Songs, Poems, People and Emotions

It is strange how one song can initiate various feelings in different people. Our emotions are woken up by the seemingly inseparable pair of music and lyrics. Why seemingly, you ask yourself. Well, sometimes when you separate those two, you can get different mood of the song, sometimes one separated element of those two, can be even better than the complete version.

Karel Kryl

Bonnie Raitt

When I was about 15, I discovered for myself Czech folk singer Karel Kryl. But he was more than a singer to me, he was a poet. His lyrics were always very pregnant as well as sensitive. And when I was reading a book of his poems I did not realize there were also included lyrics of his songs. I fell in love with one of his poems, it was so decadent, sad and witty. I learnt this poem by heart. Except it turned out not to be a poem but a song. And of course it had some music to go with the lyrics as well. But I did not like the music at all, even though the mood of lyrics and music was congenial. Somehow, it was just too much to take. I considered this piece not to be a song, but much rather a poem. And I have not changed my mind since then.

Karel Kryl

Bonnie Raitt

I introduced another song called Standin' By the Same Old Love by American singer Bonnie Raitt to two of my peers. One of them only read the lyrics but did not hear the music, the other one heard the song in its entirety but did not see the lyrics written. Haley Jones, 18 year old first year student who read only the lyrics described the songs mood as "desperate and sad". She also noted that she would expect the music of the song to be slow. That was exactly what I personally thought, when I read the lyric. The other student, Laura Marani heard the song and described it as hopelessness and anguish of someone who is losing beloved person after a long relationship and does not want to let him go. And she described the mood to be desperate even though the song had pretty fast music, exact opposite than her peer Jones had imagined.
It is strange how a song can initiate various feelings in different people. It is strange how different parts of song can initiate same feelings in different people.