Some time ago a close friend expressed a curious sentiment, one which I had never heard before, much less imagined. "I never learn the words to songs I like because it changes how I feel about the song."
"What do you mean?" I replied, "How does knowing the words to a song change how you feel about a song?"
"When I like a song I like it because the drums are badass, or the lead guitar is, or the bass, or most everything about the music is - big, driving drum beats, a guitar solo that just rips, bass that I can feel in my body. When I start to learn the words, and it's just whiney crap about a girl leaving the dude or some bullshit about how cool he is, that's all I start to hear - not the music anymore, just the words."
That hit me like a mallet. There had to be hundreds of songs I liked solely because of the lyrics. In fact, I would guess that the vast majority of the songs I liked were basically lyrical poetry.
He continued, saying, "Not knowing the words, or there just not being any words at all, means the song never changes - it's always just music that moves me and doesn't need to be interpreted or thought about. That's how I like to be when I listen to music - feeling, not thinking."
And that's when the appeal of instrumental music, whether it be Classical or Jazz, finally made sense to me.
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