Are Lyrics Important?

[Carvin Abuser]

The music/melody is the most important thing to me. The lyrics are secondary. If you had lyrics with no music or melody there would be no song. I think a song is better than an instrumental because it has the added bonuses of vocals and lyrics but you can't have a song without the music.

 

[Reverend Rock]

Whether they are or not, they should be...

 

[progrocks]

lyrics are the last thing i listen too. It's all about the music and I listen to every part of the music before I know what the lyrics are about . The voice is just another instrument. As long as there is no swearing and repetitiveness in the lyrics, then the lyrics won't bother me

 

[newdawnfades]

Why does swearing bother you? I mean, we are talking about rocknroll right? As well, repetition is often an effective vocal tool for many bands.

 

[Buff]

mmmm, depends on the song, what the artist is trying to accomplish. If they are trying to get a message across (Imagine wafting thru my head) then yes, they are very important. Others, like Great Gig In the Sky (ahhhhhh) is lyrically scant, just a powerful voice to music.

 

[halcyon days]

they are very important to me

 

[Music Wench]

Great responses! I was having a bit of trouble understanding how anyone could say lyrics aren't very important to them. But, when taking the "voice as an instrument" into consideration, it makes sense. After all, half the time I have no idea what opera singers are saying but yet, I love listening to it. It's the way the voice is used in that case, not necessarily what they're saying.

And I also agree with the Rev that whether or not they are they SHOULD be. At least in rock. In classical music, well, those voices really are well-trained instruments.

 

[Reverend Rock]

Why does swearing bother you?...

I'd like to weigh in on this one...being as I am a "man-of-the-cloth" (whatever that means) one might expect me to be totally anti-profanity in the lyric department. But looking at it from a literary point of view, there are certainly times when it's appropriate in a song lyric to express something that might not be adequately expressed without some sort of profanity. I think of Bruce Cockburn's fairly well known song "Rocket Launcher" in which he describes children being indiscriminately fired upon from (U.S. made) helecopters in Guatemala and exclaims, "If I had a rocket launcher, some son-of-a-***** would die!" I understand that sentiment, and can't much blame the songwriter for expressing it that way in that instance.

On the other hand, when I hear some of today's chart hits in which it seems one out of every ten words or so is censored out (in the so-called "clean" mixes)...well, I consider that to be simply the case of taking "shock value" into the theatre of the absurd.

 

[PickAttack]

Well I don't know if I'm "credible", but since I'm a "hobby" instrumental guitarist and listen mostly to instrumental music, I would say lyrics are not important to me also.

 

[AboutAGirl]

I have absolutely no objection what-so-ever to anyone who doesn't like to hear swearing.

But since I recently got into some trouble for performing a David Mamet play that our teacher approved of and was well aware of in class (due to the swearing), I just must say my peace... (FYI he apparently didn't expect us to uphold the literary integrity of the play.... as if!!) I don't think swear words are any worse than other words. I admit that even I am sometimes shocked by them, but that's nothing but a knee jerk reaction. I always have and still do uphold the notion that content is superior to thoughtless identifiers. I'd rather hear "**** you" than "you're the worst person on the face of the Earth" provided that both phrases are spoken with conviction. Sometimes they're just plain necessary. Swear words represent strong emotion and David Mamet's plays simply would not be as powerful or half as real as they are without the "excessive" swearing.