Mixed poll

[mrissa]

In this poll, "I" is you, the poll-taker, not a guess at what you think is true of mrissa.

The early questions in this poll were inspired by a locked entry one of you posted. Please note that you don't have to have good answers to all of the options in the first question if it doesn't bother you not to.

A "zipper song" is one where you can fill in a nearly infinite number of words into a spot and have different verses. The one Pete Seeger teaches on one of his albums with Arlo Guthrie is "Raggedy Raggedy," where you can change "raggedy" to "homeless" and a million other things.

Also remember, as always, that you can submit lj poll answers without answering all the questions. So if you don't want to talk about purpose in life but are perfectly happy telling me you are an incurable whistler, go for it. The two halves of this poll are not particularly connected. They just occurred to me at roughly the same time.


[Poll #973949]

Comments

[sensational.livejournal.com]

Really, I used to always have music playing at home (my iTunes list), but these days I don't 'cause 1) M. isn't interested in that and 2) I don't live in a tiny apartment where my computer will supply music to the whole thing, so it's not as easy. So these days it's mostly silence, the television, and songs sung to the kitties at home... kitty songs can be known songs with kittified lyrics or pretty tuneless songs about kitty kitty kitty butts.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

The question of "what am I going to do in the next X ?" very rarely gives me trouble for internal reasons, and then it's only very short-term and when I'm in odd unsettled moods. If it's going to bother me it will be because some external thing beyond my control is preventing me from being able to fix plans.

Your song poll has no option for "I sing the lyrics of songs to the tunes of different songs to see whether they fit, and I have just earwormed myself with 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' to the tune of the Dambusters March again."

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Oh, we are terrible about that around here. Yes.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

You know you can just about make "Sweet Transvestite" go to "59th Steet Bridge Song" too.

To the tune of....

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

The William Blake poem which begins "Tyger, Tyger, burning bright" goes to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

I have only heard "Satisfaction" to the tune of "John Brown's Body."

At least some of Emily Dickenson's poetry scans to the tune of "Oh, Susannah!"

Re: To the tune of....

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

The Emily Dickinson example I know is "The Yellow Rose of Texas."

Actually this factoid featured prominently in the weekend markgritter and I got married. At least a quarter of the wedding party was humming, "Because I could not wait for death he kindly stopped for meeeeeee!" under their breath half the morning.

Re: To the tune of....

[aimeempayne.livejournal.com]

Hee hee! I remember that from my high school English classes.

Re: To the tune of....

[brooksmoses]

Why do they burst out like that? It irritates me. They've ruined the ending, one of the lovliest parts in the whole piece!

Re: To the tune of....

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

The ones of those I really like are "Jerusalem" to "Yellow Submarine" and expanding congruent sets; anything that goes to "Clementine" also goes to "Mack the Knife" and the Ode to Joy, and anything that goes to "Ghost Riders in the Sky" also goes to "House of the Rising Sun".

Re: To the tune of....

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you so much. Sigh.

*goes to scrub brain futilely*

Re: To the tune of....

[brooksmoses]

A significant bit of "What a Wonderful World" is the same tune as "Twinkle, Twinkle". That's good for some brain-sticking, right there.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

I do sometimes play CDs locally (well, ripped MP3s from my CDs). Not nearly often enough for the way the question is phrased.

I don't ever, and have never, listened to music radio regularly.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Computer playlists somehow don't count?

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

I do it rarely enough that "in normal circumstances" I'm not playing music. But I do play music many hours in most months; just more like 10 hours a week than 40 or 60. And it varies, as I think I mentioned in email I haven't played *any* music since returning from the last California trip.

[callunav.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me too. For me, possibly 10 hours in a month. But it's still something.

[rosefox]

For the first question, none of those questions bothers me in the least because when I ask them of myself I'm perfectly fine answering them with either "dunno, check the calendar" or "eh, whatever I feel like". If they're being asked by someone who wants some other sort of answer, the last one gets sort of problematic, but that's a very uncommon situation.

Also, what music I sing or put on, or whether I sing or put music on at all, depends very strongly on what's stuck in my head, and varies directly with my energy levels. When I'm on the manic end of the spectrum, the music in my head is loud and must be drowned out if I'm to have any peace at all. When I'm mopy, I occasionally put on music designed to either indulge or exorcise the mood, but most often I just want quiet.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

You didn't have an option for 'I know some songs with all the verses AND know a lot more by just the chorus or well enough to sing along.'

(Which is more true for me than either the first or second option in that set.) :)

[barondave.livejournal.com]

My standard background is silence; if you will, ambient noise. I'm generally lousy with remembering lyrics and such, but have a good general memory and the researchers mindset in being able to find the song in my collection/on the net. When alone, I either deliberately listen to music (that is, listen and nothing else/enter comments in a database) or practice making odd sounds/rehearsing upcoming speaking parts. None of these were easy to pick from on your poll, so I ticked a lot of tickyboxes amid the closest entry.

I tend to skew polls like these. I suspect many of your friends do likewise, at different metrics.

[grndexter.livejournal.com]

I'm with Dave on the silence. When I'm working on writing, I sometimes like "mood" music (like minor keys if it's a heavy passage, and mindless background stuff when it's flowing well.

And yes, believe it or not, I sometimes find myself singing the first verse of the Star Spangled Banner. Why? Dunno except I've been doing it ever since I learned that so few people have the range to hit that high note and I am apparently one of them. (I have a fairly deep singing voice, so it's not so high for me. Think Brook Benton or The Temptations doing "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" I probably have a tin ear too. ;-D)

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

ok, so I only sing when a) there's no one to hear _who would not chime in_ OR b) there's someone around who is of the character who might chime in or start up a new song for joint singing once I'm done, if they don't know the one I'm on.

there's no music player on teh main floor of our house, or I think I would have music on a lot more often. Sometimes I start up music on my laptop, but the sound isn't that nice.

[reveritas.livejournal.com]

i really like the first question. what a thing to think about! "what am i going to do today" has never given me a bit of trouble, but "what am i doing with my life" and "what am i going to be doing in 10 years" tie me up everytime.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

See, I am one of those rare people for whom a life's purpose seems to have been factory-installed. I am here to tell stories and love people, and I know this all the way deep down. I suspect it is easier to be me than to be most other people because of this -- because I sometimes get tripped up with what am I going to do this month, but what I'm doing with my life -- why I'm doing any of the rest of it -- is always there.

I do, however, get tripped up with what I'm going to do this week, this month, or sometimes this year.

[profrobert.livejournal.com]

I suspect you're also here to be loved since you have so much of that, too.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

That's a tough one. Often doing a good job of being loving makes one lovable, but not always. Direct steps towards being loved independent of the other two central purposes...I'm not sure that's a core purpose. But it might be that I'm underestimating here.

[profrobert.livejournal.com]

Ah, see, I think you are conflating "purpose" with "direction," which given you to the extent I know you is not surprising. I think you think that if something is your "purpose," then it should be the subject of direct action, e.g., telling stories and loving others. But I respectfully disagree. One's purpose can relate to being the object of other's actions, not just being the subject of one's own. The simplest example I can think of is a child who doesn't need to do anything (or, at least, shouldn't need to do anything, but that's another rant) to be loved by his/her parent. The child's purpose is simply to be loved. You're obviously no longer a child, but you are surrounded by so much loving family and friends, it just jumped out at me that it's very likely that one of your purposes in life is to give others someone to love (and you don't have to lift a finger to achieve it!).

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Ah. External purpose, sure. But -- I don't mean "in order to be loved by my parents," because that was never the case -- I didn't have a time period of purposelessness or a-directionality. As far back as I can remember -- my earliest memory is of when I was 15 months -- I was an extremely purposeful little person. And it settled in on this particular pair of purposes/directions very, very, very early.

It's not that "what other people want of me" is not relevant, but it's not the same.

[grndexter.livejournal.com]

I do my utmost to practice the injunction to "take no thought for tomorrow" - as long as I have a nice cash reserve in the bank.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Me, as well. I would not be surprised (disappointed, yes) if I die sometime in my 90s still never having figured out what I want to do with my life.

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

The singing part was the hard part to answer actually. When I'm home alone or with Jordin we're likely to have blessed silence only. I sing in my car. I love singing along at the top of my lungs to golden oldies. Because I know the words to them is why.

MKK

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Why can't I have multiple answers in the last section? I need at least three of those choices...

[jry.livejournal.com]

I have never figured out how to make my brain remember lyrics. This is a source of mild consternation because I like to sing and probably would more if I had songs in my head.

[von-krag.livejournal.com]

I too have this quirk. Plus, for the most part I don't care that much for vocals or lyrics. It seems I want the music not the words.

[grndexter.livejournal.com]

You need to move to Chicago. Scatting there IS "singing."

[telophase.livejournal.com]

The noises I make when I'm by myself or in a totally comfortable home situation are:

[X] making random weird noises that often scare the cat.

[callunav.livejournal.com]

Missing answer in question 2: related to people, who are not necessarily defined by their ongoing relationship with me. "The world" is way too...er...global. I do best with people one-on-one. But all kinds of people. Friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues, clients/patients/students, strangers....Just, you know, whoever.

Missing answer in question 5: I know lots of songs all the way through, and even more songs by chorus and 1.5 - 2.5 verses.

I know all but a line and a half of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in Japanese.

In various settings in which singing is a valued activity, I frequently acquire the reputation as The One Who Remembers All the Songs. I don't, of course, I just often enough remember enough more than enough of the people around me to give that impression. Also, those are usually songs I care enough to pay attention to, which does usually lead to retention. And then, a few months later, I discover that while I was innocently singing it to myself in accompaniment to household tasks, I was unwittingly singing entirely new words.

There are a few songs that I have given my solemn oath to myself never to filk. because their inherent dignity deserves better than, well, zippering. I will not, for instance, filk, "No More Auction Block For Me," no matter how easy it would be, although I will sometimes sing it in ironic or irreverent circumstances.

In my previous household, the common occupation was singing to the cats. Any and every song we liked would eventually be rewritten to and/or about the cats. On other occasions, we would improvise in soulful harmony and counterpoint using nothing but the cat's name. I've never actually had a cat appreciate this, particularly, but you never know. I imagine I'll do it to my children, as well, when the time comes.

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

I tend to sing to keep myself focussed when doing stuff, and its usually full operatic arias, but when there's no radio on I prefer silence, or I listen the the soundtrack in my head, which ranges from full symphonies to the latest piece I've been learning to whatever someone else has been singing or whistling (irksome when dad is in full church hymn mood) or various fave songs from Paul Simon or whoever..

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

Goodness, there is no music in my life. I don't remember that music exists a lot of the time-- not that I can cause it to happen, anyway. My family sings, I have been in choir for... years straight (third grade to graduating college, in one form or another), I play instruments, music is around me when I visit my family. But I don't remember that it's there. Too focused or something-- even my car doesn't have any radio stations programmed in because I usually drive in silence.

I usually have songs in my head, though. I'm suggestible as wax and will switch songs according to whatever I'm reading (right now, Callunav's comment above put 'She's Too Fat For Me' in my head). If I'm looking for something, it's "Oh Where is my Hairbrush?" from Veggietales. My brain isn't a CD player or anything, but it's still there.

[questioncurl.livejournal.com]

Yes, this is it exactly for me too. I sing to myself all the time. But it's in silence, in my head.

[seagrit.livejournal.com]

None of the answers seemed to be quite right this time. The question that gives me the most trouble and causes the most annoyance is "where are we going for lunch today?" If the second question were fill in the blank, I would say "challenging". And Jeff and I tend to sing certain parts of conversation, or sing "da de do da" types of thing to amuse the kiddo, or sing songs that her toys sing ("you made a match! look what you found! you made a match, hear a [insert farm animal here] sound. [insert farm animal noise here]").

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Lunch is hard, 'tis true.

[columbina.livejournal.com]

I think that last question should have been multiple choice, at least partially. I know lots of songs AND I know it's best for the health of others if I don't sing, which is why I mostly do my singing where there are no witnesses.

Most of my improvised lyrics of immediate pertinence involve the cat.

[profrobert.livejournal.com]

A metaquestion: What was behind the organization of the poll? Were you intending to link or correlate sense of purpose with musical behaviors? Or was it just two random things that were easier to put in one entry? Just wondering.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

When I said they weren't particularly connected, I meant it.