Can't See the Forest for the Trees

I frequently have trouble understanding the lyrics of a song, particularly if I hear it on the radio.  Other times, I might understand the lyrics when other people cannot.  Back in the late 60s, a friend loaned me an LP record album of Bobbie Gentry, you know the lady who sang about Billy Joe McAlister jumping off the Tallahatchie Bridge.  He warned me that the words were hard to understand because of her accent, but I didn't have any trouble with it.  Indeed, she sang several songs that had been made popular by other singers, and this was the first time I had understood the words.  I also find it difficult to get the words if a large group is singing, or if there are a lot of instruments playing with the song.  I have similar issues with some visual things.  If I drop a screw or bolt on the ground, I often have to ask my wife to help me find it.  I describe the thing to her and tell her what general area I think it's in, and she spots it straightaway.  I can see it once she points it out to me, but before that, I can be looking right at it and not see it.  On the other hand, I can hear a pack of hounds baying a quarter mile away, identify each one by name, and tell you which direction they are traveling and if they are running a hot or a cold track.  Go figure!

Uncle Ken is right about the way our Channel 9&10 (CBS) news displays those headlines just before going to commercial.  The implication is that they will show you the story right after the commercial, but they seldom do.  Indeed, sometimes "Today's Top Stories" are exactly the same as yesterday's top stories, or even the day before yesterday.  I think that's why that dog story was number one for three days running, and I never did see the story itself.

Of course I heard all those Southern gentlemen bragging about their animal escapades while I was in the army, but I never believed them for a minute.  People lie about sex a lot, you know.  It's like Sergeant Bush used to say: "Those who say they do, don't. Those who say they don't, do.  Those who say they will, won't.  And those who say they won't, will."  

Speaking of the army:  Shortly after we arrived at basic training, they called us all together and told us all the things we were forbidden to possess.  Among them was any text or pictures describing or displaying a man and a woman, a man and a man, a woman and a woman,  etc. etc.  including any possible combination of people and/or animals "engaged in any natural or unnatural act", which I guess included sex, although that wasn't specifically mentioned.