As I drove to work today, I was listening to my new French CD Rose by Rose. I fell head over heels for the song La Liste when I saw this video on TV5:
I’ve been listening to the CD in my car since I got it. After just one week, I know the words to the songs and sing along with the music during my commute. Today, as I walked into my school, I was humming the rather catchy tune to one of the songs—Sombre Con—and repeating the words in my head when I realized what I was saying:
“Poor idiot, sad jerk
Damned to never be a man.
Poor idiot, sad jerk,
With her, you’ll never have any kids.”
Although I usually pay close attention to lyrics, I guess I was too tired or distracted to do so this week while driving to work. When I realized what I was saying to myself, I was surprised, and perplexed, that a song with such a light, flowing melody had such dark words (the rest of the words are equally somber). The song was certainly stuck in my head because of the tune, but the contrast between the melody and the words really made me think about what was being said. This, in turn, made me think about several of Brecht’s songs, especially the original German version of Mack the Knife, a catchy song with lyrics about killing, murder for hire, rape, and the mafia, and The Love Market, a song about prostitution with the feel of a ballad.
The contrast between the casual, light tune of a song whose words address serious subjects is obviously not done by accident, so who’s getting the message? For those of us who pay attention to lyrics, we can analyze the meaning, and look for the agenda. But what about those of us (yes, sometimes I fit into this category, too), who don’t pay attention and blindly sing lyrics that are negative and somber? If we are constantly repeating negative, gory, repressive, and/or degrading words, does it change us for the worst, even if we aren’t aware of what we’re saying? At the least, I think it desensitizes us. In any case, I think there is great power in the tongue. What we say affects what we do, how we act, how we feel, even if we don’t realize it. So, this week’s motto is: “Be careful little mouth what you say,” even when you’re just singing in the car. . . .
