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do I really hear the way I hear?
Jun. 1st, 2016 10:17 pmOne for my friends who know about how the brain handles sound...
A few years ago I watched an episode of Will and Grace, in which the guest star was Cher. There was a scene in which the character Jack, played by Sean Hayes, encountering the lady unexpectedly, mistakes her for a Cher impersonator, criticises her impression and offers her a brief masterclass in how to do Cher. He's awful, of course, but the point is that even when she sings he still can't tell it's her.
I've discovered that I have a broadly similar problem.
Not that I can't tell when it's Cher singing, no. But something happens to the sound of her voice between my hearing it and its going into long term storage. Take the song "Walking in Memphis." I've just listened to it on Youtube, and she sings "Walking in Memphis." With an American accent, obviously, but perfectly clearly. The most you could say is that she says "Memphus" instead of "Memphis."
So why is it that when I call up the memory of that line, what I hear in my mind's ear is something like "Wowking in Mayomphiyos"??
It's nothing like her. And it's not just her. It seems to happen with quite a few singers (no filkers, thank goodness); Jon Bon Jovi is one. What is it that gets between my brain and my ears, or something,and exaggerates these people's accents into grotesque caricatures? And how do I stop it?
A few years ago I watched an episode of Will and Grace, in which the guest star was Cher. There was a scene in which the character Jack, played by Sean Hayes, encountering the lady unexpectedly, mistakes her for a Cher impersonator, criticises her impression and offers her a brief masterclass in how to do Cher. He's awful, of course, but the point is that even when she sings he still can't tell it's her.
I've discovered that I have a broadly similar problem.
Not that I can't tell when it's Cher singing, no. But something happens to the sound of her voice between my hearing it and its going into long term storage. Take the song "Walking in Memphis." I've just listened to it on Youtube, and she sings "Walking in Memphis." With an American accent, obviously, but perfectly clearly. The most you could say is that she says "Memphus" instead of "Memphis."
So why is it that when I call up the memory of that line, what I hear in my mind's ear is something like "Wowking in Mayomphiyos"??
It's nothing like her. And it's not just her. It seems to happen with quite a few singers (no filkers, thank goodness); Jon Bon Jovi is one. What is it that gets between my brain and my ears, or something,and exaggerates these people's accents into grotesque caricatures? And how do I stop it?