When I was younger, probably during my freshman or sophomore year of high school, I became a self-identified music snob.
Shunning bubblegum pop, top 40 hits and whatever else I felt society was trying to market to me gave me the sense of convenient, effortless superiority that every 14-year-old craved.
By embracing the music genres that were neglected by my peers, the mere speech team member and amateur thespian that I was felt I had attained my own personal brand of coolness.
Of course, I realize now this is ridiculous and am just as apt to embrace songs by the Dave Matthews Band as I am to hum along to the latest hit by that obscure indie band I recently got into, though I might still judge you if you are one of those people who refers to DMB as “Dave.”
I realized there are many reasons to love a song. Maybe it takes you back to a certain time or memory. Maybe the melody stays trapped in the back of your brain, no matter how little substance the song there may be.
Personally, the music that has stuck with me through the years and really captivated me was songs with carefully-constructed and meaningful lyrics.
On Nov. 2, I was lucky to see the Indigo Girls at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.
I don’t really fall in the key demographic of this lesbian folk duo, whose success really began to peak the year I was born.
However, as soon as I started hearing their songs on my old little satellite radio I listened to back on my drives to high school every day, I was an instant fan.
I had to hear more from the women that penned the lyrics “Why do we hurtle ourselves through every inch of time and space/I must say around some corner I can sense a resting place/With every lesson learned a line upon your beautiful face/We’ll amuse ourselves one day with these memories we’ll trace.”
There was so much meaning and feeling communicated through such a small amount of words. At the crux of the anxieties of standardized testing and applying to colleges, the universal feeling of hope and getting older struck a chord somewhere deep in my 17-year-old heart.
Listening to the Girls perform live only served to reinvigorate my love of quality lyrics and their ability to inspire and bring comfort.
I hummed and swayed to combinations of words that I could only hope to arrange so beautifully and effectively someday.
In “Power of Two,” they crooned “Chase all the ghosts from your head/I’m stronger than the monster beneath your bed/Smarter than the tricks played on your heart/We’ll look at them together then we’ll take them apart.”
What a better sentiment for a world of people that have seen heartbreak and letdown? How better to reassure the audience that no matter what, the capacity for humans to reaffirm to one another they’re not really alone, does in fact exist?
In “Galileo,” they sang to commemorate the spirit of those who dare to go against the grain and the anxiety and uncertainty that come with taking chances.
Listening to the whole theater sing along to “How long ‘til my soul gets it right? Can any human being ever reach that kind of light?” reminded me no one has it figured out.
Sometimes the ones who do are the ones who will never see their own power come to fruition in their lifetimes.
Powerful lyrics are what have led me to discover and stick with my favorite artists, like U2, Coldplay and The Avett Brothers.
More recently, I’ve stumbled upon an up-and-coming British artist named Ed Sheeran. According to Last.fm, since I bought his album a month ago, I’ve reached 381 plays.
While being somewhat “mainstream,” — he collaborated with Taylor Swift for a track on her new album “Red,” — he’s by far the most lyrically talented singer-songwriter I’ve discovered in recent memory. No matter how many times I hear his songs, they don’t diminish in value to me.
Perhaps this means that I really have left my days of music snobbery behind.
But I hope more than anything what it really says it that there’s an increasing market for artists who can put the complex human experience into simple, relatable tunes.
Music is a powerful way to affect hearts, minds and souls.
Everyone deserves to have at least one musical artist whose lyrics help them understand themselves and the world around them a little bit better.
— kabeasle@indiana.edu
