Hearing And Listening

A girl I was not allowed to have a second date with once asked me about the qualities of a good song.

"What's more important - the lyrics or the music?"

"The music is what makes me like a song. The lyrics differentiate good songs from great songs."

At that point in our relationship (pre-failure), I was too embarrassed to expound on my lyrical indifference. I'm free of that shame now, and can proudly say that Elliott Smith's Either / Or was my favorite album years before I learned the meaning of each song. That CD blessed me twice, but the second generation of happiness came with a price - now, I can't help but be disappointed when a song's meaning doesn't match its composition. It's almost like that chick's wanting-to-date-me-ness not matching her attractiveness.

For example, Parachutes (Funeral Song) was the prettiest Mates of State song I had ever heard; for obvious reasons, I considered playing that song my own funeral. That is, until its meaning was deciphered:

"It's always kind of hard for me to say specifically what certain songs are about," Hammel says. "When I try to explain them they sound really mundane. It usually ends up ruining it for the people who are like, 'Oh, it's that?' I'd rather we keep our meaning and you keep yours."

One song on the album that begs explanation, however, is "Parachutes (Funeral Song)," a delicate piano-driven tune about two lovers on a star-crossed skydive. The song is written from the perspective of the bride, waving goodbye to her husband as her parachute fails to open:

"What I had between the things I never tried was you reaching out in hopes that you could grab / I'd say that's better 'cause at least I know you tried."

The words had betrayed me, and I could no longer unconditionally love the song. It was no longer about anything or everything, abstract and beautiful - it was about skydiving. It was just about skydiving.

And there's no point to these paragraphs - I'm not going to wrap it up nicely, but that's okay, because it's the same way with most of the music I enjoy. Maybe Paranoid Android is about the fall of the Roman empire, and maybe it hasn't got a point. The important thing is that I enjoyed listening to it, and hopefully you enjoyed the minute it took you to read this.