do lyrics REALLY matter?

grimtraveller said:
Looked at from a certain point of view, there's alot to be said for that. If you took a vocalist singing a song, whether reggae, rock, folk or buja-buja, pretty much regardless of the genre, the vocal performance, the melody and the cadence are more important than the lyric. Especially if you factor in that the language of the lyric may be unknown to the listener or that you may not understand what the singer is actually saying some or much of the time, interspersed with the bits that you do understand. Also, sometimes, even with what you may consider to be a great and wonderful lyric, you just want to hear an overall sound/song without having to actually do any work listening to and thinking about what is being said.
But it's too simplistic to say that the actual words mean jack shit. Most of the time, words mean something, even if the writer of those words has just strung them together without thinking anything deep. That whole "lyrics are meaningless" thing is, ironically an overhang from the 60s when hippies began taking the lyrics of the bands at the time just too seriously and you had people like the weathermen and the Manson family committing atrocities but thinking that there was support for their actions in song lyrics. Naturally, the artists backtracked - from saying their songs could change consciousness (and by extension, 'the world'), they started coming out with "Oh, these are just words. They don't mean anything !". How can the major carrier of communication among the human race not mean anything ? ! ?
Also, I think that those for whom lyrics mean nothing or are unimportant are most definitely purveyors of a minority sport.
It wasn't just the loud and raucous instruments of punk that got much of the anst and rage across because heavy rock had been doing that musically for a decade. It was lyrics like "Whatever happened to the British empire ? You bastards turned it into manure !" or "God save the Queen ! /She ain't no human being..../and there ain't no future/in England's dream". Those lyrics said something and spoke to loads of people that felt the same way. Of course, the effect of those kind of lyrics would've been totally lost if the vocal performances hadn't been memorable.
Reggae was good and pretty solid musically, but in truth, it would never have resonated with black kids without it's lyrics. They communicated, if only for a few years through the 70s and 80s, a feeling of pride and positivity that resounds to this day. And a number of English punks were secret black wannabees that wished they had something they could be really be angry about and write it in song......
While it's fun to discuss and debate over, what Greg's quote points at, at least to me, is that songs are wholes that are actually more important than any of the individual elements within them.
That all said, rock, soul, R&B, pop, so many forms of popular western music are absolutely peppered with songs that have what many consider to be shitty lyrics. Lyrics so rubbishy, that it's not hard to conclude that lyrics don't matter. Especially when those songs are hits. But not all music is one inseparable homogenous lump.
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Hear, hear, Grim! Excellent post.

You can only gain so much by analyzing a work of music in terms of just one factor - lyrics, melody, harmony, rhythm, or arrangement. What really matters is how it all comes together to make the listener feel something. It's possible and probable for a great song to have mediocre lyrics, or a mediocre melody, etc. One weak/missing element isn't going to break a song.
 
Hooooooooooold On!!!!!!!!!
Whats so wrong about those lyrics anyway?

My problem is that I wish people would listen to me, and care what I have to say. Im well aware they dont

I bet those 30 guys had a lot of fun when they did get a girl in the 'NPZ' :spank::spank::spank:
 
benherron.rrr said:
My problem is that I wish people would listen to me, and care what I have to say. I'm well aware they don't.
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Greg_L said:
Really? Why? Do you need approval or validation of your feelings from others?

:confused:
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Wanting people to listen to what you have to say does not mean you need or are looking for approval or validation. Conversations, discussions and debates aren't necesarilly about that at all. Now, they can be sometimes, I'm aware of that. But it's not a given. One could say that getting involved in discussions on threads or putting up one's music and thanking people when they say nice things about it is seeking validation and approval by the back door. But I wouldn't.
benherron.rrr said:
Hooooooooooold On!!!!!!!!!
Whats so wrong about those lyrics anyway?
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Wrong isn't the word I would use. There's nothing wrong with them. In my opinion, they're trite and crappy. Lots of songs have crappy lyrics, yet are superb songs that I'll love forever.

Love, love me do, you know I love you
I'll always be true - so please, love me do
Someone to love, somebody true
Someone to love, someone like you....

Fantastic song. Banal lyrics although to be fair, it was written around 1960. But still.....
One weak aspect need not derail an entire song. I mean, Kravitz's song might be awesome.
 
kinda speaks for itself:

the caption on YouTube for that vid says "The last photo is my grandfather working on his last pole in rural Middle Georgia before retirement in 1972".
 
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