Augury

Years ago I used to be a huge song-lyrics junkie — A CD that came without song lyrics in the liner notes was an offense to decency. Particularly because I didn’t (at the time) listen to very much music I often found it difficult to decipher what the lyrics to a song were. I remember one particular night when I was working out and listening to the radio a new song came on — I couldn’t understand the lyrics entirely, but it was a rock song that seemed to be, from what I could tell, a song about a group of young English lads going to a convenience store and robbing it for cigarettes.

Awhile later I ended up buying the album that the song was on, without knowing that the song was from that band or album. I heard the song and remembered it, but when I looked up the lyrics online their content was quite different from my pseudo-narrative rock song robbing a store for cigarettes. It turns out the lyrics were about California falling into the ocean. Minor mistake.

In any case I eventually grew out of the phase of needing to know all the lyrics to a song — Since I have started listening to much more music in the past few years than I ever have before I am usually much better about discerning lyrics. But it’s not that I don’t need written lyrics, it’s that in a sense the lyrics are ephemeral so long as they are only part of the song. As soon as I see them written down a different part of my brain kicks in — A critical-reading part of my brain that will look at song lyrics and realize how poor they are. Once this has happened my critical instinct will bleed over into my enjoyment of the song.

Well, even though I’m no longer a lyrics junkie I can respect those who are. That’s why when I saw this Digg.com story I became, at least for a few seconds, totally incensed. I suppose I should just consider it par for the course that the RIAA will attempt to use the legal system to shut down anything they don’t like. Sharing songs you like? Wrong. Sharing lyrics you like? Wrong. What’s next, going after a cappella groups? Tabulature sites? Please.

Related: RIAA Radar. Check to see if your music purchases support the RIAA. Surprisingly few (mostly old CDs) in my library.

Update: Funny comment on Digg by a user named Frostcrow:

Once upon a time people didn’t have refrigerators / freezers. If you wanted ice you had to buy it from the ice company , they brought it by in big blocks.

If the RIAA had been the ice company, when freezers started showing up in homes they would have started suing people for using their freezers to freeze water…