Now Hear This

Sometimes when I'm driving along and a song comes on the radio that I've heard a million times over - so much so that it's not even music but just white noise - I'll try to hear it as if I was hearing it for the first time. It's basically impossible to do, and probably isn't safe while driving, since you have to pretty much focus all of your attention on every minor nuance in the song, but it's thrilling when it works. It usually involves just turning up the song really loud so that you can experience it in a way that maybe you haven't before. I mean when was the last time you listened to a great Beatles song really loud? Be sure to do it with a song that was good in the first place, because the reaction to hearing a Phil Collins song 500 millions times is the same as hearing it for the first time - sort of uneventful. But when you're listening to say, Come Together by the Beatles, and you not only try to hear it with fresh ears, but try placing yourself in the time when it was released and the results are pretty spectacular (especially since Come Together still sounds SO FUCKING GOOD today).

What does this have to do with fatherhood? I'm jealous of the fact that my son has yet to hear any songs. Not one. He hasn't heard Fly Like an Eagle so many times that it's nauseating. He won't automatically think of a Cadillac ad the first time he hears Zeppelin's Rock and Roll and Roger Daltry's gutteral scream in the middle of Won't Get Fooled Again will make him want to run out and change the world rather than think of the opening credits to CSI. Every track ever recorded, all of the iTunes store is just sitting there waiting for him. One Big Exciting Opportunity. I can't wait.