Asklemmy

It's not quite what you're asking, but I have had my perspective on a lot of songs changed once I actually looked up their lyrics.

My listening comprehension for music lyrics is piss poor. For any given pop or rock song I'd hear on the radio, maybe 70% of the time I find lyrics unintelligible. Clearly it's skill issue on my part, as the body of music listeners at large seem to have no problems understanding what they're hearing. I don't know how people do it.

Sometimes I'll catch enough words to throw into a search engine and get the song's title and lyrics, and maybe even a short blurb of context. That knowledge alone can make a song go from irritating noise to something I find rather pleasant.

I believe the most recent song I looked up and learned something about was Even Flow by Pearl Jam. It's a song about homelessness. Who knew? Fucking everyone, probably! But not me. For fifteen years all I heard was "FREEEEE-ZIIIIIN'..." and the rest just goes to mush. I also learned Even Flow is a completely different song from Plush by Stone Temple Pilots. The damn radio kept bamboozling me with that similar vocal progression they both have!

Ah well. Better on the bus fifteen years late than never on the bus at all. They say ignorance is bliss, but it's also the source of a lot of undue hatred. I find I hate far fewer songs when I actually understand what they're trying to say (if anything).

Of course, knowing doesn't magically fix all stinkers. I Love It by Icona Pop didn't get any better in my eyes when I found the lyrics for it. I find most pop country songs (which I am unavoidably subject to, living in the American midwest) don't have much novel or interesting to say, either. The closer I look, the more accurate Bo Burnham's Pandering becomes, and I hate it.

I guess the silver lining here is I get to lucky 10,000 my way through many of history's greatest hits. I'm sure many people would give a lot to experience something they like again for the first time. By virtue of my being absurdly late to the party, I get to do it every day.