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

King Solomon just gave me the song because I refused divided judgement. Although if the metaphorical baby is Neil Young's "T-bone", then hack away and give me the musical remainder: don't need no mashed taters 'round here.

 

When I record with my friend, he usually is the lyric writer (and thankfully is really good at it). I will listen to the song dozens of times before I even pay attention to the overall lyrics. To me it's all about the music and the melody. I do not care about the lyrics until the very end. Many songs are put over the top based on the lyrics and certainly there are the most basic songs that are dominated by the lyrics. But even then, there is a lyric melody which can be hummed without words. So that's my answer.

 

I see you are a Springsteen fan. How do you feel about his solo work like Nebraska, Joad, and Devils?

I agree the music has to be there. Nebraska is the best of the three for me. I don't like Joad because the music isn't that good and I don't like his singing. Devils is in the middle. Now Western Stars, to me, is brilliant because of the music.

 

Because the music is what the words are set to and vice versa. The music is important, but the lyrics are what people will remember the most. On the other hand the music might be what people remember the most. It's a toss up and they are both important...

 

I like the lone from Eddie and the Cruisers,: "Words and music." One can compensate for the other.

 

I've seen you express this sentiment before. I have a sincere question for you (and anyone else who answered similarly, i.e. The words mean nothing to you):

Do you not care that you are ignoring a huge part of the artistic and creative work of the artist? I'm speaking about songwriters like Joni Mitchell or Steely Dan or any great songwriter. They worked extremely hard on the lyrics and they are gigantic part of the art being presented to you, the listener. They literally would not have released the music with different or lesser lyrics, or just humming. The music is critical and brilliant, but the emotional storytelling is just as important. I can't imagine listening to 'Powderfinger' by Neil Young and not caring about or even listening to the words. The song has impact because of the words and how they pair with the music. It is a great song because of both.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

As far as I'm concerned, if a song doesn't have good lyrics, it should just be an instrumental.

 

I respect them artistically, and I strongly believe artists have to explore different things and styles, but they’re probably my least played albums in his catalog. Devils is my preferred of the three, just because it actually has some production/instrumentation, and unlike Joad, some actual melody. I wish I could get into Western Stars, there’s a few good songs but it’s way too mellow and same-y to be 50-something minutes long.

 

It’d be easier to ignore if the vocals weren’t almost always way too hot in the mix...like a bro dude singing over a karaoke track. Wish they’d shut up about their trucks and just let Brett Mason or whomever play more.

 

And if it doesn’t have good music, it should just be printed as a poetry book.

 

Without music it’s just (with few exceptions) bad poetry.

 

It truly is both (for me).

More specifically, my preference in order is:

1. Music with lyrics.
2. Music alone, if I must.
3. Lyrics alone would be infinitely a distant third. They may be pretty or clever on there own, but I would never "listen to lyrics" without the music. That's why I love songs and not necessarily poetry. The love of actual songs (the musical accompaniment) make the lyrics something more magical than mere words. There are countless grooves, melodies, musical compositions I can very much be drawn to just on their own. I am rarely ever drawn to mere words or rhymes on their own.

 

Every era of music has a different contribution. Beating two sticks or two rocks together worked magic 5,000 years ago. Words are one part of music and I think the most important part. Western religious music began with chants. Think of folk, the music was almost nonexistent. "This Land Is Your Land" is built around a very simple melody. The poetic metre sets up a basic rhythm. Rock n roll started with very simple music, simple lyrics. As rock n roll developed in late 50's and 60's it evolved. Imagine using the lyrics "I really like brown onions" instead of "Carry on my wayward son". The words don't need to be complex, a song doesn't need to be wordy. But the words have got to make sense.

 

Fine question. I'm not completely deaf to the lyrics, and I do appreciate the art of writing songs. I am interested in what the artists have to say. It's just that the lyrics are usually the last things that matter to me. As an example, I found myself singing along to a song yesterday while I did chores, but I only knew some of the key phrases and chorus. I've been hearing that song for 40 years.

 

Pretentious? Are you sure that's the word you're looking for.
It seems logical to me, considering the poem came first, that the music would have been inspired by words.
It strains believability to suggest that the music was written and a set of words were then searched for that would follow the rythem and cadence of the composed music.

 

"The movement you need is on your shoulder..." Got to make sense, not always it appears. At least Paul changed "scrambled eggs" to "yesterday".

 

I loved the instrumental SACHA by Hank B Marvin.
Does this song have lyrics?
If they added lyrics, it would probably spoil the song.

Some of the old 60's 45's had the vocal version of a song on side A, and the instrumental version on the B side. They gave you a choice!

 

Music, absolutely.

 

I quoted you so I wouldn't have to write it myself.

There are exceptions where the lyrics do manage to grab me, but that's just what they are - exceptions. I can't imagine enjoying a song for its great lyrics if the music isn't working for me.

 

When it comes to music and my concern with it, no, I don't care about that, because I don't agree that the semantic content of lyrics is part of the music. This could easily get into a philosophical discussion about what meaning is and how it works . . . which probably wouldn't get very far, partially because folks aren't really interested in talking about that sort of stuff in depth here (plus I have relatively unusual/controversial views about it, views that are pretty well-cemented due to having a background in that sort of stuff and having a decades-long history with it, and discussions where that's the case for one side don't tend to go well online), but the bottom line is that I don't consider that a part of the music, and my concern with music is purely the musical aspects, which is also why I don't care who is actually playing on anything, who actually wrote anything, whether the artist liked the work or not, whether the artist was also a serial killer or not, whether it's cool to like it or not, or anything else like that. All I care about when it comes to music, for the sake of music, is whether I enjoy the sounds coming out of the speakers. I'm a formalist in that sense.

As I've mentioned many times, though, there is some music where I pay attention to lyrics, and there are lyricists I like (versus the majority that I'm indifferent towards), but it just doesn't impact my assessment of anything as music.

I see the semantic content of lyrics as something different than the music, just like I see visual artwork for the album as something different than the music--even though maybe the musician did their own visual artwork and maybe they even consider it integral to the overall work. I might like the visual artwork a lot (as in the case of Chris Mars, say), but it won't have an impact on my assessment of the music.

 

Ask Paul.

 

Music. Great lyrics are just the icing on the cake.

 

Thank you for answering! I honestly don't think two people could listen to music as differently as you and I seem to listen to it. And I say this with total respect, as I always enjoy reading your posts and hearing your thoughts. It just goes to show: different strokes!

 

Coltrane - Music
Dylan - Lyrics

 

I agree. But pre internet I just had to accept that probably half the stuff I listened to I had no idea what they were actually saying!