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FtttG  Gheobhaidh mé bás ar an gcnoc seo.  3d ago (docs.google.com)   Edited 2hr ago   1679 thread views

The Motte infidelity survey

docs.google.com

UPDATE: My analysis available here.

In yesterday's small-scale questions thread, @cjet79 asks why the song "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers has had such staying power, famously staying in the UK singles charts decades after its initial release. Some explanations (including my own) point to its compositional elements; others focus on its lyrics and subject matter. @100ProofTollBooth argues that it's a very universal and relatable song, as "The experience of infidelity (to some degree) is common to many (most? idk) people."

I'm curious if this is really the case, so I decided to go Aella mode and created a simple survey to find out about people's experiences with infidelity. It consists of a few demographic questions (age, sex, sexual orientation, relationship style), then asks you if you've ever had an unfaithful partner, then asks you if you've ever been unfaithful to a partner.

Completely anonymous, and I've set it up so the form doesn't collect email addresses if you're logged in.

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Are people really listening to lyrics of songs that much? I mostly don't, regardless of what language they're in, even if I'm the one singing. I'm listening to the music.

Lyrics are often borderline incoherent and made to fit the music, not the other way around.

Are you an ESL? I've had similar issues with songs in English where it's hard for me to understand the lyrics unlike with my mother tongue.

But otherwise it varies on the song and the type of music. Some lyrics are really good, others are incoherent(and that's a good thing), others still can be bad, but still work really because the singer's voice carries the song. Defenestration Song by Have a Nice Life is a good example of great lyrics and the singer's voice elevate a song to a level it could never reach without them. Another example is Coil's live session version of Triple Sons and the One You Bury. But the latter is probably too experimental.

I prefer instrumental music overall though.

I am but the language doesn't matter and I have no trouble understanding the lyrics. I generally don't think about the lyrics in Swedish either.

At most I think about individual phrases in a song and how they work together with music.

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