Begs a question
I don't know if this is just me, or perhaps there's a simple answer . . .

Are you aware that when you were a kid, a lot of lyrics were apprently incomprehensible in this way, and that something has changed?

What I mean is - take Bohemian rhapsody as an example - when I was 7 or 8, when it came out, I was the same. I had no idea what half the words were, and would have come up with just as mad a version as you did.

Nowadays, I can clearly hear what they're saying.

What made tha difference? Is it;

a. I'm older, have a wider vocabulary?
b. I now have an Ipod with a £150 set of headphones, and can download clean digital MP3's of all these old songs, whereas in the 70's it was AM radio, or maybe Mum and dads crappy stereo at home?
c. Something else?

This applies to dozens of songs.

Sorry for the waffle, but I've often wondered this, and it seemed an appropriate time to ask.
(username failed moderation, Thu 19 Jan 2012, 9:08, 3 replies)

You might be on to something there...
My folks used to have a properly shite hifi, so sound quality must have been a factor...and I'd too like to think that my vocab has picked up a bit since then.

Nowadays of course, with all these great advancements in recording equipment technology, new music is generally much clearer on the ears - it's just a shame that most of it is unadulterated pap.
( Pooflake braces for an onslaught..., Thu 19 Jan 2012, 9:15, closed)

Yes I think you're right.
My dad used to have a really handsome, very 60s gramophone unit with valve speakers which took a few minutes to warm up. It doubled as a sideboard; each side was a speaker, and the cabinet inside contained the record deck. He loves his tunes, and every weekend would crank it with whatever took his fancy.

As a child I was always very impressed with it, but when in my late teens when I bought my first sensible stereo separates system, disappointed to learn that my average amp and little Warfdale speakers would blow the absolute shit out of the bloody great clod-hoppers that his had.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Thu 19 Jan 2012, 12:19, closed)

You listen differently when you're older.
As a kid the whole thing is a single sensation- so the lyrics are more a part of the general noise. You later learn to differentiate and treat the lyric as more important.
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Thu 19 Jan 2012, 12:34, closed)

I'm not sure it's just down to sound quality, although it obviously helps
I think that over time you learn the lyrics of all the old songs from loads of sources eg lyrics sheets, conversations with friends, context in movies and the like.
It still takes me quite a few listens to new songs to work it out.
( P-MONKE We're all fucked, Thu 19 Jan 2012, 14:21, closed)