How Important Are Lyrics ?

[The Casey Cat]

Agree with most here. Great lyrics that fit the song can take it to another level. But I can also appreciate simple straight forward lyrics too from bands talked about here like Nirvana. They can definitely wreck a song for me though if I feel they are contrived or too repetitive.

 

[La Dispute]

Lyrics>Musicianship for me.

I think AC/DC is a good example tbh. Sure they have cool guitar lines and everything but their lyrics for the most part are dumb, misogynistic and to me, boring. I don't feel any particular emotional connection when I listen to AC/DC.

All my favourite bands and artists (Brand New, Radiohead, Modest Mouse, The Tallest Man On Earth, Elliott Smith etc) have good lyricists and their songwriting (words) is a major factor.

That being said I still enjoy a lot of Metal and Electronica where lyrics aren't as big a factor.

 

[PVF]

It's interesting really. Stairway to Heaven is considered one of the greatest songs of all time but good luck to anyone that can understand what the lyrics all mean but people don't care because it's still a great song.

I like some songs just because of the lyrics and some songs because of the music but I guess it depends on who I'm listening to.

 

[cammo84]

It's interesting really. Stairway to Heaven is considered one of the greatest songs of all time but good luck to anyone that can understand what the lyrics all mean but people don't care because it's still a great song.

I like some songs just because of the lyrics and some songs because of the music but I guess it depends on who I'm listening to.

Stairway to Heaven is a good example. The lyrics are one of the least important elements of the song but it is still talked about as one of the great rock songs of all time. Contrastingly, Bohemian Rhapsody is another song talked about in a similar light, but the lyrics are incredibly memorable. Would Bohemian Rhapsody be as revered as it is if it had lyrics that didn't really mean anything?

 

[BABYBOMBERS2007]

I think it needs both lyrics and good music.

Terrible lyrics + good music = don't like
Good lyrics + bad music = don't like

However there are a lot of songs where the lyrics do not make much sense, yet they are good to listen to. However the really classic songs generally have both good lyrics and music.

 

[The Passenger]

totally depends on the music.

if bob dylan wrote shit lyrics then no would ever listen to him.

ac/dc generally write shit lyrics but their music is pretty rocking (although starting to get a bit stale for me, but i go through waves with them) so it doesn't matter.

tool write some amazing lyrics (schism, lateralus, undertow) and combined with killer riffs take them to a whole other level few bands can reach.

if it weren't for win bulters lyrics, arcade fire would most likely not have gone close to receiving the plaudits they did.

RATM have some fantastic lyrics (particuraly know your enemy and bullet in the head), and they back it up with some epic sounds. ironically their simplest song lyrically became their most famous because he says the word **** about 15 times in a minute. yes, it is a ****ing epic track though.

I remember seeing an interview with Kurt Cobain and he said lyrics were totally over rated and didn't mean much to him. He used 'My Sharona' as an example. WTF is My Sharona? Who cares? the song is a classic

don't you like the touch of the younger kind??

 

[Username_lost]

If you're gonna bother to have them then yes they matter as much as anything else. They are either adding or subtracting from the value of the whole thing.

 

[Cursed Cat]

good thread, it's an interesting subject.

as to the OP's question; it's as important as you want it to be !

Some genres are traditionally strongly based around story-telling and the sharing of experiences, folk, blues and I'm guessing a lot of indigenous (or 'world) music are some that fall into this category. Hip-hop too, to a point.

rock n' roll, particularly in the early days, seemed content to espouse a more joyous, informal lyrical approach; stuff of little import or consequence; Elvis & early Beatles are great examples of this; a lot of it was pretty formulaic, boy meets/loses girl stuff.

Bob Dylan was a massive game-changer, he raised the bar immeasurably in the early 60's, and a lot of western music followed suit around that time with varying levels of success; in the post-Dylan scene genuinely talented and clever lyricists where less likely to dumb down and more likely to explore new ways of putting words to music. On the flip side, over the years there has been an endless parade of pretentious, ultimately mediocre lyricists who seem to think they have to hammer the listener with their 'profound insights', when it's just as likely he or she is no smarter than you or me.

Stuff like funk, disco, most dance-oriented music, has never felt a need to develop lyrical themes beyond dancing, having a good time and euphemisms for sex.

With soul music, it doesn't matter if your subject matter is relatively banal, as long as you are passionate about it.

Early punk, some early-to-mid 80's hip-hop, and a lot of that 60's stuff saw lyricists wearing their political hearts on their sleeves; this is a tradition that has filtered down through yer Springsteen's and Midnight Oil's up to yer more modern day Rage Against the Machine's and what-have-you.

On a personal level, I'm the same as most people; I can be blown away when the right lyric is married to the right song.
But just as often I only register what the singer is talking about on a near-subliminal level.

Some lyricists I generally like a lot :

Tom Waits - Gifted. He can conjure up a poetic simile or well-drawn character at will, he can reach surprising depths of sincerity just as you've got him figured as a wiseguy. He has come up with a thousand hilarious one-liners and just as many heartbreaking details. I was gonna list a couple of his best lyrical efforts but then I realised I had no idea where to start.

Chuck D - those first two Public Enemy albums made my head spin when I first heard them, and Chuck D's lyrical contributions where no less confronting and baffling than the music; equal parts political firestarter & streetwise cynic, densely layered with wordplay which drew on the African American slang of the time and his own clever lyrical twists and turns.
I'm yet to hear an MC who does it better than Chuck D.
Best track :
Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos

David Byrne - He recently described many of his early Talking Heads songs as 'anthropological', and there is a real sense that he was a smart guy who struggled to understand and connect to the world - his best work was 35ish years ago now, and with the benefit of hindsight he has speculated that he was perhaps a borderline Aspergers-type as a younger man, and that he just grew out of it over time. This would explain a lot. Some of his songs have an unselfconscious awkwardness to them which is strangely discomforting.
Byrne has also stated numerous times that he refused to write any cliches and only use language that he would use conversationally; these were 'rules' early on. Later on his lyrics leaned heavily towards non-sequitors.
Some better lines :
"Animals think they're pretty smart/shit on the ground/see in the dark (Animals)
"Go talk to your analyst, isn't that what they're paid for ?" (No Compassion)
"Look over there ! A Dry Ice factory - A good place to get some thinking done ! (Cities)

Tom Verlaine - there is a current thread on the band Television, I only have their first album but the surreal imagery Verlaine evokes and the sheer originality of his lyrical style make the album Marquee Moon one of my favourite albums both musically and lyrically.
Best lines :
"Hey man, let's dress up like cops, think of what we could do"
"My hands are like gloves"
"Broadway looked so medieval/It seemed to flap like little pages" (WTF ??)
"My eyes are like telescopes"

Lou Reed & Elvis Costello honorary mentions ...

 

[ioppolo]

As a rap fan - yeah lyrics are pretty important.

Lil Wayne & Drake never learnt this though, along with every rapper from 2002 onwards.

 

[getthefooty]

As a rap fan - yeah lyrics are pretty important.

Lil Wayne & Drake never learnt this though, along with every rapper from 2002 onwards.

Below the Heavens, Rip the Jacker, Mic Club: The Curriculum, Violent by Design, The Gatalog, Southernunderground, A Piece of Strange, The Preface, Elmatic, The Return of the Drifter, The Listening, A Long Hot Summer, Death is Certain, Be, Madvillainy, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, even Rev. vol 1 & 2. A list of absolute top quality hip-hop albums released after 2002 off the top of my head, and I could go on.

Though I don't wish to get the whole 'hip hop is dead' argument started again.

 

[ioppolo]

Below the Heavens, Rip the Jacker, Mic Club: The Curriculum, Violent by Design, The Gatalog, Southernunderground, A Piece of Strange, The Preface, Elmatic, The Return of the Drifter, The Listening, A Long Hot Summer, Death is Certain, Be, Madvillainy, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, even Rev. vol 1 & 2. A list of absolute top quality hip-hop albums released after 2002 off the top of my head, and I could go on.

Though I don't wish to get the whole 'hip hop is dead' argument started again.

I was more referring to new rappers who have only come along since early this millenium, all the ones you listed had been since before that.

I'm more talking about Wiz Khalifa and that sorta thing.

 

[Silent Alarm]

I really think it depends on the instrumentation and the intentions of the artist.

Okay, so, someone like Radiohead need good lyrics. Their music is fairly serious, and Thom's lyrics need to be good. The same goes for someone like Yo La Tengo, where the music really feels like art.

Then there are bands like Two Door Cinema Club. It's throwaway garbage intended for teen dramas and music festivals. They'll sell their songs to Audi for a commercial. I'd argue that their songs are not art. Lyricism is peripheral and good lyricism would add depth, but their actual (poor) lyrics just keep it at a so-so level.

A really good example is Los Campesinos! The singer, Gareth, is such a talented lyricist. Their first album was this if-Pavement-were-twee-let's-shout-and-not-pay-our-student-fee sound. I dunno, if his lyrics weren't any good, you'd probably feel pretty meh about the whole thing.. it'd be throwaway. But his lyrics articulated something relatable, humorous, and interesting.. it added to the music. So for Los Campesinos!, it is interesting, because it takes them to that next level.

 

[HumphreyShoulders]

I would say that appreciation of lyrics is separate from appreciation of music, but they make for a great package. Just like having an awesome album cover that heightens the experience. But music above all else still.

 

[Silent Alarm]

I was more referring to new rappers who have only come along since early this millenium, all the ones you listed had been since before that.

I'm more talking about Wiz Khalifa and that sorta thing.

So narrow minded. I'm not even a big rap fan, but there's plenty of good rap going around. You just need to look harder.

A genre as broad as rap doesn't just start sucking overnight.

 

[He_Beast]

"x sucks these days" is code for "I'm older and have a job now"

 

[soldierz]

Definitely important in certain genres like hip hop/rap and not so much in others.

 

[Shane Hird]

Bowie is the one of the great lyric writers. Take this song for instance...how the #### can someone come up with a song like this with such complex lyrics?

​

"Young Americans"​

They pulled in just behind the bridge
He lays her down, he frowns
"Gee my life's a funny thing, am I
still too young?"
He kissed her then and there
She took his ring, took his babies
It took him minutes, took her nowhere
Heaven knows, she'd have taken anything, but

[CHORUS (She)]
All night
She wants the young American
Young American, young American, she wants the young American
All right
She wants the young American

Scanning life through the picture
window
She finds the slinky vagabond
He coughs as he passes her Ford
Mustang, but
Heaven forbid, she'll take anything
But the freak, and his type, all for
nothing
He misses a step and cuts his hand, but
Showing nothing, he swoops like a song
She cries "Where have all Papa's heroes gone?"

[CHORUS (She)]
All the way from Washington
Her bread-winner begs off the bathroom floor
We live for just these twenty years
Do we have to die for the fifty more?"

[CHORUS (HE)]
All night
He wants the young American
Young American, young American,
he wants the young American
All right
He wants the young American

Do you remember, your President Nixon?
Do you remember, the bills you have to pay?
Or even yesterday?
Have been the un-American?
Just you and your idol sing falsetto
'bout Leather, leather everywhere, and
Not a myth left from the ghetto
Well, well, well, would you carry a razor
In case, just in case of depression?
Sit on your hands on a bus of survivors
Blushing at all the afro-Sheeners
Ain't that close to love?
Well, ain't that poster love?
Well, it ain't that Barbie doll
Her hearts have been broken just like you

[CHORUS (YOU)]
All night
You want the young American
Young American, young American, you want the young American
All right
You want the young American

You ain't a pimp and you ain't a hustler
A pimp's got a Cadi and a lady got a Chrysler
Black's got respect, and white's got his soul train
Mama's got cramps, and look at your hands ache
(I heard the news today, oh boy)
I got a suite and you got defeat
Ain't there a man who can say no more?
And, ain't there a woman I can
sock on the jaw?
And, ain't there a child I can hold without judging?
Ain't there a pen that will write before they die?
Ain't you proud that you've still got faces?
Ain't there one damn song that can make me
break down and cry?

[CHORUS (I) (repeat 3 times ad lib)]
All night
I want the young American
Young American, young American, I want the young American
All right
I want the young American​

 

[IAMJUNGLEMUFFIN]

Yeah lyrics are the least important part of a song for me. Even now, songs from my favourite bands that I've listened to hundreds or thousands of times, I still don't know all the words to.

It's all about the feel for me, and it's not often that the lyrics to the song give me that response.

 

[Corrosion]

You can have good music with shit lyrics, but great lyrics lift songs to another plane. "Nothingman" by PJ and "Lateralus" by Tool are two examples of that.

You forgot to mention 'Black' by Pearl Jam in that list. Amazing lyrics and one of the best songs I've ever heard.

 

[eldorado]

phoenetically, texturally - as important as anything else

This.

The lyrics themselves can sometimes add to a song, but the character, texture, and timbre of the voice is often crucial...as humans, we are probably programmed to respond to a voice at a different level to other sounds, so having a voice and music together probably makes the experience more complex and meaningful as a whole, compared to instrumental music.

 

[Bennett.]

Mellencamp and Springsteen are 2 of the greatest story writers. Without the lyrics, who knows?