BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly

Subject: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 02:31 PM

I'm sure we've all had the experience of putting on a record (CD, whatever) to hear a particular favorite song, and then you get to the end of the record and you "missed" it, even though you were right there. Well, I had the same thing happen to me the other day - only I was singing, not listening, and all of a sudden I realized that I was STILL singing along with the music, but we were now 3 songs later and I'd managed not to hear the song I'd put the album on FOR - yet I knew that I had sung it! Help! What does this mean? Am I getting better or worse?

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Bert
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 02:41 PM

Hey Rog, here's another candidate for the Neil Young Center

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: SINSULL
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 02:44 PM

Mrrzy,
Lots of rest, well balanced meals, maybe a weekend in the country...and you'll be fine. Distracted, are we? I hope you're in love!
Mary

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 02:46 PM

Forms an orderly queue, lads and lassies, after me. I always sing-along absent-mindedly. ie joining in with the bits I know and getting the rest wrong!
RtS

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Kim C
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 03:25 PM

Do it all the time myself. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: MMario
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 03:26 PM

I lose whole days that way

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: SINSULL
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 03:28 PM

Actually, I conduct long converations with people on my TV. None of them ever lose that saccharine(SP?) smile when I tell them how stupid they are or where to shove their toothpaste.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Jeri
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 06:04 PM

Mrrzy, I think people go on "autopilot" sometimes. I do it when driving very familiar roads. I realise I'm almost where I'm going, but I don't remember the road in between where I came from and where I am. I think when we're very familiar with something, we often quit paying attention to it.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Cap't Bob
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 06:21 PM

No problem Mrrzy ~ at least if you are not singing in three part harmony.

Cap't Bob

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Micca
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 06:26 PM

A jewish guy I worked with a London University used to hum and sing absentmindedly to himselfall the time, one day he kept on with this tune while we were running a complex experiment that needed lots of intense concentration, it suddenly dawned on me what the tune was and I nearly had a fit,he was humming the Horst Wessel!!!! I had to explain why I suddenly lost the plot...

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Matt_R
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 06:26 PM

Not me. I remember everything. My family is scared.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Benjamin
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 07:43 PM

You should be careful! You don't want to sing the chorus to Paul Simons Gumboots around a girl who knows you have a crush on her. Trust me!

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 08:49 PM

Sinsull, no, if only! I think I'm just brainless... but it's nice to know I have company! I tell you, it was WEIRD, to realize my mouth had been just going and going and where had *I* been? (OF course my friends, coworkers and family have always told me not to let my mouth run away with me - I just always thought they had some kind of problem with my intelligence! *BG*)

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Snuffy
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 08:49 PM

Micca,

That Horst Wessell is a really catchy tune that can stay with you for days. Has anyone put acceptable words to it? Or did the Nazis "borrow" it from a traditional German folksong in the first place?

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 08:57 PM

What IS the Horst Wessel? Sounds like (never mind)

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: GUEST,micca at work
Date: 17 Jan 01 - 07:09 AM

The Horst Wessel Lied, (or Song) was THE Nazi Party marching song from the pre-election to Power of Adolf Hitler in 1933, It became a sort of second( unofficial) National anthem, it was, I believe, about a party member killed (and treated as a Martyr for the cause)in clashes between the Nazis and the communists in the 20s. I have no idea about the tune, but I understand that public playing ,singing, or recording it is still forbidden by Law in Germany.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: MartinRyan
Date: 17 Jan 01 - 07:40 AM

A few years ago I made the mistake of thinking that I'd be happier as a boss than as an academic. After a year or so , I was having a pint with one of our students when he remarked "I dunno about this new job of yours - you never sing in the corridors any more!". I didn't even realise I used to sing in the bloody corridor!

Regards

p.s. He was right, of course. Fortunately, I managed to find a way back before I went round the twist completely. Do I sing in the corridor again.....I don't honestly know - which is probably a good sign!

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Wolfgang
Date: 17 Jan 01 - 07:43 AM

snuffy,
click here for a response to your question.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Lady McMoo
Date: 17 Jan 01 - 07:57 AM

Hmmm...I was just thinking I ought to log onto Mudcat and realised I was already here!

mcmoo

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 17 Jan 01 - 09:15 AM

I loose whole chunks of the motorway on my journey to and from work...

I forget whole parts of my journey, I am so transfixed and bored by the motorway.

Ella

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Don Firth
Date: 17 Jan 01 - 12:30 PM

One place where you don't want to go absent-minded is during a concert, especially if it's a solo gig and you are the one on stage. My friend and mentor from yesteryear, the late Walt Robertson (American Northwest Ballads on Folkways) told me about the time he sang The Fox, the more-or-less standard, Burl Ives version, in front of an audience of about 200 people. He had sung the song umpteen times before and could practically sing it in his sleep, which was sort of the problem. The second verse starts out

He ran 'til he came to a great big pen

and the sixth verse begins

He ran 'til he came to his cozy den

Walt launched into the song, immediately dozed off, then came awake as he was singing "He ran 'til he came to--" and suddenly realized that he didn't know where in the hell he was in the song! He stopped singing, confessed to the audience, and they told him where he was (some of them knew the song), so he picked it up and finished. Fortunately, the audience thought it was pretty funny. "There, I was," Walt told me, "with the words all dangling down-o!"

I pulled a similar one a few years after. I was introducing The Flying Dutchman with a long dissertation on the ferocity of storms off the Cape of Good Hope, details of the legend, and even went so far as to allude to Wagner's opera ("I could tell he was a folksinger, because he talked for ten minutes and then sang for three"). I got so caught up in my own mellifluous verbiage that when I finally got around to singing the song, I played my guitar intro, then sat there with my mouth open. Nothing would come out. I had completely blanked out on the words. Fortunately, here too, the audience saw the humor in it, and I didn't get lynched.

I guess the moral of the story is, if we aren't paying attention, why should anyone else?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Jan 01 - 03:00 PM

Great stories, Don!

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Deckman
Date: 18 Jan 01 - 12:45 AM

Don's story reminds me of the time my thoughts left my mind while I was performing a duet. I was supposed to sing a solo verse, which I did, but my mind followed the harmony melody (very boring) while my mouth followed the solo words. Everyone, including my singing partner, just stared at me! It's moments like those that make you a 'seasoned performer.' CHEERS, Bob Nelson

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: sophocleese
Date: 18 Jan 01 - 08:17 AM

There was the performance I found out how easily one person can screw up a whole section of a choir. I was one of the second choir sopranos (a piece written for two choirs) and we were in the middle of a lovely section where the two soprano sections repeat, with slight variations, the same phrase just sung by the tenors. The tenors were singing well and I lost my concentration and sang back what they had sung without modulation. I hit a clanger of a wrong note, those around followed me and the conductor was suddenly staring at us with a frantic "What the hell was that?" look. I concentrated fiercely for the rest of the piece. We had been doing so well too.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Mrrzy
Date: 18 Jan 01 - 09:35 AM

I also find that if 2 songs have similar phrases, I might "go off" into song 2 by mistake after the phrase, and not be able to find my way back to song 1...

About automation: I've been trying for years now to memorize Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts; I find that if I concentrate on the story line, I can sing it through, but if I relax and just sing, I get lost. My new goal in life is to be able to sing that one without having to think about it!

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: LR Mole
Date: 18 Jan 01 - 01:28 PM

I have lost two lines of a song that I know I HAVE somewhere on vinyl. But if I go there and find it, instead of fishing it out of my brainpan, it will be on another mental shelf and as good as lost when I want to sing it. I can't tell you why this is so, but it is.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Morticia
Date: 18 Jan 01 - 02:02 PM

I sing all the time, it's the equivalent of a little green light that lets you know a piece of equipment is on, for me. Apparently ( and I seldom actually listen to myself so can neither deny or confirm this) I hook one song to another by a word or phrase of music common to both or another song by the same writer or singer. I've been told it's quite clever, but as I do it on auto-pilot, I can't claim any credit.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Linda Kelly
Date: 18 Jan 01 - 05:00 PM

When I lived in London I took the train home and got off the platform completely oblivious to where I was-happy in my own little world i wend my weary way home-funny I thought -Staines doesn't have a large imposing castle just outside the station gates - I had sailed through my wn staton and got off two stops later!

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Linda Kelly
Date: 18 Jan 01 - 05:02 PM

oops pressed submit absent mindedly -the castle was Windsor the Queen was in but I didn't get an invite.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 19 Jan 01 - 06:57 AM

I somethime forget what I am doi

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 19 Jan 01 - 11:32 AM

Dave - that's because the critical brain cell dies in mid..

I very frequently wake up in my office knowing I must have driven to the station caught a train and then a tube to be there but remember none of it. I suppose when you do something every day the brain just edits it out as repetetive garbage... I was probably singing the whole time too.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: jayohjo
Date: 19 Jan 01 - 11:38 AM

With the singing thing - I was once trying to remember the words to a song (long ballady-wotsit-type-thing), sang the entire thing through, all verses, then woke up again and realised I still had no idea what the words were - ah well....

jayohjo XX

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 Jan 01 - 06:30 PM

I'm forever holding conversations with the radio. Fine at home, but when you are on autopilot on the tube.....?

I also sing along in harmonies to whatever is on, but have been known to switch stations mid tune or turning the tape on instead .... James Taylor switching to Mozart - nice trick if you can do it, but not appreciated by those in the same carriage.....

I have trouble if I've learned a song from a tape or CD, if that song is played on the radio, I automatically blank that one and go into the one that is next on my tape/CD.... that's a REAL confusing one!

Then of course, I try to sing them back and its CRS all over again....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 Jan 01 - 01:07 PM

I once fell asleep on the Boston subway and went PAST the end of the line, got off at what I thought was Harvard Square - but it was some strange alien world! It took me a freaky while to get above ground where I might still be lost but at least I was on Earth! And once, when in Hungary for summer camp, I came out of a wine cellar with a bunch of vague acquaintances and suddenly had no idea where I was. So I thought calm down, what city is it? No idea. OK, don't panic, what country? NO IDEA. OK, so who are these people I'm with? NO (&^%(&%$( IDEA!!! I had to run up to Suzy Pék and ask her where I knew her from - and it wasn't till she failed to understand the language I chose that it all came flooding back - whew. I need more wine already.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: GUEST,JohnB
Date: 21 Jan 01 - 12:09 PM

I always know when I have a song deeply inplanted in my head, I hear my wife say "WILL YOU SHUT UP AND GO TO SLEEP". JohnB.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 05:31 AM

"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most."
(Seen on a coffee mug)
RtS (only too true in my case!)

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Michael in Swansea
Date: 22 Jan 01 - 08:55 AM

Well there I was in a local supermarket when a friend from work said "Hello Michael, you're in good voice today". I'd been walking around the shop belting out "General Taylor". Explains the strange looks I was getting.

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 04 Feb 01 - 05:18 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: GUEST,Jo
Date: 04 Feb 01 - 05:24 PM

It's called "unconcious competence" as distinct from "conscious competence". I have problems with this all the time; last year I was working in a total of eight different places (not all at the same time of course). I had to make a conscious effort "Tuesday, so I need to head for...", otherwise I'd find myself halfway to the wrong place.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Spud Murphy
Date: 05 Feb 01 - 01:10 AM

Are you folks all acuainted with the symptoms that accompany the onset of Alzheimers? I can send you enrollment papers for admittance to the Veterans' Home here, if you'd like.

Spud (One of the Home Members)

Subject: RE: BS: Singing Absent-Mindedly
From: Mrrzy
Date: 05 Feb 01 - 11:59 AM

Ah yes, if this is Tuesday, this must be Belgium! What a great movie!