American Indians struggled during their assimilation into white, “civilized” culture. Difficulty articulating their native emotions using English words was among their many growing pains. How many pearls of wisdom – how much culture – were lost in translation?A universal language transcends these worldly boundaries, though many of us try to uphold them. It’s called “music,” and you needn’t study to understand it. Unfortunately, many Americans’ thirst for English lyrics – or any lyrics – keeps them from a great deal of experience and cultural enrichment.I was opening up the sandwich shop where I work last week at 6 a.m., slicing vegetables and listening to Brazilian music from the ’50s – not an English word in sight. The sun began to rise. I became so immersed I may as well have been in the favela-slums marketplace, the coastal breeze at my back as the singer’s angelic Portuguese filled the air. The music was palpable. The words didn’t matter. They were just another instrument.I was slammed back into my body without warning when I heard a “BANG BANG BANG” on the window. It was the produce delivery guy coming to bring me the morning’s lettuce. The moment I let him in, he belted out in a surly American accent, “Elevator music, huh!?”I guess that’s one way to put it. I cringed through my laughter, because though he meant no harm, his dismissive attitude captures America’s insular nature toward music and, in turn, the rest of the world.This is not to say Bob Dylan’s message fell on deaf ears, but it may as well have. His music was simple, and his lyrics were profound. But consider this: Without lyrics, it’s still music. Without a melody, it’s just spoken word – a poem like the millions that came before it. So why do so many people need lyrics to appreciate a song? Is it because their minds are not musical? No, music is not esoteric – it’s the universal language, remember?Then what is it? What’s wrong with instrumentals? Why must a song be in English only? I would argue people need their thoughts directed. We’re so conditioned to media persuasion we need our songs to literally tell us what to think while listening. It’s easier that way.These lyrics can be beautiful and sometimes multi-tiered, but they are, like our own thought process, bound by our understanding of the English language. And so, it is comforting for people to hear the wordy, less ambiguous message, wrapped neatly in a three-minute package and topped with a chorus-shaped bow – just to make sure they don’t forget to “Party in the USA,” “Lick Me Like a Lollipop” or “Take the Power Back.”America, as an island, is an inward-looking society, turning to itself for reinforcement of its own ideas. We make our own rules and often break them – victims of our own fickle, fair-weather device. After all, who was here before us, and from where did our ancestors arrive?Therein lies the irony: With these “other songs,” we are again asked to turn inward. Only this time, it’s not to our American pack-mentality. We have to look to ourselves for the words – to, in a sense, “make up” our own lyrics. It’s a look in the mirror. And it compels a different degree of introspection – of “listening.” How unpatriotic, right?Perhaps we are afraid of what we might find if we tried. Perhaps it’s because when we helplessly knock at the door of our higher-self, we find no one home.Different sounding music is a tribute to the variability of the human experience, not a chance to scoff at what we don’t take time to understand. There surely is a place and time for every song. It’s just not always here and now.Jack Johnson is a 23-year-old mass communication junior from Fort Worth, Texas. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_jjohnson.
 
 
 
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