I can only understand Korean, English, and a little bit of Spanish. If the lyrics are not written in those languages, there is no way I can understand what the song means. However, I enjoy listening to a song without knowing what the singer is singing about. It's a little adventure because I can guess what the song might mean. I can even make up my own meaning of the song because everything is up to my imagination.
For example, this is the music video of Hoppípolla, a song by a post-rock band from Iceland Sigur Rós. It shows several old people walking around the town, doing silly and childish things. They ring someone's house bell and run away, kick a post box, and throw water balloons at one another. At first look, I thought the song is making fun of adults who still act and think like kids. I also thought it could mean people these days are too busy to pay attention and show love for important people around them. They rarely make have fun and relax.
It may differ from person to person, but his words make me think that the song is not serious at all. Rather, it seems like the band wanted to make more 'emotional' impression. On top of that,certain parts of the lyrics are not even Icelandic, but written in 'Hopelandish', a language created by the band's songwriter, Jón Þór Birgisson. Some people might say that this way of listening to a song is too 'simple' and requires absolutely no thinking. However, I believe it's a fun activity that encourage imagination, improve creativity, and replenish basic human emotions (such as happiness) that people these days take for granted.
In addition, I can focus more on the how the words sound rather than their meanings, which allows me to just enjoy the feeling of the song and have fun. In other words, I don't have to sit down and try to figure out what the singer wanted to say or what is the hidden meaning lying underneath the lyrics.
This song is 'Sie ist in mich verliebt' by Fertig, Los!, a German Indie rock band. I came across this song when I was playing FIFA 07 on my computer a few years ago. Just like my encounter with 'Hoppípolla', I had no idea what he's talking about. But the song was really bright and optimistic, which made me feel very jubilant. In fact, the title of the song is translated as 'She has fallen in love with me', and the video is about the love between a boy and a girl.
Another thing about the 'joy of not understanding' is that I can get a taste of other foreign languages. It's quite fun to try to sing along or just pronounce a word. It's also fascinating to find out similar words between languages, look how letters combine to create a word, and discover unique pronunciation. For example, a German word 'subtil' is 'subtle' in English. Spotting these little differences is one thing that adds more fun to this activity. If I could learn more languages and listen to these songs later, it would be more entertaining.
So instead of listening to your favorite song over and over, why don't you try some 'exotic' ones?
The name of the song, 'Hoppípolla' means 'jumping into the paddle in Icelandic. The band's bassist Georg Hólm once said in an interview on the meaning of the title as:
"We like to play with words a lot, put two words together for example, and make a new word out of it. It means jumping into puddles. It should be two words but it's almost like a name now. The lyrics describe an atmosphere, a memory or something, like being a kid jumping into puddles, falling down and getting a nosebleed, getting back up... It doesn't really matter when you're a kid."
It may differ from person to person, but his words make me think that the song is not serious at all. Rather, it seems like the band wanted to make more 'emotional' impression. On top of that,certain parts of the lyrics are not even Icelandic, but written in 'Hopelandish', a language created by the band's songwriter, Jón Þór Birgisson. Some people might say that this way of listening to a song is too 'simple' and requires absolutely no thinking. However, I believe it's a fun activity that encourage imagination, improve creativity, and replenish basic human emotions (such as happiness) that people these days take for granted.
In addition, I can focus more on the how the words sound rather than their meanings, which allows me to just enjoy the feeling of the song and have fun. In other words, I don't have to sit down and try to figure out what the singer wanted to say or what is the hidden meaning lying underneath the lyrics.
This song is 'Sie ist in mich verliebt' by Fertig, Los!, a German Indie rock band. I came across this song when I was playing FIFA 07 on my computer a few years ago. Just like my encounter with 'Hoppípolla', I had no idea what he's talking about. But the song was really bright and optimistic, which made me feel very jubilant. In fact, the title of the song is translated as 'She has fallen in love with me', and the video is about the love between a boy and a girl.
Another thing about the 'joy of not understanding' is that I can get a taste of other foreign languages. It's quite fun to try to sing along or just pronounce a word. It's also fascinating to find out similar words between languages, look how letters combine to create a word, and discover unique pronunciation. For example, a German word 'subtil' is 'subtle' in English. Spotting these little differences is one thing that adds more fun to this activity. If I could learn more languages and listen to these songs later, it would be more entertaining.
So instead of listening to your favorite song over and over, why don't you try some 'exotic' ones?
Very insightful. Very true. Is this why Gangnam Style is so popular?
답글삭제Sigur Ros is great, but their newest album is a snooze fest.