--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, cardemaister <no_reply@> > > wrote: > > > > > > But that (understanding spoken language) might have improved > > > a bit lately. Namely, when I listen to the lyrics of some > > > favourite songs > > > from my youth, I notice I now understand the contents > > > of those lyrics somewhat better than I used to. :0 > > > > I have *always* had great difficulty understanding > > sung lyrics. Even when the lyrics are very clear, > > I have trouble paying attention to them. Oddly > > enough, I'll find that I've automatically memorized > > the lyrics to songs with which I'm very familiar, > > but unless I make a great effort to divorce them > > from the music and contemplate them on their own > > terms, in my mind the lyrics are just sounds--like > > scat-singing--not meaningful words. > > I'm replying because this is a subject of some > interest to me. I've found that *many* people > cannot hear the lyrics of songs. I've always > been able to, and the lyrics of songs have in > fact always been a major influence in my life. > > I'm not sure what the issue is, whether it's > systemic or a matter of conditioning. But there > seems little question that some people can't > hear the lyrics of song *as language* and as > having content, no matter how long they sit > and listen to them. I've watched friends *try* > to hear song lyrics, and fail completely. Odd.
Not sure what kind of "conditioning" it could be. I suspect in my case it's that music tends to completely monopolize my attention; my brain just finds it inherently more significant than words. There may be one element of "conditioning," though, in that when I *do* manage to really pay attention to lyrics, in far too many cases it turns out that they don't seem to have been worth my attention in the first place.
