How important is subject matter in songs ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter grimtraveller
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The best lyrics for me are nearly always lyrics about nothing in particular
More like, the words sound good with the music (most important thing for me), creating some pictures that go well with the vibe of the song
I hate message-songs or story-songs. most of the time.
 
Ask anyone who has ever played "Mustang Sally" a song about a car (guys) and a girl (girls) with a great dance beat and a sing-along for the audience.

heatmiser said:
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.
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Rod Norman said:
Ask anyone who has ever played "Mustang Sally" a song about a car (guys) and a girl (girls) with a great dance beat and a sing-along for the audience.
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Quite possibly the most disgustingly overplayed lame ass cover band song ever.
 
Even in my darkest days in cover band hell, I never played Mustang Sally... got close though... I seem to recall playing Mercury Blues at some stage... eek. :laughings:
 
Seriously, Mustang Sally is one of those songs that was a cool song in it's original form and has since been mauled and raped to death by shitty middle-to-late aged bar blues cover bands worldwide.

I'm usually respectful to bands that play live no matter what they play, but I most certainly have heckled bands that play that song.
 
I'm a country music writer. On that genre, the story is everything... and of course the hook ;)
 
Rod Norman said:
Ask anyone who has ever played "Mustang Sally" a song about a car (guys) and a girl (girls) with a great dance beat and a sing-along for the audience.
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I guess I don't understand...are you saying that if I asked someone in a cover band who has performed that song before, they would say that the subject matter of a song is important, or that it is not?

I know the song, and I may have heard a band play it at a wedding or something...? Not sure.
 
A perfectly written set of lyrics doesn't stand out and allows the listener to ignore them.
 
Paradise City is a perfect example. Does anyone know or care what Axl is yelping frantically during the verses?

If they were bad words, you'd know it, but the sound and themes of the words work with the song so the listener is able to tune em out and concentrate on the chant, which is what that song's about.
 
fat_fleet said:
Paradise City is a perfect example. Does anyone know or care what Axl is yelping frantically during the verses?

If they were bad words, you'd know it, but the sound and themes of the words work with the song so the listener is able to tune em out and concentrate on the chant, which is what that song's about.
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I know he says something about a gas chamber and something about treating it like a capital criiiiiiiiime.
 
Anyhoo, if you're out there barry, that's MASTER CRAFT Lesson 1- Great rock lyrics are ignorable.

No charge, you're welcome.
 
fat_fleet said:
Anyhoo, if you're out there barry, that's MASTER CRAFT Lesson 1- Great rock lyrics are ignorable.

No charge, you're welcome.
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The problem though is that to songwriting neophytes like barry, that's all they can focus on. Lyrics. They don't get the big picture. If the cadence and melody is good the fucking lyrics can be anything. You know who gives a crap about lyrics? Old ladies and teenage girls.
 
Greg_L said:
The problem though is that to songwriting neophytes like barry, that's all they can focus on. Lyrics. They don't get the big picture. If the cadence and melody is good the fucking lyrics can be anything. You know who gives a crap about lyrics? Old ladies and teenage girls.
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Well, I don't really think they can be anything anything. It's important that they don't suck... that they don't sound clunky, overwrought, or out-of-place in the song. But the specific meaning doesn't really matter as much as how the words sound.

Thing is, you use Surfin' Bird as an example of how it doesn't matter if a song has stupid lyrics. But I don't think the Surfin' Bird lyrics are stupid. I think they're masterful and perfect for the song. So for me, while I don't think the meaning matters, the words themselves kinda do because lyrics can fail.
 
fat_fleet said:
Well, I don't really think they can be anything anything. It's important that they don't suck... that they don't sound clunky, overwrought, or out-of-place in the song. But the specific meaning doesn't really matter as much as how the words sound.

Thing is, you use Surfin' Bird as an example of how it doesn't matter if a song has stupid lyrics. But I don't think the Surfin' Bird lyrics are stupid. I think they're masterful and perfect for the song. So for me, while I don't think the meaning matters, the words themselves kinda do because lyrics can fail.
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That's what I meant by cadence. How the phrasing and words sound when sung in their pattern. Paradise City and Surfin Bird are both good examples of what I mean. I've heard Paradise City ten million times - I couldn't tell you what any of the words are, but I for damn sure know how the cadence and melody goes. Everybody does. Surfin Bird is the same thing over and over, but it's done in a way that's awesome. I agree that Surfin Bird's lyrics are perfect, but really, it could have been anything equally silly sung the same way and we'd still probably like that song.
 
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