The moment that you stepped into the room you took my breath away
So as admitted in a previous post, I am a big fan of Queen’s music – this addiction is enabled by my brother (who, when asked what category Queen belongs in, says, ‘the best band EVER’ 
). So I was listening to my Queen playlist on the way home to Charlotte today, and I was thinking about why I like their music so much. It’s not cause it’s especially profound (any more than any other rock/pop music of the 70s/80s), or that it’s especially good vocal performance (though I do like Freddy Mercury’s voice). I think I like it for the same reason that I like Meatloaf’s music: each song is like a mini-musical, oftentimes encompassing a huge span of emotions or time or life events. Meatload’s ‘Paradise by the dashboard light’ covers the dissolution of a very dysfunctional relationship, and Queen’s ‘Barcelona’ is almost operatic (helped by the fact that Freddy sings with an opera singer 
) in its soaring phrases and intense emotions. And the brutal honesty of the songs just draws me in and takes me along for the ride – and even if I don’t completely agree with the idea behind some of the songs (I’m thinking of ‘I was born to love you’, which I love, but I somewhat disagree with the whole idea of there being ‘only one person in the whole world for each person’…), I get totally sucked into the emotions of the songs.
I don’t know what this says about my musical tastes, that I can listen to Queen and Meatload and then a minute later listen to Derek Webb or Patty Griffen or Over the Rhine – I’m either well-balanced or schizophrenic – let’s go with the former, ok?
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And, finally, I can say that my paper has been submitted for publication in a leading scientific journal!!!!!!!!!! I got the email today from our collaborators and almost fell out of the chair I was so happy – now comes the mind-numbing waiting process, and then the heart-breaking critique from the editors saying what we need to fix/add/remove/completely change… at least it’s off my desk and onto someone else’s! I’m now one step closer to having that elusive DR. in front of my name!
You could use the term … diverse.
Congrats on getting the paper out there. It’s definitely a big step.
Thanks – diverse sounds a lot better
I love Freddie’s voice. Good call.
And I hope your time in Florida is enjoyable and that all goes well!