Singing while walking down the street

Subject: BS: Singing while walking down the street
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 28 May 09 - 12:57 AM

It occurred to me this morning, for the first time ever, that other people do not sing to themselves out loud while walking down the street or the beach, across the parking lot or in the grocery store. They do it in movies but that is supposed to be fantasy.

I've done this all my life but, being rather oblivious, it just never occurred to me that it might be strange. Even when a supervisor at work told me my co-workers might find it peculiar that I walked around the office doing so. I knew they did not mind and that SHE was the one who was a problem.

I do try to do it softly when others are nearby. Got caught Sunday night singing Tula as I walked back to the car after dancing at Folklife - a sweet compliment from the only other person on the street. And let loose on Saturday afternoon as I danced into the post office singing, "Linda, I owe you a song....", came back out, jumped over the bumper strip, clicked my heels and jumped back into the car to hear the rest. This is Whidbey - anything goes, almost. Oh, yeah, I often dance rather than just walk like "normal" people.

So having finally realized that I have only ever encountered one other person and that was in his home, I'm just curious. Is it only me?

Subject: RE: BS: Singing while walking down the street
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 May 09 - 01:01 AM

You will hear this often around here: "We had a thread about that once, a ways back." No, really we did, only it was more of a lament about how people just don't break out into song any more.

My grandson and I sing every day...quite often it is songs we make up on the spot and it is a blast!

Subject: RE: BS: Singing while walking down the street
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 28 May 09 - 02:05 AM

I frequently sing whilst walking along the street or sitting at my desk at work, or on the bus, or in the car - and quite often I don't have the radio on or my earphones in!

(I have been known to skip down the street, but that was Ralphie's fault and it only happens occasionally).

I used to sing whilst cycling to work (many many years ago, when a) I could still cycle without falling over and b) I lived in Dorset). I had a week off and the local postman (big rural route) asked if I was alright. On further enquiry, he said he'd been asked by someone on my route to work if he'd seen me on the road at all and that they missed the 'singing cyclist'!

I try to sing under my breath but it doesn't always work.. especially in the car. It's a good indicator of my mental health - if I'm singing along, I'm "happy". When I stop singing, it's time to break out the prozac. The 3 weeks we were in New Zealand, I hardly sang at all; mainly because the local radio there has a play list of 8 records, 2 of which are 'Hotel California' (Bill Bryson, you are SOOO right!) and because I was just too unhappy. Now I'm getting back into routine here, it's sunny, I've cleared the garden, got lots of sewing to get on with and I'm back singing!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Singing while walking down the street
From: Tangledwood
Date: 28 May 09 - 03:51 AM

A singing tutor friend of mine says that is great to sing while walking through the city. Not only does it strengthen your breathing, it ensures that your part of the pavement never gets crowded.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing while walking down the street
From: gnomad
Date: 28 May 09 - 04:35 AM

I've done it, though it isn't a habit so much as a practising thing. I certainly sing when driving (I almost never have passengers) as UK radio seldom has any music I want to hear, and the speech station can get a bit heavy.

Tangledwood's post made me giggle and recall walking through Leeds a few years ago with the crowd of other office drudges when a tall, gangly, bloke in red velvet appeared and started turning a succession of cartwheels downhill against the flow of suits: he got LOTS of space, but he had a big grin, and even caused a few little ones.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing while walking down the street
From: MartinRyan
Date: 28 May 09 - 05:33 AM

Some years ago, while still in gainful employment as a college lecturer, I was appointed to a senior management post. It took about two years for me to realise it was a bad mistake - and another two to extract myself from the situation. Anyway... I was about six months in the job when a student remarked to me "You know, Martin, you don't sing in the corridor anymore!"! I was never conscious of so doing - and utterly oblivious of the fact that I'd stopped. If I'd read the symptoms as early as the student had, I might have saved myself some trouble....

Regards

Subject: RE: BS: Singing while walking down the street
From: Leadfingers
Date: 28 May 09 - 06:52 AM

Its as good a way as any of 'refreshing' the lyrics of a song - New OR old - Especially if you intend singing it that night .
Not so easy to practice the chord run and group arrangement though .

Subject: RE: BS: Singing while walking down the street
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 28 May 09 - 07:23 AM

Dorothy, you are among friends! Of course I sing while walking down the street!

I've just acquired a Subaru wagon, having come to accept that the Honda's clearance is too low for our new 1200-ft dirt driveway. I can't wait to put my favorite bumper sticker on it:
Caution: Driver Singing!

Allison

Subject: RE: BS: Singing while walking down the street
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 28 May 09 - 07:38 AM

Is it just me, or did there used to be more people singing as they worked?

There seemed to be a thing connecting the British workman and the "pub style" singing, usually in unconnected phrases of a song, perhaps two verses from one and a couple from another, repeated throughout the day.

My theory is that the advent of the cheap radio that workmen bring with them has been killing it.

And whistling!!

Our milkman always used to whistle, and at 5 o' clock in the morning!

The "Just William" books refer to his ear-splitting whistle, with people closing their windows streets away and when I read them as a lad it didn't seem unusual. When did you last hear a young lad whistling a tune?

Subject: RE: BS: Singing while walking down the street
From: jacqui.c
Date: 28 May 09 - 08:42 AM

I sing whilst walking the dog on the beach. That gives me time to learn the words of a song and to increase breath control. Luckily I can usually get to the beach when it is almost deserted so no funny looks from other people.

Around here I don't walk down the street a lot - no pavements. I sing in the car and around the house, I've usually got a song going round in my head at all times and it can just break out into the air.

I know when I'm a bit down- I don't feel like singing then.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing while walking down the street
From: Alice
Date: 28 May 09 - 09:26 AM

This should be up in the music threads, not BS.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing while walking down the street
From: Bill D
Date: 28 May 09 - 09:26 AM

My wife, Ferrara, whose father was from Italy, says that when she visited there, it was quite common to hear people singing as they walked or worked. Different cultures.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing while walking down the street
From: Amos
Date: 28 May 09 - 10:01 AM

I started singing Tarpaulin Jacket in the office yesterday; the accounts girl was pleasantly surprised and thought it was "kewl"...



A

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Alice
Date: 28 May 09 - 10:51 AM

I think I wrote about this years ago in a past thread, but one of the things I noticed while living and traveling in Mexico and Central America was how often I would hear people singing and whistling while they worked or just walking down the street.

When I've had jobs where I could sing while working, I did. It's not always something you can do without disturbing other workers.

Alice

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 May 09 - 10:57 AM

I do on the street (where I get strange looks) and in the office (where they beg me to stop - Cretins)

Subject: RE: BS: Singing while walking down the street
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 28 May 09 - 11:01 AM

Wow, what nice stuff to wake up to!
I have no luck finding old threads; I did think before hitting BS but life is about choices.
Not singing when not happy - It sure is an indicator. I lost it during the four years after I was environmentally poisoned ('99) and before I de-toxed to recover. Noticed only when it started to come back but it only really came back in Feb when I rediscovered old friends and started listening to music again. Feeling happier = singing more.

Have also noted "theme songs". Living in Edmonton, Alberta, I kept singing, "I wanta go home" and others on that theme. Tired of moving: "Nail your shoes to the kitchen floor..."

Though, often as not, if someone asks, "What was that song?" I look blank and have no idea what I was just singing. When I segued from a friend's rock song to Let It Be, that stopped me in my tracks. (In the middle of a parking lot - but this is Whidbey)

Allison - how 'bout a bumper sticker: Caution Driver NOT Singing." I'm sure that happier drivers are better. But yours might get others singing!   

Jacqui: Hope you get out on that beach and SING!

Reading The Horse Boy yesterday. In the night, a lone horseman went by the camp singing and the Mongolian guide sang back to him - assurance in the night! The next day, the driver sang as they travelled.

So, maybe we could all sing more and a little louder. Isn't there an old song about getting the whole world to sing? It causes us to breathe better and feel better; it could improve the world. Singing people are happier people - and they seem to make others happier also.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Kampervan
Date: 28 May 09 - 11:12 AM

I think that the idea of spontaneously singing as you walk along the street or down a corridor at work is fantastic and I might try it, but... what would it sound like if everyone did it?

Could be worse than the traffic!!!

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Ebbie
Date: 28 May 09 - 11:14 AM

'We're bankers and hippies and government workers here
We're fishers and teachers and pilots of water and air
And great artists and writers, we all make this our home
In the whistlingest, huggingest, happiest town I've known!'

Of course I whistle and sing in Juneau, Alaska.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Cool Beans
Date: 28 May 09 - 11:51 AM

I do it, but more often I talk to myself as I walk down the street. Since the advent of cell phones nobody looks at me as if I'm crazy.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: ClaireBear
Date: 28 May 09 - 11:57 AM

When I was young I seized any opportunity to sing, and I expecially loved to sing whenever I walked (which I did a lot; I think much of my childhood was spent walking the backroads of Santa Clara County). I think when I was a child I used to fantasize about being "discovered" that way. Possible, if only I'd grown up in a place where there was a music biz...

I sing rather loudly, by the way; the lower register notes come out better that way. I usually lowered the volume when I passed a fellow traveler, but not always.

I haven't sung so much lately while walking, because I'm usually trudging somewhere with my son who'd rather play pretending games, and I don't want him to come to hate it when Mama starts singing. But when I'm alone in the car, I sing constantly -- and sometimes even when Martin is along. Once he's through the pretending phase, we'll start doing walking chanteys. I can't wait to teach him harmony.

Claire

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 May 09 - 12:01 PM

I sometimes sing softly and I'm not even aware I'm doing it. Recently I was wandering around an Office Depot, looking at various desks and chairs. A man smiled sweetly at me, and I realized I can been singing an old love song.

It was a nice moment.

In the days when I played a radio during housework, I could be singing along with it and not even be conscious that I was singing for quite a while.

However, it's been a long time since there was anything on radio that I could stand to have on in the house.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 May 09 - 12:01 PM

Dorothy, that looks like a good book. Have you seen the movie?

The other day, my Morgan stopped in the middle of the aisle in a drugstore and started dancing and singing to some pop song they had playing. We had so much fun and he made a lot of folks giggle.

Dorothy, I didn't mean to offend you in any way about previous threads...just a gentle tease. I know how hard it can be to find old threads, even for those of us who have been around here awhile. That said, the OLD THREAD takes a slightly different path and has some interesting things to read, as well.:-)

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: GUEST,Kendall
Date: 28 May 09 - 12:03 PM

I have to clarify what Jacqui said. In America, pavement means any way that is paved. What she means is, we have no sidewalk.The road on which we live is paved.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 28 May 09 - 12:09 PM

I sing in the car, I whistle in public. Usually fiddle tunes.

I also have long involved conversations with myself in both situations.

Russ (Permanent GUEST)

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 28 May 09 - 12:44 PM

A small confession ... right, here goes ... I sang to a rabbit today.

I was photographing sedges, speedwells and mouse-ear hawkweed - in one of my favourite spots - when I noticed that a wild rabbit was just a few yards away. So I sang to it - it didn't seem to mind and carried on grazing. Unfortunately, some pollen must have got up my nose because I just had to sneeze - then the rabbit moved a bit further away. I chatted to it for a while but then I had to stand up because my leg had gone to sleep - and the bunny hopped off.

Does this mean that I've gone completely mad now?

The thought of Katlaughing and her grandson singing together made me smile. I love to hear children singing - they are often completely unselfconcious about it.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: jacqui.c
Date: 28 May 09 - 12:51 PM

Too true Shimrod.

I was in a charity (thrift) shop one day with my grandson, then aged about three.

He had checked out the toys and was sitting in his push chair while I looked at books. all if a sudden a very loud and clear voice was heard throughout the shop, singing "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream" on key and in pitch. There were grins from everyone in the shop. Now he's almost nine, sings to himself all the time but won't sing in public. Maybe one day.....

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 28 May 09 - 12:54 PM

Did it all the time wwith my kids when they were little. When we were al abpit 6 it was fine, as they grew older than 6, what was fun now becamr embarraament. If I sing now, even in the car, there;s complaints. Used to dance along the street with them too. Still 6, but have to be on my own to get away with it.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 28 May 09 - 01:01 PM

Yeah, I do that...whilst walking along, in the supermarket or any shop, in the post office queue, or any old place. I've been known to whistle, too.

The missus is generally embarrassed by it, and I suppose she has good reason! But who cares what she thinks?

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: sharyn
Date: 28 May 09 - 01:09 PM

I used to sing on the street all the time. This thread called my attention to the fact that I haven't been singing as I walk lately, I do sing at my fairly isolated bus stop while waiting for the bus sometimes.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 28 May 09 - 02:20 PM

My daughters and I sang together all the time, while out doing shopping or at theme parks, wherever. Strangers used to take pictures of Andie, sure she would be famous someday, probably because she would make eye contact, smile and engage passersby.

I sing with TheSilentOne in the car and while we walk in parks, gardens, ruins etc. We sang together walking to and from the Good Intent pub in Rochester this last Sweeps festival.

I learned not to sing at work when I was an editor, because it disturbed colleagues too much.

My mom used to sing when she was fishing. Both sea fishing on public boat or sitting on Aunt Dot's pier on the Chickahominy River. Lovely hearing her voice carrying over the water on a misty morning. She always caught the most fish with least effort and poorest bait and equipment.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Cool Beans
Date: 28 May 09 - 02:31 PM

Doo wah diddy diddy dom diddy doo.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: TonyA
Date: 28 May 09 - 02:40 PM

It must be a mudcat trait. I, too, have never seen anyone else do it, though I myself always sing when walking, bicycling, etc., and also when driving or working unless there's music playing (in which case I'm usually singing along rather than just singing). I even sing in the supermarket, in spite of the anti-music on the PA system.

I sometimes get a negative response to it, usually just a tense question about whether I sing all the time or whether I'm aware that I'm singing. A few weeks ago someone gave me dirty looks to show my singing was disturbing her cel-phone conversation! How's that for irony?

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 28 May 09 - 02:43 PM

In '55 a professor told me he saw me walking down the street talking to myself; oblivious to the idea that this was strange, I asked him what I was talking about. He did not know.
Nice to know cell phones have another use!
kat: No offense taken re "old threads"
   Book is moderately interesting. I will not go to the movie.
Radio: not turned on in years - except to try to hear an interview on Internet. I want to hear what I want to hear.
Whistling is another of my failings: "Whistling girls and cackling hens always come to bad ends" I was told at 18. Well, reckon that was not true either.
I had a black lab who was so sweet, I would sing to him: "A" you're adorable, etc... He would wriggle with delight! Why not the rabbit? I read a news report where a hiker, separated from her group, met a mountain lion on the trail. She sang to it and got past safely.
Sharyn: SING more!
Children singing! At a conference, the kids first, then all ages walked around singing: "I'm unique and irreplaceable (x3) GEE, it's good to be ME!" Fun week!

And if everyone did it????? Maybe it would be a happier world. Maybe we could drown out the traffic noise even. Or just not notice it? Of course, singing different songs in the same house could be interesting, at best.

So, if we are demented, crazy or.... There are enough of us to create a "norm", yes? I intend to sing at least as much with, perhaps, a little less concern about being heard.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: ClaireBear
Date: 28 May 09 - 02:45 PM

I remember once in high school gym class, I was getting dressed in the locker room and singing as usual. A girl with whom I had truly never exchanged a word turned to me and said, in a soft, friendly voice, "Is it true that you're graduating early?"

"Yes," I answered, pleased that she cared enough to ask.

"GOOD!" she shouted.

Honestly it's a wonder my voice survived high school.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 28 May 09 - 03:01 PM

Absolutely!

Ask my kids : )

Dani

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Tangledwood
Date: 28 May 09 - 05:39 PM

Also from my tutor friend - lip trills are a good warm up technique. It's great to sit waiting at traffic lights going "Brrrrrrrrrr" and watch other drivers' reactions. LOL

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: TonyA
Date: 28 May 09 - 05:47 PM

quote: ....a hiker, separated from her group, met a mountain lion on the trail. She sang to it and got past safely.

I'm continually amazed at how much other creatures respond to our music. Only domesticated animals pay any attention to our speaking voices, except to run away in fear. But birds often approach and join in when I sit outside and sing, and a forest full of cicadas once stopped chirping when they heard me trying to accompany them on a wooden tongue drum, and then came back in thundering force following my rhythm.

Claire, that's a wonderful mean-girl story. Another thing that always amazes me is how little the creatures of our own species respond to our music.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Artful Codger
Date: 28 May 09 - 06:08 PM

I sing, hum or whistle frequently throughout the day; my brothers do, too (though our parents don't). I absolutely belt in the shower. I've almost always got a song going through my head. I even wake up remembering not only the tail end of a dream but some background music to it—sometimes it's music I've spontaneously made up!

I've been increasingly inclined recently not to stop humming or singing as I pass someone in public, but rather just to attenuate the volume. Since they've probably heard me as they approach, I rationalize that not stopping makes us both feel slightly less like strangers/intruders.

Though I must admit that I'd rather not hear most other people sing on the streets. The average taste in music is dreadful--we're inflicted with it enough--and my dog can carry a tune better than some folks I've heard.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: jeddy
Date: 28 May 09 - 06:48 PM

i too sing whilst walking,driving and shopping in the supermarket. most people smile others ignore me but my favourite is when they think i am nuts.

i also talk to my dog when walking and anyone who has a dog knows that they talk back to us. so between the dog and singing or whistling i thought i was a bit of a nutter....until i came here and found sanity, thanks guys

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 28 May 09 - 08:31 PM

When I used to break into song at work, people used to say 'you're happy about something' in a voice that sugested bith disbelief and accusation,. as if it was disloyal to actually enjoy work and life. My favoutite, on entering a room was' Good, Morning. Good morning to you.'

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Alice
Date: 28 May 09 - 10:01 PM

I can't wash dishes without singing.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Crowhugger
Date: 28 May 09 - 10:13 PM

I sing while walking, driving, sitting, but not constantly. Intermittently I guess, often made-up stuff based on what I'm doing or on whatever's running through my head. I do try to keep the volume on the quiet side when in stores or other close quarters. Sometimes I sing whole pre-existing songs, not just made-ups.

~CH~

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Janie
Date: 28 May 09 - 10:13 PM

For years I would sing or hum as a worked at my desk or walked along the corridors at work. No one seemed to mind, and I wasn't intrusive with it.   I no longer work in an environment where I can do that unself-consciously. Hubby got the dog in the divorce, but before that, I did some of my best singing during the late night 3 mile walk I took with our dog every night through the residential streets of the little town in which I lived.

Silly story that I might have told on myself before.

I used to drive an old Chevette without a radio or cassette player.   Driving home to West Virginia to visit the parents one weekend, I was getting increasingly irritated by a car that kept passing me on the interstate highway, pull over in front of me, and then gradually slow down until I passed it again.

At some point on the 6 hour drive, I realized I was the culprit. I was singing my way home. On the slow tunes, I was slowing down to as low as 45 mph. On faster tunes, I was speeding up to as fast as 75mph.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 May 09 - 10:24 PM

I have a friend who's like you, Janie. Once I was in a caravan of friends driving cars from Arizona to Missouri. In the Rockies around Denver, my friend would speed and slow down for no apparent reason. It turned out she classical music on and was going allegro or andante without realizing it.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 May 09 - 02:06 AM

Yeah, I sing while I'm walking down the street, and in the supermarket. I live in a small town and I'm fairly well-known. I think most people say to themselves, "Oh, it's just Joe." Sometimes I get a smile or a nice comment - never anything negative.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Tangledwood
Date: 29 May 09 - 07:02 PM

At some point on the 6 hour drive, I realized I was the culprit. I was singing my way home. On the slow tunes, I was slowing down to as low as 45 mph. On faster tunes, I was speeding up to as fast as 75mph.

How interesting Janie. Until now I had never realised the cruise control's importance in learning tempo.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Gorgeous Gary
Date: 29 May 09 - 07:14 PM

I have a friend who works in San Francisco and sings while walking around downtown (to and from the BART and lunch). Frequently it's songs she is in the middle of composing, or trying to learn.

I know on a couple of occasions she's been tapped on the shoulder by a pedestrian who had wound up following her for several blocks just to see how the song was going to turn out!

-- Gary

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Artful Codger
Date: 29 May 09 - 07:22 PM

Sounds like a time to hold out the hat.

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 29 May 09 - 08:27 PM

Now that, Gary, is marvelous! Let that be a lesson - Sing out!

Subject: RE: Singing while walking down the street
From: GUEST,Ana
Date: 30 May 09 - 12:27 AM

Lifts are a really got place for a sneaky blast - you need to keep half an ear on the motor though, because the doors can unexpectedly open. People can be so scared of the unexpected.