A quick analysis
In the ancient past, I did not listen to songs with vocals. I cannot remember the reason why, but now the logic of my decision back then occurs to me.
Putting it simply, while the human voice is in my opinion the most wonderful instrument for pleasure ever invented (or rather, honed, since voices came with evolution), music without it can be much more enduring because of the lack of ‘direct’ ‘human involvement’. Essentially without the voice, the piece may be composed by man, but its impersonality (as opposed to songs that one tends to attach to a mental image of a particular person) can allow it to meld into one’s consciousness. Case in point: 「patch of blue sky」 (from Ayako-sama’s album Primary). No matter what song I might get obsessed with for a while (even Ayako-sama’s other songs) I’ll still return to it before too long. Hence it hasn’t dropped from my top ten weekly track list ever since it’s debut practically three months ago. No wonder I have over 800 scrobbles for the track as of last count.
Well, that’s not to say that I prefer 「patch of blue sky」 over any and all other songs at all times; it’s just that I feel music appreciation styles reflect a person’s view towards commitment in romantic relationships - a person who listens to tracks randomly all the time just generally cannot make up his mind as to what he wants (preferring variety), whereas a person who loops a track over and over again for a period of time before moving on to others and never coming back is into serial monogamy. For me, I would say that while I might get distracted by another track or two for a while, at the end of the day (or a week) I’ll return to 「patch of blue sky」, because like the legally-wedded wife of old who is the one to bear your kids and inherit your assets and who will always wait for you to come home from all that philandering, 「patch of blue sky」 is perhaps the only track in which I can find lasting peace and solace.
I suspect I’ll get rocks thrown at me for saying this, but I suppose I don’t really mind. To each his own, anyway. Nothing wrong with serial monogamy; just avoid creating business for divorce lawyers. They are nasty existences to begin with, anyway.