Summary

The author reminisces about their lifelong enjoyment of singing along to music, despite not always knowing the lyrics, and reflects on how music deeply touches their soul.

Abstract

The author shares a personal narrative about their passion for singing along to music from childhood through adulthood. Despite often not knowing the lyrics, they took great pleasure in mimicking the sounds and eventually collected the words to their favorite songs. The author fondly recalls their daughter's natural talent for memorizing and singing along to songs flawlessly, which fills them with pride. Although the author admits to listening more than singing these days, they still find joy in belting out tunes, especially choruses. They list specific songs they can sing along to, emphasizing the emotional connection they have with music. The author concludes by acknowledging that music's profound impact on their emotions can lead to tearful reactions, regardless of the mood the music evokes.

Opinions

The author believes that knowing the lyrics is not a prerequisite for enjoying singing along to music.
They hold a nostalgic view of their childhood pastime of singing to Elvis and Tom Jones, despite not knowing the correct words.
The author values the process of manually transcribing song lyrics for personal satisfaction, a hobby that was later undermined by a cousin's imitation.
They express pride in their daughter's innate ability to learn and sing song lyrics accurately.
The author opines that music has a powerful effect on their emotions, capable of enhancing both happiness and sadness, and often causing them to tear up while singing.
They suggest a preference for talk radio over music radio while driving to avoid the emotional intensity that singing along to music can trigger.

THOUGHTS & MUSINGS

I Like Singing Along To These Songs

I sing along to the music, even when I don’t know the lyrics

For as long as I can remember, I like to sing along with the music. Whether it was while I was a child, on those long drives from South Africa to Namibia, or during my adult years, cleaning house and having the radio on loud — I loved to sing along.

Nowadays, I sometimes sing along in the car, when I drive to work, or when we drive out to wherever.

A childhood anecdote

My mom used to tell me she and my father frequently had fun in front of the car on those long holiday trips. They would play music by Elvis or Tom Jones, and especially to the latter, I loved to sing along. The words of the Tom Jones songs What’s New Pussycat or Delilah sounded nothing like they should (I was ten at the time) but I was oblivious. I just sang and sang and sang.

Some years later, I was acutely aware of not knowing the words to all the songs, and I found myself a new hobby: collecting the words of all songs I liked, and there was a lot!

Back then, some albums showed the words, which I copied to a book in my own writing, but I still had to guess too many words when I wanted to sing along.

So, I sat with my tape recorder, started from the beginning of the song, and I jotted down the words. Play, listen, pause, write, rewind. Play, listen, pause, write. Repeat. I did this for a couple of years, until my cousin copied my hobby, and that killed the fun for me.

Did it help to improve my memory of the words?

Not one bit!

My daughter has a talent

When my daughter hit the age of 8 (maybe even 6 or 7) she started singing along to the music. I frequently looked at her with so much pride in my heart, and I still do. She can sing along with many songs from beginning to end — flawlessly.

Somehow she just gets it.

She hears a song two or three times, then knows the lyrics from beginning to end, and to top that, she has a lovely voice, so it’s a joy to listen to her.

I still try to sing along

I don’t think I will ever stop singing along to the music, but I have to admit that nowadays I listen more than I sing. Music speaks to me, and I don’t need to sing along to feel the music.

Sometimes, when a song plays on the radio, and I feel I want to sing, I listen to the chorus and quickly try to memorize the words, then sing along to the next chorus. And sometimes, I just sing along what I think it should be, especially when I’m alone in the car!

There are, however, songs I can almost sing along to, from beginning to end:

There might be more, but these are the songs I can think of now.

Music touches my soul

I love music, but sometimes I prefer not to listen to it. The reason for this is the same reason I like to listen to music: it touches my soul.

Music can make me feel happy, and it mostly enhances the happy feelings I already feel. The same goes for having sad feelings, then the music will make me cry. And sometimes, even when I am having happy feelings, the beauty of music can bring tears to my eyes.

It’s “funny” — and I’m sure I’m not the only one — but whenever I sing along to the music, I always get tears in my eyes. Not sad tears, but my eyes just start to water.

This is not very handy when I’m driving, which might be why I now mostly listen to talk radio, and not music radio while driving.

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Chasing cars, living life

Sometimes a song says it better than you can

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