How important is subject matter in songs ?

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grimtraveller

grimtraveller

If only for a moment.....
Does the subject matter of songs make any difference ? Is it important to understand what a song is about or is that irrelevant ?
 
For me, as a listener, it isn't important at all. Plenty (maybe most?) of the songs I like I have no idea what they're talking about and don't really care.

I think I listen to vocals more like they're another instrument. I'm much more interested in the sound of the voice, the melody and what that evokes.

Having said that, I'm sure if the subject matter was like offensive to me or something, that would matter and would probably make me avoid a song regardless of whatever else it had going for it, but I don't think the subject matter is ever a positive for me.
 
I think that it depends on the target audience and/or if the composer wants to convey a message. The difference between Dylan and Beiber.
My apologies to Justin if I misspelled his name.
 
If you don't have anything to say, what are you writing a song for?
 
I like my songs to mean something, so in my personal writing it is important.
 
like all music questions the answer is there's no answer.
Different people listen for different things.
 
Not having a subject worked wonders for the Grateful Dead. :D
 
Obviously, this is subjective. I personally, enjoy a song with well writen lyrics which tell a "story". I beleive many if not most songs that have been successful at a commerical level had lyrics that a large cross section of listeners could relate to (lost love, broken hearts, partying on the weekend, etc.).

So I would suggest lyrics can and should matter (at least in the pop genre). That said - there is a lot of great instrumental music (from classical to jazz to surf) and there are plenty of songs with lyrics that make no sense at all - but the groove or melody is more than enough to engage.

Like anything - it depends on individual opinions.
 
Any subject matter will work, so long as you exploit it well. Don't basically copy the same thing that's already been done, find new creative ways to approach the subject.
 
Subject matter usually is important if you are a songwriter who plans on submitting demos to other artists, in hopes they will record your song.

Alot of writers will research the kind of songs a certain artist records, and try to write something similar (Thats where knowing how to craft a song comes in handy) Generally negative songs, songs that paint the singer in a bad light, songs that make the singer appear different than their image are no no's Love songs, seem to be the norm.

As far as writing a GOOD song, as opposed to a commercially sellable one, subject matter doesnt matter. Alot of times it's HOW you say something which is more important than what you say Lionel Richies "You're Once, twice, three times a lady" I mean damn, so simple, but yet will make a woman melt if you sang that to her. Coulda just said, "your everything to me" "You got it over everybody" your the one.

You can write a song about a bug, and make it interesting. How bout "Boris the Spider" by the who, listen to the music, the melody, the harmonies
all that oddball ness. it's a fine song really. Not going to be played on top 40 radio but it's a clever song

Boris the Spider - YouTube
 
barry c said:
Grateful dead had a professional lyricst work with them on some of their most famous songs, so subject matter DID matter to them.

Robert Hunter (lyricist) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Click to expand...

Actually, no.

The fact that Jerry had his buddy write the lyrics for his tunes merely indicates that he didn't want to do it himself, not that lyrical subject matter was important to the band. You make it sound like they hired Robert Hunter or something. He and Jerry were pals that played bluegrass together and they just kind of evolved into a songwriting team.

A lot of their early popular songs were completely nonsensical. Later on, a lot of their lyrics had some kind of Americana storytelling feel to them, but it was still usually quite vague and focused more on word play and imagery than adhering to any particular subject.
 
Depends on how seriously you take yourself and how you want people to perceive you or the song.
 
heatmiser said:
Actually, no.

The fact that Jerry had his buddy write the lyrics for his tunes merely indicates that he didn't want to do it himself, not that lyrical subject matter was important to the band. You make it sound like they hired Robert Hunter or something. He and Jerry were pals that played bluegrass together and they just kind of evolved into a songwriting team.

A lot of their early popular songs were completely nonsensical. Later on, a lot of their lyrics had some kind of Americana storytelling feel to them, but it was still usually quite vague and focused more on word play and imagery than adhering to any particular subject.
Click to expand...

He wrote with them because he wrote GREAT lyrics for their style of music. Had the wrote "I love you" he wouldnt still be writing with them

Subject matter was important to them, they wrote ethereal lofty songs often drug infused, but not just any idiot could write them. The guy was a
great lyricist.

"I spoke with Robert Hunter at "the Office," the Grateful Dead's Victorian headquarters in San Rafael, sitting under the six original charcoal sketches for the back cover of Workingman's Dead. It was Hunter's lyrics on that album for "Uncle John's Band," "Easy Wind" and "Cumberland Blues" that first drew me to his work: His narratives of miners and pioneers, gamblers and jackballers, were California to me before I ever saw California, an imagination of the American West that alloyed the live Dead's jazz-inspired sea journeys with song traditions of ballads and blues.

If the Dead pried open doors to new musical domains with their "blues with progressions/ modeled on the tesseract" (as Hunter put it), it was Hunter who put people in them, in the characters of August West, Delia DeLyon, the Candyman, and the nameless sailor from Carlisle who braved a lion's den to retrieve a fan tossed by his beloved. Hunter mined a vein struck by Bob Dylan and Robbie Robertson of rock and roll as social history, and Hunter's people are mortal, fallible, caught by the storyteller's lamp just at the moment of decision. His portrayals are redemptive, in the sense of Nelson Algren's statement that one calling of the American writer is to "stand with the accused. "

Steve Silberman's Interview with Robert Hunter from Poetry Flash
 
First you say that because Jerry had a lyricist, that meant that the subject matter of the lyrics were important to them. Now you say that because he was good at it and his lyrics were great, that proves that the subjct matter was important to them. Neither fact proves that specific point at all.

The fact is that this band is a horrible, horrible example to try to prove that point. If anything, they prove the exact opposite. Many of their most beloved songs have no discernable subject matter whatsoever. I would go so far as to say that is what I like most about Hunter's lyrics. Fans of the band that I've known (and I am one) generally do not know or care what the actual subject matter is. It's more about the overall mood that the words evoke, but mostly just about the music.

China Cat Sunflower - what the hell is that about? No one cares - great song.
Dark Star - not about anything. If it is, it is completely lost on the listener - doesn't matter.
Cosmic Charlie - wtf? Great tune.

Some of the later folk tale kind of numbers from the era that your quote above refers to are still super vague. I have no idea who Jack Straw or Tennessee Jed are, and it isn't at all relevant to the enjoyment of those songs.

The subject matter could have been practically anything at all (or nothing as was often the case) and the Grateful Dead would still be essentially the same. That is a good thing.
 
No the fact is the guy who mentioned the dead as examples of artists who didnt worry about content was dead wrong.

The beatles wrote Obla Di OBla Da, but they also wrote Eleanorr Rigby. They Wrote Yellow Submarine, but they also wrote Hey Jude.

It's a shame that people say whatever they wish to say here and not worry one bit if what they say is true or not. YES, there is no need to know anything about songwriting, there is no need to care about what your songs are about, you cant learn anything, you just buy a guitar and start writing songs, either some people like them or they dont!

Did you read the article I posted? West Coast band writing stories about west coast Americana, not songs about Massachusettes.

If not worried, they should be writing about Maine.

If you dont think the lyrics transport the person listening to West Coast, then perhaps you dont pay attention to lyrics, and that is the reason you assume they dont matter.
 
Again I submit Surfin Bird. Nonsensical song about nothing, best song in this thread.
 
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