Words In Song

I was afraid this blog might sound too academic, but I guess there's nothing wrong with that. I'm listening to the new Peter Bjorn & John album in preparation for their appearance at Sonic Boom tomorrow 7pm and thinking about lyrics as well as song titles. Do people listen enough to lyrics to actually identify with their ambiguous poetic meanings? Obviously they[we] do, there are books and books about this. But why do we feel a special connection to words when someone sings them out as opposed to reading them off the page? A song can perfectly capture someone's mood if the theme and tone of the musical accompaniment fits the lyrics being sung, and the song becomes a symbol for one's mood. But we do more than use it as a symbol, we act as if it were made for us and in this specific instant we feel a kinship with it. We posses and befriend the music. Even a song's title can bias our interpretation of the song, instantly granting us a preconception of the song. It's as if our minds cross reference the name to see if it can possibly relate to an experience we've had in the past. So in a way we validate our emotions and experiences through the more physical aspect of music and song. In this physical representation of our emotions we try to communicate to others what we feel and how we perceive the world.

Next point of question, do song titles/and songs themselves create an artificial atmosphere in which emotions are created even if they are not warranted for the occasion? Can music create and control our experiences? Listening to certain types of music will affect your mood accordingly, whether to improve a bad day or to power an angry rant. But as everyone is affected by music differently, this is a power which is barely controllable and often unpredictable.

Anyways, enough of troubled me going off on philo-musical sidetracks..

Listen to the new Peter Bjorn and John. Song of worth[and probable single] : click to listen