I’m always talking about how my brain works, so I thought I should talk about how it doesn’t work for a change.

I’m not a big music nut, and I think it’s because of two deficiencies that I have. 1) I have a really hard time picking out lyrics - If you visit KissThisGuy.com you’ll see the kinds of things that I mishear all the time. So that’s one obstacle. 2) I’m very literal minded. I never much cared for analyzing poetry in English class, because I felt like it was all just made up interpretations. If the poet wanted to say “she was pretty” he could have written “she was pretty” and not whatever they did write.

So, when you combine the fact that I mishear lyrics, and that I don’t look for hidden meaning in them, it’s perfectly logical that I would like songs that have a good sound, but mostly nonsensical lyrics. Happily enough, that theory holds true. The other side of the coin is that I tend to like music where the lyrics are clearly sung, and/or make literal sense. That comprises music that some people would sneer at as “music for kids” (though not strictly children’s music) and heavily vocal music.

So, a couple of examples of music that I like - R.E.M. — I used to really like their older guitar based stuff, but I’ve grown more fond of their more recent eclectic stuff too. I hate when someone explains what their lyrics mean though, cause I think they’re nuttier than a fruitcake. Weird Al — I’ll qualify that though, I haven’t listened to Weird Al in a really long time. I think I’m out of his target market now. Norah Jones — beautiful voice, fairly simple lyrics (not that I pay attention to them much) She conveys meaning with her voice more than with her words, which works for me.

I used to be into heavier guitar based stuff, and I still listen to some of it on occasion, but I find Megadeth to be way less pleasant to listen to than Katie Melua. I guess I use music to relax me now, instead of to pump me up.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “That’s some nice fluting, boy.” - Chief Wiggum