Music and Lyrics

I like music. Not a statement that would move mountains, but one that is true. I did meet someone long ago who did not. It was like meeting someone who declared that they hated breathing. Totally foreign to my life experiences. Yes, people have different tastes in music, but that was the only person I've ever met who straight up didn't like it at all.

Ariel: What, nothing at all?
Sad Little Person: nope.
Ariel: Not even rock and roll?
SLP: no. nothing.
Ariel: What about Classical?
SLP: not classical. not anything.
Ariel: Really? but what about jazz?

and so on. I think what is the most interesting thing about that person is that they are so unmemorable to me. Nothing even vaguely sticks in my mind about the person. I can't even remember what sex they were. Which is odd for me, because I tend to remember little details about people, not salient details like their name, but little things like their specific sneaker choice, or that they had a band aid on their hand when I met them. All I remember about the sad little person is that he/she/it didn't like music.

I was thinking about that person recently when I was coming home after dropping the brother off at school. I was listening to music in the car, and missed a call because I had the music up to cover the road noise. I can't imagine what the SLP would do on a road trip. Or hell, driving to work. Ipods are everywhere, songs are sung in the metro, on the street, in the shower, music is a pervasive part of not just ours, but all cultures. And the SLP wanted nothing to do with it.

What I think I like most about music is its ability to change poetry into something else. Poetry is really not my bag, not even as an English Major. I could never get my head around it. But once poetry is transformed into "Lyrics" it makes so much more sense. Music is about people you've never met expressing a feeling you've had in much more beautiful way than you ever could. Or sometimes its about challenging you, or introducing you to an experience you've never had, and likely will never have. Or, sometimes its about the universe and our place in it. I think that perhaps there is something to be said for the person with no musical tastes. They are living what the lyrics of every punk song ever written urges us to do: resist conformity. Perhaps I'm just thinking about this too much. Perhaps I should just move on.

I bought a cheap watch from a crazy man, floating down canal
It doesn't use numbers or moving hands, It always just says NOW
Now you may be thinking that I was had, but this watch is never wrong
And if I have trouble the warranty says,
Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On