I have always liked Laura Barton's writing in the Guardian (she probably writes elsewhere as well, but that is where I see it). Today I think I found out why: she is a synaesthete. Synaesthesia fascinates me, as I suspect it does anyone who does not experience it.

There is another thing that Laura refers to in her article: "People always ask which part of a song you hear first: the words or the melody." I am very poor at spotting the words -- even of songs I know well. For me, music is a complete aural experience, and I find it difficult to concentrate consistently on one aspect of it (although I can tune into different parts from time to time). What about other people -- do you latch onto lyrics, or wallow in the whole?

Here's a couple of other articles that made my heart sing when I first read them, and which are still worth re-reading: on words:

'...my favourite word in songwriting history is actually exceedingly workaday, an unassuming, half-muttered "that", the second-to-last word in Leonard Cohen's Chelsea Hotel No 2: "That's all, I don't even think of you that often." Every single time I hear this line the "that" catches me, as if someone has stepped on the hem of my skirt and dragged me backwards.'

and on the music that is all around us:

'Back in the car, I am so desperate for music that I have become the soak before the liquor cabinet. At this stage, I'll drink anything: the drizzle falling on the windscreen plays like an acoustic guitar; the wipers are a wheezy accordion.'

And she is from Wigan. How much better can it get?