Singing loudly and off-key
August 20th 2007 10:09
I love driving. Well, not the actual driving bit, that can be annoying especially in Sydney but I love the safety of the car for singing. As far as I’m concerned, the car is one of the few places where I can sing how I want to without worrying about being heard and maybe laughed at. I relish being able to sing loudly, with passion and the occasional hand gesture for emphasis. Especially motorways, they are the best. And if anyone does chuckle (and that has happened), who cares, they’re gone by the next set of traffic lights, unless they’re a stalker and that is a completely different topic for a post.
Anyway, as I said (I’m prone to repetition and this isn’t going to be a particularly edited piece so please bear with me), I see the car as a safe, soundproof vessel for my warbling. I have to be honest, that’s really what my singing is. I don’t have the worst voice in the world but I’m certainly no Nancy Sinatra no matter which boots I’m wearing. Nightclubs are another protected place and so are gigs, but they don’t happen often to satiate my singing desires. Of course, The Cure gig satisfied me for three and a half hours and as you know it was brilliant. But I won’t digress down that road again....unless you want me to.....
Just to set the scene and to show there is a point to this post, Rich and I live in a row of attached terraces. On one side we have the lady with the barking dogs (who were weirdly quiet today) and on the other side a couple with two children, who often screams in frustration, both the child and mother. We’ve learnt that the houses are not that soundproof. However, they have character.
But now, yippee, the neighbours are on holiday so I have the extra freedom of no-one being able to hear me through the day, the whole day (I work from home). And I’m using that liberty as much as possible, i.e. I’m singing my head off(I used the cliché because it’s true, I can hear myself, sometimes my head nearly falls off ) whenever and wherever I can.
Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t mean that I don’t play music or sing when my neighbours are around. I’m just more thoughtful (aren’t I kind) as she has children and obviously blasting noise can be annoying. After all I wrote a post on the dogs next door. It doesn’t stop me from having a regular portion of the day, usually around 5ish where the music gets revved up and I jiggle around the lounge-room shaking the day’s effect off my body with the occasional clap and woo hoo.
Now, it may sound as though I’m not paranoid about my neighbours but I’m not. One day when I was there for a cuppa we were comparing notes about whether we could overhear any marital arguments which tended to happen for us both on Sat mornings in our respective bathroom areas. I think it’s because stuff comes up through the week and Sat mornings are the first opportunity to talk about things. I can’t explain why it’s the bathroom part of the house, it does seem a bit strange, but there you go, a weird human quirk and I’m digressing again.
Anyhoo, back to being next door, she* was worried I could hear her arguments and I was slightly concerned she could hear my big gob moaning at Rich. I used my diplomacy to say that I didn’t often hear them as it depended on which part of the house I was in and that if I did, it was basically a muffled sound. She doesn’t have to know that once I leant against the wall and listened. I’m not proud of my actions but there’s no point in living in the past. Her husband hadn’t done any housework so he was in trouble. Fair enough. I asked her if she could hear us and she said no, but she could hear me sing. She said it with an enormous smile which confirmed what I suspected. These walls have ears. And I am not a secretly talented singer who just hasn’t found their niche.
As I always say, as well. I wasn’t that bothered but it did mean that I felt I had to tone down my emotional singing. I find it hard to listen to bands like The Smiths and Nick Cave without emphatic passion, feeling the words seep through my soul, telling me their stories. Music is closely linked to my emotions. Today, I started the day with Billy Bragg, later I danced with The Chemical Brothers and now I’m Orbling with Depeche Mode (remixes, brilliant to dance to). Listen to this verse from Billy Bragg:
The temptation
To take the precious things we have apart
To see how they work
Must be resisted for they never fit together again.
To take the precious things we have apart
To see how they work
Must be resisted for they never fit together again.
To me, those words are profound and must be sung with fervour. There is no other way I can do it.
Just to finish my story (of sorts), I also see it as part of neighbourhood watch, who is going to rob a house with my singing emanating from it? It would have to be a brave robber wouldn’t it? Mind you, I guess it could work the other way, they might go next door as they could think that I wouldn’t hear them. OK, well I can’t cover all avenues; my main aim is to relish my singing time. Now I can vociferously enjoy all my genres from Beastie Boys with their empathic expletives to The Smiths with their emotive lyrics.
Now I can do it whenever I want and for however long...bliss......
•I won’t use real names as that would be mean and I can’t be bothered thinking of an alias.
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Comment by katyzzz
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MS Paint Art
Just carry on with the pics and life, see you on the freeway.
katyzzz
Comment by Chic Critique
What a ride I went on with you....Great post!!
Cheers
CC
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Comment by Ash
Flashes of memories
I say SING IT SISTAH!!!!! You are entitled to your 5 o'clock rave, it`s not like you are waking them up on a Sunday morning or singing well into the night.
I know the nieghbours can hear me sing in the shower as my bathroom is about 5 steps away from their lounge, but hey it`s my time! (and I don`t have a particularly wonderful voice myself!)
We just found out that as part of our Citizenship interview next month we have to go to the post office and SING the National Anthem to the person across the counter! How embarrassing is that going to be? My cousin did theirs last week and said when they were done everyone started clapping!!!!!!
Did I mention I don`t have a great voice?
sing on, enjoy your time!
ash
Comment by Nickoftime's Sanity Corner
I sing my head of in the shower and in the car, especially if it's a song that can really get me pumped up...
And yeah, on the freeway is my favorite place for screaming my head off, complete with a strange waving of arms as well...
I say sing whenever and wherever you please and don't feel bad about it for an instant...
It can be a great release of tension from a hard day at work..
Take care,
Nick
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
I’ll keep an eye out for on the motorway. Yes, that’s a great analogy; singing in the car is a deviation of singing in the shower. I don’t really sing in the shower as all I can hear is myself and I have no song to go along with.
Cheers to all of us singing wherever possible,
Byeeee
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
Hi CC
Yes, music and singing make housework far more bearable and vigorous plus it drowns out my swearing when the vacuum cleaner whacks me on the leg. Vacuuming is one of my most-detested household tasks. I swear mine is out to maim me. It’s a little green alien of a thing.
Glad you enjoyed the post, good to see you,
Tracy
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
I laughed about you saying that your neighbours can hear you in the shower and I think it’s brilliant that you see it as your time and relish it. That’s the way to do things, to have some awareness of others but at the same time do what you need.
Oh my gosh, do you mean you have to sing solo? When I did mine it was as a big group and I mimed, I’ve been here on and off for twenty years and I still don’t know the words and I’m not bothered. Oh holy Buddha, that sounds awful, beyond awful in fact...
I’ll be singing for you today!!!
Byeee
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
Hi Nick
Thanks for the laugh; I’m glad I’m not alone with my love for car singing. I agree and thanks:
It definitely is a great release from the day; it seems to move my body and mind into a different place, a place I love.
Enjoy your singing, Nick.
Byeee
Comment by Ash
Flashes of memories
Not solo thank goodness but there are only 4 of us. In the post office? how embarrassing! Every time i think of it I have to laugh. I think when we go for our ceremony we have to sing it again but then there should be loads of people. I asked an Australian girl to sing it yesterday.... and she knew the first 3 lines and that was it!
Yep sing it girl. You should be getting reading for your daily song round about now... I think I`ll crank up the sound and do some singing and dancing myself! CHEERS!
Ash
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
Today I didn't have my bop, I went up the road for my acupuncture session so I'm all relaxed and floaty....
Hope you had a great singing session,
Byeeeee
Comment by Miswanderlust
Killer Beats
Ramble On
Hipnotherapy
I love to sing in the car. I don't give a rat's ass about the other folks. I giggle when I drive by other motorists who are singing. I fancy that we are all members of the same swank club or (not so) secret society...
Talking about secrets. I lived in a walk up in my early twenties where we shared a furnace (that was situated between both bathrooms). Unfortunately you could not do anything in the restroom that your neighbor could not hear.
This is what I learned about my neighbor
a. The gentleman made lots of noise when his bowels moved
b. The couple loved having sex in the shower
c. The female spent too long fixing herself up and the gentleman was often late to work waiting to get in the bathroom. One time I was so tired of hearing them fight I angriliy shouted into the furnace "Sir why don't you get up earlier than her and get in the bathroom first that way you won't be late to work. (paraphrasing...I used much more colorful language)
d. The couple next door does not like meddling neighbors!
Mis
Great Post!
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
Your neighbour experiences made me laugh so much....!! Oooh, hearing that man in the toilet,ah that's awful!!
I love your philosophy, it’s true:
I fancy that we are all members of the same swank club or (not so) secret society...
When I see other car-singers I smile too. I realised a while ago that if I wasn’t singing in the car there’s generally a couple of reasons why, either I'm too tired, I have road rage or I'm sad. I sing loudest when I’m happy or angry. So much can happen in such a small space
Thanks as usual, byeeee