This song has not topped the charts and probably isn't the best song you have heard in a while, but the lyrics of it have an important lesson to teach. At this point you're thinking, "Get to the point already; I'm bored." Keep reading (yes, past the introduction) and I promise you won't be disappointed.
The song that needs to be really heard is "Noise" by Kenny Chesney. "Noise" is a song about life and the fact that no one pays attention to each other because we are all so caught up in our own lives. Let's look at this song a little closer, and actually listen to what Chesney is trying to say.
"Wrecking balls, downtown construction;
Bottles breaking, jukebox buzzing..."
From the very beginning, Chesney gives us insight to what he will talk about throughout the song. The noises that he describes in the first two lines are all sounds of urbanization, leading him to his point in the chorus.
"Sometimes I wonder how did we get here;
Seems like all we ever hear is Noise;
Yeah we scream, yeah we shout 'til we don't have a voice;
In the streets, in the crowds, it ain't nothing but noise;
Drowning out all the dreams of this Tennessee boy;
Just tryna be heard in all this noise..."
No one knows how we got to the point of being shouted at by people, billboards, and sounds of a city, so Kenny Chesney isn't alone in that aspect. He is alone, however, in pointing it out. He takes a step back and realizes that no one is listening to each other at all. We all make noise to try to be heard, but that's the issue. All of us are making noise and no one is listening.
"Twenty-four hour television, get so loud that no one listens;
Sex and money and politicians talk, talk, talk;
But there really ain't no conversation..."
There are many different shows on TV, ranging from soap operas to the news. A variety conversations take place on TV, but the viewers sit in silence, mindlessly watching episode after episode.
"Ain't nothing left to the imagination;
Trapped in our phones and we can't make it stop, stop..."
These lines are a couple of the most important ones of the song. TV shows, movies, and the way people dress are all so explicit that nothing is left to the imagination. Being trapped in our phones is one of the most accurate descriptions of society. By becoming social online, we have lost the drive to socialize with those around us. I will admit that I use my phone as a way to get out of being more social in person. No one wants to look like they're lost while waiting for a friend to get out of the restroom, right? Instead of socializing and observing what is happening around us, we turn to our phones.
"We can't sleep, we can't think, can't escape the noise
We can't take the noise, so we just make noise..."
Phones make it hard to sleep because they are always making some kind of noise. Households make it hard to think because the TV is always on. To escape noise, we all decide to make more noise.
The lesson to be learned is this: take time to listen to each other rather than making more of your own noise. Don't get too caught up in your own life that you forget to check up on your closest friends and family.
Whether or not I have convinced you to rethink anything doesn't matter to me. What matters is that the next time you hear this song, listen to it. Rather than just hearing it and letting it pass through your ears, actually listen to what is being said and learn from it. Don't let it just be more noise.
