned with the lyrics can be nice too.

Alas, I don't have a nice sound system, but I do like to just sit tight and listen to music whilst doing nothing else. I guess my home is proof of that. :p (Yeah, I'll kill those dust-bunnies today..)
 
Starya said:
My kid has brought a lot of Japanese music into the house, that I have grown to like, and listening to music without being concerned with the lyrics can be nice too.

Alas, I don't have a nice sound system, but I do like to just sit tight and listen to music whilst doing nothing else. I guess my home is proof of that. :p (Yeah, I'll kill those dust-bunnies today..)
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I've got better things to do with my time than kill dust bunnies. :laugh:

One of these days I'm gonna get a daily...
 
Aunty Em said:
I've got better things to do with my time than kill dust bunnies. :laugh:

One of these days I'm gonna get a daily...
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Heh, I had my dad over for a couple of days (that's a first - ever) and made sure to tidy up a tad before he came. He's the kinda person who manages to keep his home nice and neat with hardly any effort. Yesterday I dropped a pen under the sofa, grabbed a roll of gift wrapper and swooped it back out.. Along with a colony of killer dust-bunnies. Dad snickered. I just went "oops" and sent them back home. :blush: They will have to evacuate the premesis today.

Oh, and:
Bertine Zetlits - Twisted little star
 
I only use headphones for recording or listening privately in public places. For serious home listening alone, quality speakers, a quality amp and and equilateral triangle set up with me and the speakers. I think you get more out of the music with a little separation from the source. I don't even mix with headphones on although I know a lot of people who do.

What am I listening to?
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of War of the Worlds
 
Speakers or headphones, both are great, they both have their strengths and weaknesses. I use my speakers more, but that's just because it's more convenient for background music.
 
Carrie Underwood - Before He Cheats

Right now he's probably slow dancing with a bleached-blond tramp,
and she's probably getting frisky... right now,
he's probably buying her some fruity little drink cause she can't shoot whiskey...

Right now, he's probably up behind her with a pool-stick,
showing her how to shoot a combo...

And he don't know...

That I dug my key into the side of his pretty little suped up 4 wheel drive,
carved my name into his leather seat...
I took a Louisville slugger to both head lights,
slashed a hole in all 4 tires...

And maybe next time he'll think before he cheats.

Right now, she's probably up singing some
white-trash version of Shania karoke..
Right now, she's probably saying "I'm drunk"
and he's a thinking that he's gonna lucky,
Right now, he's probably dabbing 3 dollars worth of that bathroom Polo...
And he don't know...

That I dug my key into the side of his pretty little suped up 4 wheel drive,
carved my name into his leather seat,
I took a Louisville slugger to both head lights,
slashed a hole in all 4 tires...

And maybe next time he'll think before he cheats.

I might saved a little trouble for the next girl,
Cause the next time that he cheats...

Oh, you know it won't be on me!

Ohh... not on me...
Cause I dug my key into the side of his pretty little suped up 4 wheel drive,
carved my name into his leather seat...
I took a Louisville slugger to both head lights,
slashed a hole in all 4 tires...

Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats.

Ohh.. Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats...

Ohh... before he cheats...
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I liked this song the first time I heard it (this morning) but when it got to the bold I LOVED it! :D
 
Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues

I have noticed that since "Walk the line" came out he's been on the radio station I listen to a lot more (country station). I must say, I'm hooked. The movie was good too :)
 
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