23
votes
Are lyrics important to you?
How important are lyrics to you?
For me, the words are probably as big a part of my experience of a song as the music itself. It's unlikely that I'll come back to a song if the lyrics don't speak to me. On the other hand, I know other people who claim not to care about the lyrics at all.
So, I was curious. If you are a person who cares a lot about the lyrics of a song, do you also read poetry? How do you feel about purely instrumental music?
Personally, I can appreciate instrumental music, but it's not something I tend to seek out. I enjoy poetry a lot (probably as much as music), both reading it and listening to it.
I'm interested to see if there's a pattern to this. :)
I guess it really depends on the type of music I'm listening to. I tend to care less about the lyrics in electronic music than I do with something like rock, folk or rap. I suppose I see the lyrics in a lot of the electronic music I listen to as being a smaller component of the song, and care more about the construction of the song as a whole.
I second this, for me it seems highly dependent on the song. Not to insult the artist in anyway but sometimes I don't really care about what the song is talking about and instead simply want to listen to the song as a whole. Clearly there are some songs in which the lyrics are almost impossible to ignore, a prime example being Stan by Eminem. I can never listen to that song without getting caught up in the tale which Eminem tells, and the whole song is held up by the lyrics and their meaning. On the flipside, the song Pumped Up Kicks just sounds good and has a certain addictive beat to it, but never once whilst listening to it did I figure out the songs true meaning because frankly I was focused more on the sound of the song overall.
Interesting!
When I say that lyrics are important to me, I don't necessarily mean the "story" told by the song (though it can mean that too). Sometimes it's just the use of language itself that speaks to me, regardless of theme.
In the same way, badly written lyrics can make a song a lot harder for me to enjoy, especially if it comes across as "corny".
I think regardless of the story of the song (assuming there is one) I'll always appreciate lyrics that have clearly been written with care and some thought and don't simply lay out the message of the song in the most basic form possible. Cleverly written lyrics are good for the artist because they show others that they took time and effort to write out their thoughts and feelings, however I also feel they invoke a positive response in the listener as they get to figure out the meaning of the lyrics and interpret them in a variety of ways.
For example, an artist could easily write a lyric that simply says "I always enjoyed spending time with you". Pretty simple, not much to figure out or interpret. This thought could be rewritten as "Doing nothing's never nothing when it's something with you" (taken from Lil Dicky's song Molly). I feel like that line not only has a really nice flow to it but is a much more clever way of expressing the original thought yet still uses pretty much the same amount of words and lyric time.
Ok, that makes sense! I don't listen to electronic much myself, but I think I see what you mean. Sometimes vocals can behave more as just one instrument/sound among many, which is interesting.
I actively dislike lyrics, and seek out instrumental music or languages I don't understand. I tend to listen to music while I work on things, so seem to find words distracting.
Didn't know anyone else did this! I also dislike lyrics, and usually stick to chiptune / game music where they're not very common, but I like foreign lyrics since I can't understand them as words.
Try listening to folk/(modern-)punk/indie!
You basically have to be strong lyrically to succeed in those genres—and there are some people who are way too good at it.
Until about two years ago I cared almost exclusively about the musical and instrumental qualities of the music I listened to, and not at all about the lyrics. I even evaluated vocals based on their aural qualities as opposed to their content – I would sing along without actually processing what I was saying.
Then I met someone who completely changed the way I view a lot of things, and music just happened to be one of them. Now I'm really interested in the lyrical content of songs, can connect with them on an emotional level, and have even started informal research projects looking into the progression of lyrical content in popular music throughout the last century or so, at least in the US and Mexico so far. I have some programming projects I'd eventually like to do related to music and music analysis, but it'll be awhile before I get there.
Looks like I'm very alone in this, but shit yes, my music choice is leaning heavily to lyricism.
I do like poetry, but I am quite specific what poetry. A lot of famous stuff is too complex for me. I do like reading a lot, which might relate.
I find that the only times that I dislike a song because of its lyrics is when it's way too "cheesy" and "in-your-face" or if it's talking about pretty mundane, common, or superficial things. Not to be mean to a certain genre, but I'm talking about mainstream pop here.
I like it when lyrics follow or strengthen the aesthetic or mood of a song. Some examples are: Get Lucky - Daft Punk ; We Killed the Moonlight - Still Corners ; Cat Fantastic - This Town Needs Guns ; and Fall Forever - Honeyblood.
But, I also love poetic lyrics! They melt my heart and hug my soul. My favourite lyrics of all time come from The Oh Hellos, and I think There Beneath is a masterpiece.
TTNG is so good!
I think lyrics can have an incredible emotional power over me, but they're not above other parts to a song. I've been emotionally moved by purely instrumental songs, songs with very minimal instrumentation to back up their lyrical focus, and everything in between. I think that lyrics can be as powerful as any other part of instrumentation, but it's okay for them to take a backseat to other things in the medium.
I don't really read poetry much, but my favorite poem is l(a by E.E. Cummings, if you're wondering.
While I do think that lyrics are important I often find myself having no idea what they say; they're just another instrument creating sounds. I do have trouble hearing people normally when there is noise around so maybe my focus just drifts away from the vocals because I can't easily discern what they are.
There are definitely songs which require you to pay attention to the lyrics though (imo) such as Lateralus by Tool. More recently I find myself reading through the lyrics of songs to understand what they're saying and it can make listening more enjoyable.
I rarely listen to instrumental only music. If I can't understand the lyrics (not grasp the meaning, actually can't make out what the heck is being sung), or it's "negative" words, I skip the song. If I can't understand the lyrics after a couple attempts, I just delete it.
Depends on the theme. I've found I love some foreign songs because the lyrics become more of an instrument than story. Same can be said for really stylistic expressions like Alt-J and Jack Stauber where you really have to try and figure out what it is they're actually saying, or if they're making any sense at all.
Other times, it's the only thing keeping me connected to a song. I can't listen to this song without just falling in love thinking about the lyrics and the symbolism there. So it's just a mixed bag and depends on the feeling of the song and my mood at the time.
I also love things like this where they give some lyrics a more appropriate backdrop. I'd heard that song hundreds of times before without ever actually listening to the words. Makes you appreciate the tone of things a little bit more and wonder what else is hiding behind a happy pop exterior
I think lyricism can often be the main focal point of which a good song revolves around. Given that a huge portion of our brain is dedicated to speech recognition and semiotic processing, it makes sense that the vocals of a track are often the most memorable part.
The right combination of words accompanied by the right combination of harmonies/melody is often more evocative for me than just the instrumentals alone.
But bad lyrics can completely ruin a track too. And I'd argue that most lyrics are bad.
As ESL, yes, lyrics are vital.
Whenever I listen to music, the first thing I pick up on is the guitar (I usually only listen to music with guitar, with outliers, it's usually the primary lead/rhythm). So the first thing I always have memorized is some or all of the instrumentals. Lyrics are so hard for me to get down because I can rarely hear them in some of the louder, more aggressive genres, and oftentimes I'll know how a song goes, but I don't know any of the lyrics. Apparently, my friends have told me, this is strange
I don't think it's strange, we all enjoy things differently. I'm almost the opposite where I can remember a line from a song but not be able to recall the melody.
Not necessarily, but I absolutely love to listen to well-written songs. Many bands just recycle their lyrics through the years and change their sound* very little. Some like that about some bands, but I don't.
A fresh song that makes sense to me and entertains me simultaneously is a good song.
Still, most of my favorite music is instrumentals. One of the bands that nail it much more often than not is Hammock. They tell beautiful stories, sometimes using vocals or acapella that are heavily-edited to blend with the instruments, but more often without lyrics.
Here's one of my favorite tracks. Hammock - Breathturn Breathturn https://g.co/kgs/8NJeje
*edit: missing word
Musicality, rhythm, & vocal/instrumental performance are most important to me. Lyrics are good if they have something interesting to say (or are particularly clever). Beethoven doesn't need lyrics. Pavarotti is great even if I can't understand the lyrics. John Mayer, Harry Chapin, etc. say meaningful and interesting things with their lyrics while being consistently musical. Tim Minchin is fun & surprising.
I can appreciate rap as an exercise in rhythmic poetry, but I've never found it to be musical. Blues or R&B, on the other hand, can be wonderful.
Lyricism makes or breaks a song for me. I'm mostly into music for the words, and poorly written lyrics instantly ruin the song in my experience.
There's something really satisfying about it all—especially when you have a moment where the music hits just right on top of the lyricism.
Lyrics are almost entirely irrelevant to me for most casual listening. I'm almost never paying attention to the words on the first few listens of a song, instead concentrating on the instruments, arrangement, groove, chord changes, and the overall performance. Usually I hear the singer as just another instrument. Eventually if I hear a song enough I'll start to catch some of the words, but there are songs I have been hearing since I was a kid that I still don't know all the words to.
An exception is when I need to learn a song for a gig. Sometimes I'll make sure to learn at least some of the words to aid in the learning process. For example, when I'm playing a gig with a lot of jazz standards in a row, I find that I'll sometimes have trouble recalling melody or tempo of a song. But if I can remember the words it can trigger the rest of the song to pop into my head before the count off. Another way I find it helpful is in studio situations where I'm reading charts or just don't know the music well. I'm not a great sight reader so I'll sometimes use a lyric sheet (or full score) instead of regular drum charts to help me keep my place in a song. And after doing ten takes even I will learn most of the words.