What Does That Make You Think Of?

One of our favorite games to play in our house is "What does that make you think of?"  It is a simple game that we can play quickly or for as long as we want.  The game is simple.  One person will play a tune on an instrument or from a recording and we will all make a picture in our minds of what the song is conveying to us.  Our seven year old loves to make up a tune on the piano and gives us hints as to what we should be feeling.  From this game our children have come to appreciate all types of music and the power music has.  We discuss how the different instruments sound and the kids love to guess which ones sound like a bumblebee, thunder, rain, galloping horses, and so forth.  One of my favorite times happened in a parked car at HEB.  My husband ran in the store to pick up a couple things and the kids and I stayed in the car playing our game.  I started playing Flight of the Bumblebees and as soon as my husband got in the car, he started waving his arms around as if he was being swarmed by bees.   The kids laughed so hard that it was a good thing they were strapped in their carseats!  Music has such a powerful way of making us feel, remember, worship, exercise, clean, advertise, cook...you get the picture.  It can cheer us up, pump us up, or thrust us in to melancholy.  I would like to leave you with some of my Monday songs.  Some are conveying my "oh dang, it is Monday" feelings, while others are along the lines of "may as well have fun if I have to be doing a Monday"...

Night of Bald Mountain

Anything by Eminem

Happy

The list is endless....

The Killers - The Man

Have you ever heard a song for the first time on the radio and quickly judged it to be "not your thing" and changed the channel?  Me too.  It actually happens to me all the time.  They say first impressions are everything, but I do know that the first impression can be swayed occasionally.
I have also had the opposite happen.  I love a song and then through hearing it so often, or by a closer examination of the lyrics or structure, begin to dislike it over time.
The song I want to talk about today is The Man by The Killers.




For me, my most basic reason for disliking the song initially was that it was not what I expected from them.  The only songs I know of are the ones I have heard on the radio and this certainly did not fit in with what I remembered.  Upon hearing it a second time, I began to recognize influences such as Bowie and other glam rock 80's artists, that intrigued me, allowing me to give it a second chance.  The song also brought back fond memories of listening to George Clinton, and those are always fun memories!

I think my favorite aspects of the song are the steady walking rhythm and the funky synth sounds.  Add to that the "in your face" homage to Bowie in the line about the Hall of Fame, and I now have something to get me pumped up in the car or while exercising!  I do not think that this will ever be a song I listen to on repeat, but it has grown on me.

Learning to love a piece of music?

Have you ever heard a song for the first time on the radio and quickly judged it to be "not your thing" and changed the channel?  Me too.  It actually happens to me all the time.  They say first impressions are everything, but I do know that the first impression can be swayed occasionally.
I have also had the opposite happen.  I love a song and then through hearing it so often, or by a closer examination of the lyrics or structure, begin to dislike it over time.
The song I want to talk about today is The Man by The Killers.  Here is a clip!

https://youtu.be/w3xcybdis1k

For me, my most basic reason for disliking the song initially was that it was not what I expected from them.  The only songs I know of are the ones I have heard on the radio and this certainly did not fit in with what I remembered.  Upon hearing it a second time, I began to recognize influences such as Bowie and other glam rock 80's artists, that intrigued me, allowing me to give it a second chance.  The song also brought back fond memories of listening to George Clinton, and those are always fun memories!

I think my favorite aspects of the song are the steady walking rhythm and the funky synth sounds.  Add to that the "in your face" homage to Bowie in the line about the Hall of Fame, and I now have something to get me pumped up in the car or while exercising!  I do not think that this will ever be a song I listen to on repeat, but it has grown on me.