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Feel Good, Inc. by Gorillaz... or, Troublesome Sounds |
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The laughter in Feel Good, Inc. by Gorillaz was at first (and for a while after) so disturbing to me that I couldn’t stand to listen to the song until I figured out why. Here’s why: Because the laughter is creepy in that to me it sounds like people who are forced to laugh maniacally and uncontrollably, like they don’t want to be laughing but they have to no matter what anyway and it sounds painful, mentally painful, but maybe also physically. (btw, the idea of being physically forced to laugh whether you want to or not is also why I’ve always absolutely hated being tickled… only once in my life has someone even come close to getting me to not hate being tickled… the same person who I was also more comfortable with hugging than anyone else, and I’m sure that had something to do with it...) But, now that I understand why the laughter in that song is so creepy-sounding to me, it’s not as bad somehow, and I am able to listen to the song and appreciate the other parts of it that are cool.
Other bothersome (to me) sounds in music include things such as repetition bordering on stuttering or other imitations of people being out of control of the sounds they make... when the “singing” sounds like spasms or seizures to me, it’s uncomfortable to listen to.
It is also disturbing to me when people imitate animal noises in a way that makes them sound spasmodic...
Or sounds that are like animals (or people) in pain.
Other sounds that are bothersome: high-pitched whining, like mosquitoes or other flying insects passing by my ears... and whistling… (except when it sounds like bird warbling, less airy and shrill) so I always prefer to be around people who sing while they work, rather than those who are habitual whistlers.
And sometimes… there are sounds used in speech that bother me. Aside from the fact that generically, nasal sounds tend to not fall softly on my ears… the only bothersome speech sound that comes to mind currently is the sound that “ua” makes in Spanish when it comes right before the consonant “p”. I love Spanish, but that’s one sound I do not like. So… the word “guapo” is supposed to mean “handsome” but to me it is not a handsome-sounding word, and I do not like to pronounce it and prefer to not use that word whenever I can reasonably avoid it… I especially can’t stand trying to apply such an un-handsome-sounding word to anyone who I think really is very handsome. Sure, it’s amusing in “the three amigos” when the leader of the bandits calls himself “el guapo”, because he’s not really all that handsome, and the word doesn’t sound all that handsome, either… though the word is supposed to mean handsome and he sure thinks of himself as being handsome. But the farther removed we get from joking references to that movie, and the more we get into the territory of describing someone who’s actually handsome to me, the less I am able to use that word. There are other words in Spanish that technically mean the same thing, and my favorite is “lindo” because to me it’s attractive-sounding in a nice way, and I know there are places in South America where “lindo” is perfectly acceptable to use to refer to a handsome man… but in North America, “lindo” has connotations like using “pretty” to describe a masculine guy… which most people don’t consider socially acceptable under typical circumstances. So… it’s been problematic at times, especially when I wasn’t able to really explain what it is about the word “guapo” that made me not want to use it. But I’m sorry, it’s just not a word I can use to say “handsome” (not when it really matters to me anyway), because it doesn’t sound good to me. It just doesn’t. At all.
delbosque · Fri Sep 11, 2009 @ 05:07am · 1 Comments |
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