Listen Closely and You Will Hear - improving communication with teenagers through understanding of popular music lyrics - Brief Article

Parks & Recreation, July, 2001 by Michael R. Corwin

Listening and understanding music lyrics will open doors to reaching teenagers

Hanging By A Moment(*)

   Desperate for changing
   Starving for truth
   I'm closer to where I started
   Chasing after you

   I'm falling even more in love with you
   Letting go of all I've held onto
   I'm standing here until you make me move
   I'm hanging by a moment here with you

   Forgetting all I'm lacking
   Completely incomplete
   I'll take your invitation
   You take all of me

   Now I'm falling even more in love with you
   Letting go of all I've held onto
   I'm standing here until you make me move
   I'm hanging by a moment here with you

   I'm living for the only thing I know
   I'm running and not quite sure where to go
   And I don't know what I'm diving into
   Just hanging by a moment here with you

   There's nothing else to lose
   There is nothing else to find
   There is nothing in the world that could
   change my mind

   There is nothing else

(*) Lyrics and music by the band Lifehouse from the album No Name Face released October 31, 2000

"Will you please turn that garbage down?" "How can you listen to that junk?" "In my day, we had real music not this noise."

Sound familiar? These are the types of comments that teenagers hear all the time from their parents and the "older generation." But a good archeologist knows there's always another world to explore if you dig a little deeper. And it's time that you used some of this archeological discipline and look a little closer at the music teens are listening to today.

How many teens like opera? Almost none I'm sure. But you know as an adult that opera tells a story, usually one of overcoming tragedy, and that its messages and meanings are clear regardless of the era that it is heard. Such operas as La Boheme, Carmen, and Don Giovanni are classics and all of us at any age could learn from them.

So, why can't you take the time to explore, listen and appreciate the music that teenagers listen to today?

You will find all kinds of themes across their musical spectrum, but mostly you will find that there is a need to belong, to find one's self and a place in the world. Teenager's day-to-day lives are often filled with uncertainty and self-doubt. Who of us can honestly say that our junior high and high school years were all positive experiences? If you take the time to read the lyrics to the songs teens listen to you might see they actually are saying something. You can find these lyrics easily on the Internet by using almost any online search engine. Often you will also find message boards of postings where teens interpret what songs mean to them.

"Hanging By A Moment" is a popular song today by the rock group Lifehouse and the lyrics tell a story of vulnerability, of putting it "all on the line" for someone's love. But I could have picked any song of the day. Don't we all, to some degree, worry about acceptance from those we admire or love? Of course we do, but with age one gains perspective and realizes that life will have it's ups and downs and if things don't go well, a new day can bring better fortune. But for teenagers, this lack of perspective can sometimes cause them to act in very unpredictable ways, causing harm to themselves or others.

Take a few minutes and listen and explore the lyrics of today's popular music. You might just break down the barriers to communicating with teenagers and gain an understanding of what it's like to be a teen today. You might even reach a troubled teen and save a life.