What's more important? Lyrics or music? (Poll)

Let's try to avoid saying "both," unless that's your heartfelt conviction.

I say music, by far. In fact, I barely hear what the words say. The voice is an instrument to me.

Example:
Led Zeppelin - Carouselambra

 

Both.

 

Music.

 

Dont be silly

 

Music. Because when I listen to the lyrics, I realize how dumb Journey really is. : )

 

vocal is more important than lyric for me

 

Music is essential lyrics are optional.

 

Music can easily hook you up of the song even if the lyrics are trash. As for lyrics, you're gonna need to like the music first before lyrics.

 

If you say lyrics, you may as well stick to a poetry book

 

The correct answer is mastering

 

this is the music corner. gtfo with those werds

 

In the Eighties, it was all about the Video.

 

Just voted. Close call so far.

 

Lyrics aren't music. Music is music. Lyrics make music better, but they aren't a fundamental part of what makes music music

 

The album in which LZ jumped the shark.

 

De do do do de da da da
Is all I want to say to you

 

Lyrics is like the story in porno.
If it's good, then it can make music better.
If it sucks, well it doesn't matter too much...

 

This is silly. I don't like how the question is posed. It isn't a one or the other situation.

Obviously I love music because I love music--melody, harmony, performance, etc. But I am a lyrics person. I don't (and can't) listen to music if I think the lyrics are rubbish. For me, truly great songs have both great music and great words.

And here's usually where someone references Do Wah Diddy or Tutti Frutti to illustrate that words are unimportant in rock music. I disagree. I'm not much of a fan of either, but Chuck Berry? Now he was a master wordsmith who rocked. And my very favorite artists? Joni, Stones, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Steely Dan...? Great words and great music. I need both.

 

It depends on the artist. Pink Floyd covers both ends of this spectrum quite well depending on the period.

 

Music is the best! FZ

 

Not sure why this is so silly. I'll explain my reasoning. After seeing Dylan - and hearing people cheer at every line out of his mouth - I was curious about why Dylan took so long to sink in for me. The words meant so much to them. Me? I went to see the man and his top-flight band.

Then, after seeing THIS thread - I was even more curious. I am amazed at the knowledge that some of you have about the lyrics. They barely matter to me. (I love instrumentals, by the way.)

Lyrics - schmyrics. A long as I'm rich.


Now THAT'S silly.

 

If the music is good, you'll need the record, regardless of the quality for the lyrics.
Also, bad or uninteresting lyrics will ever make a bad record: you'll enjoy it for the music/production/performances.

(when only the lyrics are good, then maybe all that you need is to read them - or have them recorded without music: I agree that in some instance mediocre music could do them disservice)

 

Music. I can excuse bad lyrics in all but the very worst instances. But if the music is uninteresting to me, I won't listen to it no matter how amazing the words are (c.f. Leonard Cohen).

If anything, for me the question would be something like "Music" or "Performance"?

 

I guess it's a nonsense to say that lyrics and poetry are the same thing. It seems to me that some people here forget the important function that each word and its sound has within a song, sometimes even conjuring up for the essential musical flow of a song. Furthermore, to make a comparison, lyrics in music somehow function like the words in a language, since each and every word has its own "musicality" as well as each whole sentence also can have a different musicality depending on the emotional content (or including the language in which it's written.)

But I usually don't give attention to what meanings or messages the lyrics are conveying to me when listening to a song, even when hearing Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Neil Young or Tom Petty, just to name the ones people have mentioned on this thread. But I have to admit that I have difficulties to fully enjoy artists like Bob Dylan for example - I've already listened to a lot of music by him but really love and care for only three songs: Blowing In The Wind, Señor, and Lay Lady Lay. On the other hand, I can easily recall more than 20 songs by Neil Young that I really love and care for all the way. I realise that I really couldn't care less for the lyrics content conveyed by the great songs in my book, simple like that

 

Weird. It's both, or either/or.