Lyrics

Have you ever been able to hear all the lyrics of a song the first time you heard it on the radio?

Me neither. 

Actually the majority of songs I hear on the radio, I don't know the lyrics to even if I have heard them before. 

It's actually only when I am sitting with headphones on not distracted by anything else, say when I'm on a bus or going for a run that I can actually put together sentences of what I'm hearing and sometimes get to the main points of the meaning of the song. ​

Some people claim they don't care about the lyrics to songs, they just like music for the music. I don't understand these people. 

I mean I do understand this concept, I have been in this mindset before where I really like the catchy beat to a song or the instrumentals and the sound of the vocals just resonate with me emotionally or something deep inside of me, but I can't ever claim I "like" a song unless I understand the lyrics and I like the message the words are conveying. ​

Songs with very pleasant music or with vocalists with relatable expressions of emotion, the types of the songs that become are played frequently on the radio and become pop-culture sensations, I believe are very often used to entrench certain agendas into the subconscious of the greater population.  

To remove some cynicism from this claim, I don't think that the artists themselves are intentionally trying to manipulate people or are necessarily working for some great corporate power or government that's trying to get everyone thinking the same way but these artists themselves I think sometimes naively, sometimes knowingly, use their music to get people developing certain perceptions and lifestyles and attitudes toward things like romance, sex, drugs, profanity, healthy self-esteem through making their lyrics unclear enough that you can't quite understand everything they're saying except for a few key words and concepts.

This is an idea that I have also developed through being part of Mennonite churches throughout most of my life where multiple four-part-harmony hymns are sung by the congregation every service. 

A lot of these hymns, being four-part-harmony, have intricate melodies and harmonies. People get really attached to certain hymns they like because they are very emotionally-charged and they are songs they grew up singing with their families and other caring people around them. 

Mennonite hymns in particular are often very text-heavy and contain a lot of complex theology but most people are so caught up in singing their part or listening to the amazing instrumentals that go along with the hymns, or are just concerned with how the songs make them feel that I don't think a lot of people actually know or care about the words they are singing. 

This is concerning to me. 

Theology is so wishy-washy and complex and powerful to begin with so to be routinely reciting theological concepts in emotionally-charged musical form to me seems very dangerous.

Mennonite church services also usually contain "call to worship" readings, similar to liturgies that are read in other kinds of churches but less structured and routine and much shorter.  

As a kid when this was going on I always thought it sounded like I was sitting or standing amongst robots: everyone tends to read these things with monotone voices and serious faces. 

I myself admit I often have not registered what I'm actually saying when I'm reading these things, it's the morning and I'm tired and it just doesn't seem significant to me the way these readings are treated so I don't even try to put effort into comprehending what I'm saying.

I have done a few sermons at my home church and I remember during my first one I thought since we often read these things I would have everyone in the congregation read a phrase that was the basis of the sermon. 

I was kind of naive at the time, I thought this was just normal to get everyone in the church to read something altogether (even though the content of what I was getting people to read was potentially controversial) but the majority of the congregation read it altogether when I asked. 

It's kind of scary to me that people are willing to recite things without thinking and how much power people have who are able to control what is being said.

Why do we bother saying these things if we don't mean or understand them? Is it just a reflection of the carelessness people in general have with their words? Are people just too lazy to go to the effort of listening to the words in addition to the music they're listening to or are people too emotionally influenceable?

I'm not sure, but I know from now on I will continue to listen closely to the lyrics and words that are hitting my ear drums in addition to any music along with it and when I have the choice, I will only listen to songs that has lyrics and music that resonate with me. 

Or at the very least, going forward I intend to continue to have a critical mind when engaging with any kinds of words or sounds that come my way.