The Band Keeps Playing
Write Club Prompt #39
This prompt is a timely one in my life as I am rethinking the role music plays for me. I’ve been reading Bob Dylan’s The Philosophy of Modern Song and they way he thinks about music is really resonating with me. That is I really love thinking about the meaning in songs and the lyrics. This is something I haven’t done in a long time. In recent years it has been rare that I just listen to music. Instead it has moved to the background. Something to fill the silence of a work day or pump me up while exercising. Back before I had constent internet access I could spend hours just listening to music. I would listen to whole albums and just listen.
The larger problem is the always on, always distracting nature of our world. Yuval Hari writes about this in Stolen Focus. Even when I want to just listen a text or email will come through and I will feel the need to respond. Even worse if it is spam that little moment of buzzing and checking steals the focus I was giving to music. I can already hear myself saying just turn off the phone. Silence the thief and just focus. Well that’s the plan. I want to get back to thinking about songs and really feeling the music not just playing it in the background as I scroll along Twitter.
