Perhaps this is due to the fact that the genres of music are no longer as isolated as they were before. They have become amorphous little amoebae interchanging genetic data to become something like their parental units but are wholly their own. Thus their listeners become immured to newer musical tastes and liked it. (Gosh I feel old. Does anyone feel like I am a granny going, "In my time..."?) Perhaps people have become more educated or intrepid in their musical taste and have decided to explore new options.

Maybe. But I do notice that people do tend to gravitate to a certain type of music. They may listen to all sorts of music, but they are all subsets of a certain quality. I know the Beau does. He claims to like all sorts of music, (he is classically trained), but open his Winamp, and one will only see Mandarin ballads, golden oldies from the 1950s to the 1970s, and the occasional 80s and 90s hits. I know Sweet Teeth loves R & B although he does make a few exceptions here and there as well.

Which brings me to the point of this whole rambling digression. I wonder if people out there prefer the music to the lyrics. I mean, if you listen to my collection, it is pretty eclectic. I don't know what genres you can file them under, but you get Shaggy, Coldplay, Garmarna, Medieaval Baebes, Enya, Enigma, Placebo, Britney Spears, Sophie Ellis Baxtor, Faye Wong and god forbid, even Jay Chou! (The last exclamation was made simply because I am so sick of the Beau playing Jay Chou ballads.)

I believe if people sat down and thought about it, they would find themselves with a distinct bias towards one or the other. Yes, this is merely idle thinking, and you know what they say about the devil and idling (hands).

I know I prefer the lyrics to the music. In spite of the fact that I cannot understand some of the languages my favourite artists sing in, I do know what their lyrics mean, thanks to the handy translations most have in their CD sleeve. And the reason they become my perennial staples on my listening list is due to their lyrics. I can be attracted to the music, but it is only a passing fancy unless they solidify that attraction with their lyrics. This was how I fell in love with Garmarna. I heard it in Tower Records, loved the music and so bought their second album. Previously, I had only listened to Irish music, so I had little real inkling on what I was getting into, but it was a calculated risk, because the titles of the songs were so promising. They were similar to the titles of the Irish ballads I love.

I got into Irish music after hearing Deanta's rendition of Culloden's Harvest and Altan's Dulaman. I do still listen to the occasional jig and reel, or Turlough O' Carolan's music, but humming those few bars of each favoured piece is hardly comparable to the repertoire of favoured songs I can sing. I can probably mangle the Gaelic songs I love and sing most of the ones sung in English. And most of the time if the music wears off on me, I scarely, if ever return to them. Sorten Muld is an example. If it wasn't for their lyrics, (also fairytale like) I would not buy album after album of theirs, because the techno (I think) jars my listening sensitivities after a while.

Yes, even Britney Spears has interesting lyrics. I am still trying to fgure out what "hit me one more time" means in relation to the entire song. Is she singing of real violence or does it mean something else? I suppose it is the latter because I have such a shaky grasp of American slang anyway. And Placebo's Every You And Every Me has beautiful sexual connotations. And Missy Elliot's Work It sounds terrible, but I love the sniggering comments worked into it. The same goes for Short Dick Man. That was a hilarious song. So although I may stop listening to the songs, they have a place in my heart because of their words. That is why I collect so many versions of Scarborough Fair (four and counting), and why I hate the one and only arrangement I heard for Henry Martin but I can sing the whole damn ballad by heart. I like Faye Wong's voice, but I like only individual songs because of their lyrics. Anything that doesn't seem to call out to me in terms of meaningful phrases, or are somewhat too complex for my terrible Mandarin, does not appeal at all.

I suppose this preoccupation with words, ("Words, words, words") is due to my preoccupation with literature.

The Beau prefers the music to the lyrics. He can understand one word in ten in Mandarin but his entire collection is mainly Mandarin songs. I suppose one may add that he is trying to keep in touch with his Chinese roots, but when he picks new songs, he goes in this particular order. Mandarin ballads, because it is something tried and tested, calculated to maximise his enjoyment with the least amount of trial, then the tune. The words are optional, because he can't understand it. If the song is meaningful, it is a bonus. (Which is where the Chinese dictionary and my half baked Mandarin comes into the picture.) It is arguable that ballads are all about love, but I believe about 99% of the songs out there are about the human condition, and so deal in love and its various guises in one form of the other. When he talks about his listening list, he chats about tremolos, arrangements and various other things I am at a loss to expostulate. I do not have a musical background.

So how do you pick your favourite music? The lyrics first or the melody? Or are you that rare elusive creature with a fussy habit where both the music has to appeal to you and the lyrics meaningful before you will even consider it?