Brain space…
How much of your brain is holding music lyrics??? I mean, really. I listen to the 80’s channel on XM and I know over 90% of the words to over 90% of the songs. Isn’t there something better I could be using that brain capacity for?? Do I really NEED to know all the words to “Vibeology??” Is it that important that I can sing along with “Don’t Pay the Ferryman??” Why can I still sing every word to every song on each of the first 3 Asia albums? Doesn’t this stuff ever leave your brain?
In high school, I learned things. This was the same time when I was listening to this 80’s music, right? Well, I don’t remember much from, oh, let’s say, Mr. Eickel’s World History class. Yet, if I was to hear “Be Good Johnny” come on the radio, I could sing along to the entire thing. It’s not like that was a BIG hit… it’s not like I’ve listened to it constantly since 1980-whatever… the lyrics just stick there… forever embedded in my gray matter!
This struck me today when I got my M-W.com word of the day. It’s “thanatology.” I knew what the word meant. Well, I guessed what the word meant and was right. It’s the study of death and the psychological mechanisms of dealing with death. Pretty cool… how did I know that? Because of the poem “Thanatopsis.” I had to memorize this poem in high school. It’s all about death and dying. It rhymes… Is that the common thread? Grant’s brain likes rhymes? Is that the reason I know “You be Illin” from start to finish?
I started writing this post months ago and just realized it had been saved. now it’s 3:47 in the morning, I can’t sleep, and this post is still as true as can be. I think I’ll set it free from the draft hell it’s been contained in. Oh, and I heard “God Gave Rock and Roll” from KISS yesterday… heard it for the first time in at least 10 years… sang along w/o missing a beat… even during the Paul Stanley “sermon” at the end… sheesh. Stupid brain.
1 comment October 05 2005 2:45 am | Pepperguy | Grant
Interesting question you bring up. Why/how the brain interprets and stores the things it does is indeed very much a mystery. My take is you listened to alot of that music repetivily, just like you had to read Thanatopsis over and over to memorize. Without even meaning to you memorized all those songs. I would think that you activate the same neural pathway over and over again, and somehow it still remembers it many years later when it gets activated again. How chemicals and molecules record music and all other information blows my mind. Whats even more interesting, do you remember all of those songs while just sitting there in quietness, or does hearing the song trigger the memories. So many questions and mysteries from such a realitvely small piece of tissue. Just as many questions about our brains as there is about space.