As I manically swerved in and out of traffic on Rt. 1, I put on my favorite radio station, 102.1 to hear the Hot 5 at 5. Of course, some TERRIBLE song was on the radio that made me want to swerve into the other lane of oncoming traffic.
But after that song (the most horrible song of all-time btw), a song that I like came on.
Although I'm not a big Timbaland fan ("Carry Out"?!? UGH), his song "If We Ever Meet Again" has been growing on me lately. On my way home, I heard the song and found myself screaming along to all K. Perry's parts (the only parts I know right now). When I checked my mirrors, I saw that I could switch lanes, but I had to move quickly [read as: cut somebody off]. And right as I did it, I heard the sirens.
(Do alarms make a "woooo" sound?)When I heard the death knell, my heart came up out of my chest and fell out of my mouth, plopping into my lap. My soul temporarily left my tortured body, blackened by my future jail sentence. I cried in agony and looked into my rearview mirror to see if I could pull over. And there were no cops there.
After my breathing calmed and my heartbeat returned to a semi-normal state, I heard the sirens again. WHAT WAS GOING ON?
Then I realized: the sirens were part of the song.
I know that earlier this year, I did an entry about my musical pet peeves. And I forgot to talk about this very serious one. Why would artists put sounds resembling police sirens in their music if they know the listener could very likely be listening to the song in a car?!?!
When I was in high school, I remember having a similar experience with Paris Hilton's "I Want You." And what about Beyonce's "Ring The Alarm"? Seriously guys, STOP. If pop stars could only see how I react when I hear police sirens, I'm sure they'd stop.
17 comments:
I hate that too!!! For like three weeks I kept hearing sirens and getting all paranoid about being pulled over until I realized it was on one of the songs on my playlist. I felt like a dummy as it took so long to notice, but that faded when I removed the song and continued to speed guilt free down the highway.
Argh, I was just bitching (to myself) about that in the car yesterday. Going home, wall to wall traffic 4 lanes wide and I hear a siren. So I start trying to find the emergency vehicle to figure out if I have to try and get my ass out of the way, only to realize it's in the song. Sigh. Seems to be a common annoyance.
I also hate TV shows that have door bells or phones that sound exactly like mine.
I generally don't speed, so when I hear sirens I know they couldn't possibly be for me.
I thought radio had standards to prevent this. Since they obviously don't, they should.
GOD yes I have the same pet peeve! The same as Tam's too for that matter -- I often pause and rewind on the TiVo or HD DVR to see if it's a real doorbell. I've had the heart-in-my-mouth feeling from sirens several times myself, too. UNLIKE MEL I do speed. (Mel has the luxury of living in Maine, where it is possible not to speed without defying the laws of physics; here in Massachusetts if you didn't speed, the cars behind you would just plow through you).
Ryan, I never heard of radio standards having to do with sirens. I thought all they cared about was whether somebody said the F-bomb on the air ... :P
As usual, I love the photos. I need to get a camera mounted on my hood too.
When I hear sirens, my sphincter pulsates. Strange, I know.
You know me and you know my anxiety...I would have be a GONER if I was driving. I hate getting in trouble! SO SCARY.
You are so fun!!
I hate when songs have sirens in them!! I get all kinds of paranoid!
Garret, um, *eww* ;-)
By the way -- something tells me he has a friend taking those pictures in front of a stationary car ;-)
Justin, what's paper got to do with it?
I hate that too! A couple of our radio stations use sirens and hoking horns as an intro to their traffic reports. It gets me every time.
Love that last photo with the giant tears.
The same thing happens to me all the time! I hate that, and I always panic the same way!
YAY!!! I'm so glad everyone understands me!!! They should totally have standards that ban sirens from music.
Michelle: GOOD POINT! Some of my stations do that too (with the traffic updates). So annoying. I'm like "WHO'S BEEPING AT ME?" and get ready to glare at someone. Then I just glare at the radio.
Justin: Great sense of humor.... (your rxn to Garret's comment)
I don't believe I know the song you're talking about, and I don't recall hearing sirens in songs in the past, although it may have happened. I generally am not awake on the way to work, so the radio it just background noise, and on the way home, I usually swearing at idiotic driving to get out of my way, so that covers the songs.
But what I REALLY hate is the damn TV commericals that have an alarm on them JUST like my alarm clock! I hate that noise, that's why I use it to get me out of bed, cause it's so grating! And I certainly don't want to hear it again on the TV!!!
HUGS...
I'm amazed Enrico is awake on the way to work when he actually leaves for work at 7:30am.
I'm rarely even AWAKE at 7:30am and when I am I consider it a great misfortune. ;-)
(BTW polt I just made a "creepy uncle"-type reference to you on fb. Sorry; couldn't help it)
We are not turning the radio on if you are ever in a car with me.
Indeed. So many songs in the top 40 feature sirens and have been makiong me somewhat paranoid. However, I just spent a great deal of money on cds, so I shouldn't have that problem again for awhile.
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