Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk Myself to Death: Feeling the Music

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Feeling the Music

[UPDATED]
Is it possible to experience music too viscerally? Yeah, it's a strange question, but it was brought on by a song that came on the radio while I was driving home tonight. It was "Please Come to Boston" by Dave Loggins, which is a song I never particularly liked. But it reminded me that in 1974, when the song originally came out, I'd physically get a bit of a stomach ache when I heard it on the radio. It wasn't a bad stomach ache, particularly, but it was a bit of a discomfort. When the song was over, the stomach ache would go away. Maybe it was the world-weary achiness in the vocals. Perhaps it was the sense that the protagonist of the song was moving all over the country and pleading with his girlfriend to join him when it was clear that she never intended to leave her home. I have no idea, really. I just know the sensation was mildly unpleasant. There are a small handful of songs that give me a similar reaction, although the only one I can think of at the moment is O. C. Smith's "Little Green Apples." That one's more upbeat and positive, though, so I'm not sure what it might have in common with "Please Come to Boston."

On the plus side, and what I imagine is far more common, I could start naming a number of songs that make me feel good and immediately put me in a better mood. So I guess the viscerality isn't just negative. But does anybody else have a song or two that tends to make them physically ill?

UPDATE--A few minutes after posting I remembered one of the worst songs for me: "Afternoon Delight" by Starland Vocal Band. I've never actually measured (and I'm not sure I want to), but I'm betting that provides the most intense unpleasant feeling in my stomach.

4 Comments:

At 12:40 AM, October 31, 2007, Blogger Stuart Shea said...

I can't say it causes me quite the distress you must have felt, but "Total Eclipse of the Heart" makes me feel the way I do when I hear fingernails on a chalkboard. I actually have the same reaction to most of the Jim Steinman productions.

 
At 1:53 PM, October 31, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Perhaps I've mellowed a bit, because I can't think of anything that currently engenders any queasiness on my part, but I can certainly remember when hearing even a note of "Going Up The Country" by Canned Heat or Shaun Cassidy's cover of "Da Doo Ron Ron" would send my fingers flying to change the station as quickly as possible!

 
At 5:05 PM, October 31, 2007, Blogger Fran Adkins said...

I think music can affect people the same way food does. Some tastes just offend the palette and cause nausea. Some music offends the ears the same way.

 
At 2:51 AM, November 06, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, I absolutely agree about "Afternoon Delight." That, and "You're Just Too Good To Be True" are enough to produce an existential crisis!
--Betsy

 

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