“Kierkegaard thinks that music begins where language ends,” Finnegan said. “Beyond language—or when language reaches its peak—you get music.” I considered that. “I can’t believe we’re talking about Kierkegaard,” I said. “You’re not. I am. And the same is true if you go in the other direction, he said. Because the simpler words become, the more they’re just sounds, and sounds are music.” “So music is like parentheses around language?” “Exactly. Or music is everything. This small segment of everything is language. Our conversation. Everything outside it is music.”
