Importance of lyrics...

[Russell]

To you how important are the lyrics in music? Do they have more power to create emotions than the music itself?

To me I don't really care what the lyrics say... The music conveys the emotion far better to me.
I think lyrics can never be better than poems (IMO lyrics without music) in their own right as the music acts as a limitation. However when the music and lyrics fit in well they can certainly enhance the emotions...

 

[bleed for me]

well i don't really pay attention that much to lyrics...if lyrics affected whether or not i listen to/like a band, then that would cut down a lot of what i listen to

good lyrics are definetly important though but more important to the writer than to me, i think of good lyrics as an added bonus...

 

[Malaclypse]

it depends on the band you are listening to. i give a fuck about what shagrath sings with dimmu borgir, because i don't think he wants to express something special. but i like the music. but if you ever listened to a band like NMA, you will see that sometimes lyrics have the power to raise above music. their music isn't all to spectacular, but in combination with the texts it makes me shudder.

 

[_Transparent_]

i love good lyrics and good music, ie. opeth. i think the music is cheapened if you read the lyrics to find out that theyre are complete nonsense, and might ruin the song. i think when i read the If_then_else booklet for the gathering's album, and the 4th song, um whats it called, bad movie sence, the song got better, the lyrics are really depressing and make the song better than i thought. but lyrics are reflected in the actual playing music, harsh lyrics go with a heavy song, mellow songs have moe to do with love for example with face of Melinda.

lyrics are important to me in a song, im not sure whats more important to me though, i guess i like a good mix between lyrics and the music itself.

 

[MetalManCPA]

Lyrics have never been important to me - I consider the vocals to be another instrument. This has caused problems at concerts thought, you know, when your right up by the stage, and the singer sticks the microphone in your mouth and wnats YOU to sing - if your ever at a concert and hear blah blah blah, thats probably me.

When I happen to remember lyrics, it is fun to sing along, but I am more of that conductor type, moving to the emotion of the music itself.

 

[Hannu Mutanen]

I view lyrics as infinitely important: they have the power to make a song better or worse. In my opinion an album is beyond just a number of songs put together under one title: it is a piece of art in which every ingredient is not only important in itself, but also for the whole. A bad cover can take the shine off an album even if the music was good. Still, the cover should be good enough for anyone to be able to view it as an individual piece of graphical art. The same goes for lyrics: they SHOULD be good in order to strengthen the unity of the album. I would probably still have Dimmu Borgir's "Enthrone darkness triumphant", which is musically good, if the lyrics were not such complete bull. The album lacks the final touch of magic that could make it something I can consider a 'classic'. How sad it is to notice they've gone even further down with their latter albums! In addition the lyrics should be good even if read as individual pieces. Ike from Babylon Whores writes amazing stuff that is great to read even when not sung in the band's (undeniable marvelous) death rock music.

As for Metalmancpa, I understand your point of the vocals being an instrument alongside others, but I think of it this way: the other instruments have a tone and a melody. The vocals have them as well. But they have a great advantage: they can carry a message far better than anything else and that is a possibility to be used when given a chance. Naturally, the message is a subject in itself to be discussed further, but that is not the case right here and now.

Surely lyrics will not ruin anything by their absence; what degrades the impact of a song is the lack of recognition of the lyrics' worth and hence having them for the sake of having something to sing. The 95 % of all bands that fail to distinguish the necessities from their own abilities should go a cappella or start playing instrumental music. Crap lyricists never seem to understand that, and while they have the right to write whatever they want, it is rather selfish to force the lyrics into the music. So, the point is not that lyrics are an unvaluable part of a piece of art. (Hey, that rhymes!) They do not need to be there, but if they are, they should be given the amount of thought they inherently demand. (Also, a death metal band singing lyrics that say "a hrrhguf phoorgh craagh shahhhh" should sound immensely funny - if reading the lyrics, that is, since most sound like that anyway..)

-----
N/P: Circle - Pori

 

[Russell]

Originally posted by metalmancpa
This has caused problems at concerts thought, you know, when your right up by the stage, and the singer sticks the microphone in your mouth and wnats YOU to sing - if your ever at a concert and hear blah blah blah, thats probably me.

HowI would loved to have seen that

 

[MetalManCPA]

Originally posted by Hannu Mutanen

As for Metalmancpa, I understand your point of the vocals being an instrument alongside others, but I think of it this way: the other instruments have a tone and a melody. The vocals have them as well. But they have a great advantage: they can carry a message far better than anything else and that is a possibility to be used when given a chance. Naturally, the message is a subject in itself to be discussed further, but that is not the case right here and now.

I fully understand about the message of lyrics - for some reason, that has never drawn me to music. It's always been about the melody, the sound, etc. It's the "feel" I get without thinking. Lyrics make you think - you listen to the words, and start trying to figure out the message of the song. I read through the lyrics sometimes when I'm listening, but it just isn't important to me.

 

[_Transparent_]

Originally posted by godisanathiest


HowI would loved to have seen that

at the 10 band all-dayer Decent played, and me and my friend were the only 2 to know of them, and 1 more person, who had their shirt on. when the lead singer passed the mic to my friend, he sang but when he passed it to the bloke with the t-shirt, he said 1 word, then a big blank where the lead singer had to tell the bloke what to sing, and i can only think how embarresing it must have been considering he had their t-shirt on.

 

[from the Cradle]

Are much important for emotions and energy...

 

[BillowOfZeal]

After reading the first few posts i thought, damn am I the only one who cares about lyrics. I agree with Hannu. If the lyrics are very moving it adds that much to the whole of the song. Especially if I am listening to a band with vocals that are very easy to understand and the lyrics are horrible....it is a HUGE turn off. I really do not understand how someone can not care at all about the lyrics.
jAY

 

[FANTOME]

I think lyrics are important but not much
Blind Guardian as very good lyrics but the songs are not my favorite...

 

[Soul Forlorn]

I'm pretty much seconding what godisanathiest said. Lyrics aren't extremely important for me. The emotion comes more from the music for me. Great lyrics can enhance the emotion and more importantly, they can set the mood and atmosphere. I really respect good lyrics, but I mainly find them as just an added bonus.

 

[Sadistik]

This has caused problems at concerts thought, you know, when your right up by the stage, and the singer sticks the microphone in your mouth and wnats YOU to sing - if your ever at a concert and hear blah blah blah, thats probably me.

hahaha...I love lyrics and have so many songs memorized...I actually got to sing the chorus for Into The PIt by Testament at show in 2000

 

[Katatonic]

i think lyrics play a huge part in all of opeth's music, but not so as much in bands like Cradle of Filth, or Dimmu Borgir. what im realllllly pissed about is people like britney (u know who i mean) whose songs have practically no lyrics except for words like "baby" and an incessantly repeditive syncopated beat. I was watching tv the other day and her new song came on, and i changed channels, and living in a boarding school, there was a big commotion from the other guys in the room "because i had turned it off". i told them what i thought of her music, and they said they didnt care about the music, just what she looked like. i mean, i dont even think she is hot.
hmm.. badly written, but its just what i think about "bands" getting big on their image.

 

[Obyeybyeogone]

I think lyrics are almost as important as the music (almost). I don't remember who said it, but if the lyrics are terrible, it really can make you not like a song/band nearly as much. Whenever I get a new CD, I sit down with the lyric booklet while I listen, I do this everytime I listen until they're memorized, it really helps me appreciate the emotional content or the message the artist is trying to portray. (I oftentimes have a very hard time understanding vocalists and need to read the lyrics as I hear them, I just got a CD Morningrise recommended I buy "Divina Enema: At the Conclave" It's great so far, but the vocalist sings in all these different voices and he has a very thick "russianish" accent, dunno which country hehe. My point is without reading the lyrics I wouldn't have a damn clue what he is saying and i'd miss out on a huge portion of the album)

 

[YaYo]

it all depends... sometimes they are important, sometimes they arent

now i dont mind some System Of A Down songs, and they usually have some pretty whacky lyrics, but when i heard him sing "Software version 7.0" (thats "seven point oh") it just really turned me off, i think its from the song Toxicity. hmmmm

katatonia lyrics have a lot of importance imo, because you can hear the emotion in his voice and through the actual lyrics he's singing.

and then there's lyrics like "each and every one would die at my hand" which, once i found out the meaning/context of those words, gave all new meaning to the music in that section.

 

[Katatonic]

hey dude (YaYoGakk), love your avatar. calvin is the coolest

 

[YaYo]

hey dude (YaYoGakk), love your avatar. calvin is the coolest

aint he just?
ive got 1816 individual calvin comics on my computer atm!
thats every comic from about the first 5 years of Calvin & Hobbes!!
i love calvin.

 

[E V I L]

In general - lyrics can shape a song, but they are only secondary.

There is an instance where the lyrics of a song changed my perception of the music: Sorskogens (sp?) Modat I gratten (????), which means murder in the cave, which is about Mik singing about some event I think about his childhood, some guy , a corpse or so or something who is found in a cave.

This idea alone completely changed my emotion towards the music.

The conclusion : Modet i gratten is one bad mofiggin song, dark deep, spooky. The music alone is great two- mellow with plenty of verve and energy and flow!!!