Killing Me Softly

As I stepped onto the 42 bus this morning in Adams Morgan the first thing that struck me was the music coming from the back of the bus. Since Metro has a policy about earphones that emit music at high decibels I knew that this couldn't be errant iPod music. Glancing towards the rear of the bus I saw a man sitting by himself singing. Keep in mind, he wasn't killing me softly with his words, but belting out his tune. In fairness, I have to say that his voice was not the worst I have heard. He was no William Hung.

Taking my seat, i pulled out my iPod and quickly plugged my ears with the more enjoyable sound of Everything But the Girl. I could still hear him. I looked around and noticed the mix of chagrin and humor on the other passenger's faces. My thumb moved quickly to the scroll wheel and cranked the volume. I'm unhappy to report that the man's vocal renderings were still piercing my eardrums even above my own music.

I was immediately aware of the volume of my music and wondered, as I have in the past, if it was infringing on the noise-free rights of those around me. Again I thought about Metro's music policy, which says that it must be conveyed by earphones and that it shouldn't be audible to other passengers. A friend recently relayed to me his own story about a bus driver that stopped the bus just to come to the back of the bus and tell him to turn his iPod down.

Suddenly I was annoyed. Why is it against Metro policy to emit music from your iPod loud enough to disturb others, yet this man was allowed to use his vocal chords to achieve a much greater annoyance?

As I pulled the chord to stop and stepped off the bus at R St., I glanced back at the crooner who was oblivious to the fact that anyone was affected by his noise and it occurred to me. Maybe I was just jealous.