How Important are Lyrics to You?

[Adami]

I'm sorry. I'll revise.

Why not just listen to spoken word poem recordings if you like lyrics...   

Do you enjoy movies with horrible dialouge? Why not just read a book?

[Sigz]

Why does everyone keep making this movie analogy? They're two completely different mediums.

[In The Wake Of Poseidon]

Why does everyone keep making this movie analogy? They're two completely different mediums.

[Fluffy Lothario]

Why not just listen to spoken word poem recordings if you like lyrics...  

Because lyrics are a lot more than just 'poetry' that sits randomly on top of the music. It's about how the language enhances and is enhanced by the music, how they add something to each other via a different realm of expression.

Bad lyrics, however, don't enhance music. They can only detract from it.

[nightmare_cinema]

Not very. They're maybe about 10% of a song's meaning to me. When lyrics are really, really good and beautiful it can enhance the song quite significantly but they're barely important to me, honestly sometimes I reckon the singer could just be singing anything and as long as the music underneath appeals to me, then I'm happy. I don't even focus on them very much, I can deeply love a song for a few years and only after that period of time suddenly realise or find out what exactly someone is singing at a certain point, despite knowing the music absolutely inside and out. Bad lyrics don't detract from the music at all for me.

It can be awesome when it suddenly clicks though, I tend to passively absorb lyrics... for the past few years of Fear of a Blank Planet being released, I really loved the 'I simply am not here' line in Anesthetize. I love/d the title track a huge amount (and really really got off on a lot of the lyrics of that song) but it was only a couple of weeks ago that I realised Wilson was singing 'I need to know that someone sees that there's nothing left, I simply am not here'. The click between that song and Anesthetize and the way I was feeling about my life at that moment really meant a lot to me and became significant and I feel like it added another layer of love to the song. I appreciate awesome lyics in the context of a song, but they're the icing on the cake for me, nothing more.

[AwakeFromOctavarium]

I don't really care about lyrics, as long as they make sense. I mostly enjoy the instrumentation and the singing itself, not much of the message it conveys, etc.

[Zantera]

Not very. They're maybe about 10% of a song's meaning to me. When lyrics are really, really good and beautiful it can enhance the song quite significantly but they're barely important to me, honestly sometimes I reckon the singer could just be singing anything and as long as the music underneath appeals to me, then I'm happy. I don't even focus on them very much, I can deeply love a song for a few years and only after that period of time suddenly realise or find out what exactly someone is singing at a certain point, despite knowing the music absolutely inside and out. Bad lyrics don't detract from the music at all for me.

Pretty much all of this. 

[ehra]

So, really, vocalists in the bands you like might as well just sing wordless vocals, right?  I mean, if you don't care about the lyrics at all, it
wouldn't matter to you if they weren't singing any actual ones, right?

Can't say I'd really mind.

Something else I've noticed, though, is that when it comes to something like rap I'll care about the lyrics much more than most other genres, since there isn't much else going on (relative to other types of music).

Also being the case, do you have any music you listen to that you like from other countries, meaning they sing in their native tongue and not English or any language you speak/understand? There's LOADS of great music out there (more than I'll ever know) from parts of the world where they don't sing in English... I think that'd be perfect for people who don't care so much about lyrics.

-Marc.

Actually, what would be "perfect" for people who don't care so much about lyrics are songs with good music. What language they're in doesn't really mean anything (other than how some languages sound when spoken). As for why I don't have much foreign music, because I have nothing to really help me find the good stuff. I use this site and a few others to help figure out if I should check a band out, and foreign stuff doesn't exactly come up very often.

Do you enjoy movies with horrible dialouge? Why not just read a book?

Because that's almost as stupid of a comparison as that spoken word poetry argument earlier.

[Zydar]

Not very. They're maybe about 10% of a song's meaning to me. When lyrics are really, really good and beautiful it can enhance the song quite significantly but they're barely important to me, honestly sometimes I reckon the singer could just be singing anything and as long as the music underneath appeals to me, then I'm happy. I don't even focus on them very much, I can deeply love a song for a few years and only after that period of time suddenly realise or find out what exactly someone is singing at a certain point, despite knowing the music absolutely inside and out. Bad lyrics don't detract from the music at all for me.

This. The music always comes first for me, and if the lyrics are good then that's a nice bonus.

[hefdaddy42]

In general, if the band/artist is going to insist on stupid meaningless drivel for lyrics, I won't listen to the music at all.  Not interested.  If they don't care about them, why should I?  If the lyrics aren't important, why not just be an instrumental group?  I just honestly don't understand the viewpoint of "they aren't important at all."

And the comparison between songs and film is a good one.  Not sure why anyone would think otherwise.

[Darkes7]

In case of most music I listen to, very. Listening with the album booklet is almost necessary for me, and I feel they make a very important part of the music and atmosphere. In general, I'm also not a great fan of all-instrumental music.

The only exceptions are full-on thrash or death metal, where all I expect from the lyrics is to create a certain dark atmosphere and be fairly reasonably written.

[ehra]

And the comparison between songs and film is a good one.  Not sure why anyone would think otherwise.

Because they're completely different forms of entertainment that most people enjoy for entirely different reasons, and books and movies are two different forms of story telling with their own advantages and disadvantages. I don't listen to music for its story (unless it's a concept album, in which case I'll actually care about the lyrics as far as how well they tell the story).

[hefdaddy42]

And the comparison between songs and film is a good one.  Not sure why anyone would think otherwise.

Because they're completely different forms of entertainment that most people enjoy for entirely different reasons, and books and movies are two different forms of story telling with their own advantages and disadvantages. I don't listen to music for its story (unless it's a concept album, in which case I'll actually care about the lyrics as far as how well they tell the story).

Yes, but there are multiple ways of enjoying both film and music.  There are multiple elements going on at the same time that can be analyzed individually or as a whole.

With film, there is the cinematography, directing, dialogue, writing, acting, special effects, etc.

With music, there is the songwriting, composition, technical difficulty of the music, technical ability of the musicians, the quality of the performance, the lyrics, the delivery of the lyrics by the vocalist(s), etc.

There are comparisons to be made there, and valid ones, regardless of the difference of the media.

[PixelDream]

I love lyrics, I've come to appreciate them more and more.

But not when it comes to writing my own, though. We're making great music with my band now, but tonight it's vocal melody & lyrics time. I'm scared to death of that kind of stuff. I want to make music that's honest, but I can't seem to find anything useful to write about. Everything's going perfectly fine in my life, but I don't want to make ignorant happy music.

[KevShmev]

I'm sorry. I'll revise.

Why not just listen to spoken word poem recordings if you like lyrics...   

That makes absolutely no sense.

And the comparison between songs and film is a good one.  Not sure why anyone would think otherwise.

Because they're completely different forms of entertainment that most people enjoy for entirely different reasons, and books and movies are two different forms of story telling with their own advantages and disadvantages. I don't listen to music for its story (unless it's a concept album, in which case I'll actually care about the lyrics as far as how well they tell the story).

Yes, but there are multiple ways of enjoying both film and music.  There are multiple elements going on at the same time that can be analyzed individually or as a whole.

With film, there is the cinematography, directing, dialogue, writing, acting, special effects, etc.

With music, there is the songwriting, composition, technical difficulty of the music, technical ability of the musicians, the quality of the performance, the lyrics, the delivery of the lyrics by the vocalist(s), etc.

There are comparisons to be made there, and valid ones, regardless of the difference of the media.

Exactly.

[Zook]

Very important, but I have no problem with The Count's lyrics. I do enjoy cheese but there's a line to cross. Symphony X gets criticised heavily for being cheesy but to me they're nowhere near that line. But.

[King Postwhore]

It's the sum off all that makes a great song, from lyrics to melody, to the craftmenship of a song, it matters. Some have it all and these are the song that are near and dear to my heart, others lacking in some of these parts are very good songs I still enjoy and some don't catch my imagination at all because it lacks those qualities. So lyrics matter but it doesn't always take away from my enjoyment.

[Dimitrius]

Not that important to me.

[yeshaberto]

Pretty important...I really probably don't notice them so much when they are good (or at least bearable), but when they are bad it can ruin the song for me

[Seventh Son]

Very

This was going to be my "in brief" answer.

If I find the lyrics to a song atrocious, I won't even give it a chance, with very few exceptions. Pretty bad lyrics won't completely ruin a song for me, though I won't listen to it often.

And generally, if I don't absolutely adore the lyrics to a song or album, it'll have a very hard time climbing high in my favourites.

Though this doesn't mean all my favourite songs are lyrically elaborate poetic masterpieces. Simple lyrics pulled off brilliantly are brilliant lyrics. It's also about the style of lyrics fitting the style of song.

I have a lot of bands I listen to, and honestly, there is a threshold where you can't look up the lyrics to every song in your library. Looking up the lyrics to about 10,000 songs would drive me crazy.

If a good enough percentage of the lyrics isn't reasonably discernible enough for you to get a sense of the quality of a song's lyrics by ear, it's not worth listening to, simple as that. There are exceptions, I suppose, but again, very few. Lyrics are extremely important to me, but I'll usually only look them up once they really start to interest me or impress me.

So, if the singer is so high pitched that its nearly impossible to know what they are saying, its bad? I guess I should feel bad for loving Rush in that case. And I love Rush for their music, not the lyrics. Honestly, Neil Peart's lyrics are very mediocre to me, but I love Rush regardless. And I love Death/Black Metal despite having rather underwhelming lyrical prowess (Atheist is probably the lone exception to this rule, but w/e).

In general, if the band/artist is going to insist on stupid meaningless drivel for lyrics, I won't listen to the music at all.  Not interested.  If they don't care about them, why should I?  If the lyrics aren't important, why not just be an instrumental group?  I just honestly don't understand the viewpoint of "they aren't important at all."

And the comparison between songs and film is a good one.  Not sure why anyone would think otherwise.

Because honestly, 99% of all bands have terrible lyrics in my opinion. There are VERY few bands that I would say have good lyrics, and even then its just... "decent" lyrics. If I felt the same way as you did about lyrics, I wouldn't listen to music, at all.

As I mentioned in the other topic, I love Megadeth to death, and Holy Wars is probably one of my favorite songs ever, but you have to admit Dave Mustaine is a fucking terrible lyricist. BROTHER WILL KILL BROTHER SPILLING BLOOD ACROSS THE LAND KILLING FOR RELIGION SOMETHING I DON'T UNDERSTAND, etc.

If I cared so much about lyrics I would hate that song to death. Hell, I would hate 99.9% of music.

[Zook]

What's wrong with those lyrics?

[ariich]

Hmm, well, they're not hugely important to me, but they are somewhat important. In that the right lyrics or even lyrical moments can turn a song from good to great. On the other hand, good lyrics have never redeemed an otherwise bad song for me, and bad lyrics don't always ruin songs for me, and when they do it's only by a little bit.

Basically, they do affect how much I like or dislike a song/album, but only marginally.

[Seventh Son]

What's wrong with those lyrics?

They sound like they come from an angry teenager who came up with them in five minutes.

[orcus116]

Important if the song is lyric centric though I will agree with everyone that says that bad lyrics drag a song down no matter what.

[Tick]

As a songwriter myself, I don't like cheesy lyrics. I can deal with it an long as they don't completely suck. A band like Kiss has cheesy lyrics but it works in the context of there music.

[ehra]

Yes, but there are multiple ways of enjoying both film and music.

So how does it make any sense to go "you don't care about the lyrics in music? Then how do you feel about movies with bad dialogue, just read a book."? Especially since taking it the other way, telling someone to just listen to spoken word poetry if they care so much about lyrics, makes no sense?

I don't care about the lyrics, just like I really don't care about a movie's cinematography. Like you said, there are multiple ways of enjoying both.

[Zook]

Dave was in his early 20s wasn't he? Also, I'd like someone to rewrite The Count of Tuscany since the lyrics are so 'awful'. Same melodies too.

[ariich]

And the comparison between songs and film is a good one.  Not sure why anyone would think otherwise.

Because they're completely different forms of entertainment that most people enjoy for entirely different reasons, and books and movies are two different forms of story telling with their own advantages and disadvantages. I don't listen to music for its story (unless it's a concept album, in which case I'll actually care about the lyrics as far as how well they tell the story).

Yes, but there are multiple ways of enjoying both film and music.  There are multiple elements going on at the same time that can be analyzed individually or as a whole.

With film, there is the cinematography, directing, dialogue, writing, acting, special effects, etc.

With music, there is the songwriting, composition, technical difficulty of the music, technical ability of the musicians, the quality of the performance, the lyrics, the delivery of the lyrics by the vocalist(s), etc.

There are comparisons to be made there, and valid ones, regardless of the difference of the media.

This is all true, but it doesn't disguise the fact that, for the majority of people, the focus of a movie is the story and dialogue, and the focus of music is the... well, music. Obviously some people have other priorities, and all of us have other factors that are important (such as those you mentioned) but the analogy of liking music regardless of lyrics is more akin to liking movies regardless of cinematography. To me cinematography is fairly important, and can make an otherwise good film great, but there are plenty of films I love where it's nothing special.

[orcus116]

Yes, but there are multiple ways of enjoying both film and music.

So how does it make any sense to go "you don't care about the lyrics in music? Then how do you feel about movies with bad dialogue, just read a book."? Especially since taking it the other way, telling someone to just listen to spoken word poetry if they care so much about lyrics, makes no sense?

I think people took what he said as a "who gives a shit about lyrics?" or at least the way it was worded it seemed like that.

[Seventh Son]

Dave was in his early 20s wasn't he? Also, I'd like someone to rewrite The Count of Tuscany since the lyrics are so 'awful'. Same melodies too.

Doesn't change the fact that Dave can't write a decent lyric to save his life. Also, I LOVE Megadeth, but that's because Dave is a riff-master. Anyone that listens to Megadeth for their lyrics is doing it wrong.

[ehra]

Yes, but there are multiple ways of enjoying both film and music.

So how does it make any sense to go "you don't care about the lyrics in music? Then how do you feel about movies with bad dialogue, just read a book."? Especially since taking it the other way, telling someone to just listen to spoken word poetry if they care so much about lyrics, makes no sense?

I think people took what he said as a "who gives a shit about lyrics?" or at least the way it was worded it seemed like that.

I figured he was making fun of the movie argument.

Either way, both make about as much sense to me (that is, none).

[Adami]

Do you enjoy movies with horrible dialouge? Why not just read a book?

Because that's almost as stupid of a comparison as that spoken word poetry argument earlier.

I agree, I was actually making such a crazy claim to point out how crazy the original one was.

[Ben_Jamin]

Not important at all, Unless it's rap. I listen to music for the music, lyrics are like the cherry on top.

[King Postwhore]

Not important at all, Unless it's rap. I listen to music for the music, lyrics are like the cherry on top.

So you must be realy moved when you hear about T & A and bling.

[Ben_Jamin]

^Those are the bestest kind of lyrics.