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Saturday, February 12, 2011

Medicine and Music, Malady and Melody...

It seems fascinating to fathom that a lot of artists have used medical jargons / themes / conditions in their compositions. And these songs have not been washed down the memories; even today young folks could be seen humming these immortal tunes. It can be attributed to the mystical nature of occurrence of human body, mind and things associated with them that such jargons have been used time and again. When Pink Floyd, the giants of rock, gave birth to ‘Take thy stethoscope and walk’, a lot of emotional pools were flooded. The fact that one of the best heard and looked after band used the phrase; it stirred a flurry of feelings and in no time a lot of songs started mentioning medical lingo.

Girl, you have no faith in medicines by The White Stripes, Spinal Meningitis by Ween, Brain Stew by Green Day, The Jack by AC/DC (This song is about a venereal disease - "The Jack" is Australian slang for Gonorrhea), Spasticus Autisticus by Ian Dury and The Blockheads, Why does it hurts when I pee by Frank Zappa created their share of ripples and the trend immortalizes. An ordinary person related any medical connection with a disease, in turn with doom, suffering and majority of such songs imitate acerbic feel. As medical professionals, most of us can better understand the psyche used behind creating these anthems and the hollow energy doesn’t suck us as much as it does an ordinary individual. Music permeates our daily lives. It graces our weddings and funerals, fills our elevators and waiting rooms, and accents the messages advertisers want us to hear. It can be incidental or inspirational, sensitive or severe, torrid or timid, hilarious or horrifying. Amid all this remarkable variation, the fundamental intent of the music in our lives never changes: music is communication, intended to carry a message and to influence our responses to that message. “Message-songs” have served as elements of successful, multimodal interventions, such as prenatal care promotion efforts in Mexico and water hygiene education programs in Bolivia. It would be fine if more songs are created with use of medical words & messages that have inspirational, thought provoking and hopeful vibrancy. Indian composers have by far restrained from using this genre and subliminal attempts remind us of twisted euphemism of malaria (remember lovearia??)

If you have heard the song ‘Speechless’, a nice song sung by Lady Gaga for her father with the hopes he'll be convinced to seek the medical treatment he needed
for his heart condition, you could truly feel the colossal power emanating from the ruthlessly rich energy and there are high chances you would start feeling extra-responsible for your loved ones. Lets not make music part of our lives, but lets make our life part of music and feel the divine rhythm with every playing note.

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