I can stop apologizing. I have been vindicated - validated even. Read the two paragraphs below from the book ‘This Is What It Sounds Like’ (page 104) written by neuroscientists Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas:
“...the audio signals that impinge on our eardrums are routed to several parallel networks in our brain, each focused on a distinct quality of the soundwave, including its emotive tone. One of these networks processes the acoustic pattern of melody in the soundwave. Another network processes the acoustic pattern of words.
This accounts for the middle-aged suburban dad sitting at a traffic light while belting out with Aretha Franklin, ‘YOU. MAKE. ME. FEEL. LIKE. A. NAT-UR-AL WO-MAN!’ The odds are high that Dad isn't feeling the lyrics of female empowerment as much as he's feeling the confident melody. The simultaneous dual processing of melody and words allows Dad's mind to focus on either the intonation or the information, and it chose the intonation. (Our brain's automatic division of musical inputs lends credence to many melody lovers’ claim that they never listen to the words.)”
For my whole life I have felt it necessary to apologize when I butcher song lyrics. I feel like I should know that it is “Maybe I'm Amazed” not “Baby I'm Amazed” and I feel like I should hear the story that is being told in the lyrics and doggone it sometimes I do “FEEL. LIKE. A. NAT-UR-AL WO-MAN!” - its emotive tone anyway. So now I can stop apologizing.
As humans we have a tendency to judge others, especially those who are different. For example if one individual doesn't hear or understand song lyrics that mean so much to someone else, each may tend to judge the other for their mis-prioritization. I don't know if my preference to not really listen to the words places me in a minority of all music listeners or just those around me, but when I feel music and I'm comfortable enough with those around me, I am likely going to belt it out and I am likely going to butcher lyrics and I am likely going to be (good-naturedly) mocked.
I am most often listening to music when I am preparing and cooking food, and what better place to butcher lyrics than when I am grinding meat, or kneading dough, or smoking salmon, or stirring a pot. And like music, food evokes memories and feelings, from positive and negative emotions to nostalgia to comfort and security to bonds with family, friends, like-minded groups, and culture. Food and Music; for me they go together (in the words of Forrest Gump) “like peas and carrots.”
At another point in ‘This Is What It Sounds Like’ (page 138) the authors state, “Lyrics serve our social lives by stirring up our memories. …Many people enjoy reliving scenes from their past, and cite their desire for reminiscence as their main reason for listening to music.” I believe the second part of this statement can be true for those who prioritize lyrics and for those who prioritize melody but I believe the first part of this statement implies that those who prioritize lyrics are more likely to listen to music to reminisce, whereas those who prioritize melody are more likely to listen to music for the in-the-moment experience and maybe, perhaps, those who prioritize melody are more likely to try new things - seek new experiences. And if music is head, heart, and hips and lyrics are more head and heart and melody is more heart and hips, then perhaps regarding food those who are head and heart prefer the comfort and security of tried and true recipes passed down and remembered whereas those who are heart and hips are more likely to seek incremental improvement in those recipes handed down and more likely to be adventurous exploring new and different food genres. Just a thought. I suppose it is possible for one to be head and heart for one (food or music) and heart and hips for the other, but me - I am all in heart and hips for both; I want to feel music that makes me move and I want to dance with process, preparation, control, chaos, flavor, texture, aroma, and presentation that makes my food sing.
