Do you care about lyrics in a song?

[budda]

I used to avoid some metal bands because I didn't agree with the lyrics. Over time, I've grown more interested in the music then the lyrics, and don't know even half the words to a lot of songs I listen to on a daily basis. I'd like to know the words though!

I do care about them

 

[riffist]

Went down to the cemetary looking for love, got there and my baby was buried had to dig her up..

Well it's the gospel truth, man. And she's embalmed IN LOVE JUICE! Yahh!

My buddy and I were talking the other day about how strange it is that song gets played on the radio.

 

[AbstractAsylum]

I care about lyrics, but I can get over bad lyrics. I only really pay attention if there's a story to be told or if it's an overall concept album, because sometimes lyrics just get so cliche and meaningless it's not even worth it. My favorite lyricist as of right now is Colin Meloy, because he does an amazing job of painting a picture with each song. Here's the first movement of The Island by The Decemberists:

There's an island hidden in the sound
Lapping currents lay your boat to ground
Affix your barb and bayonet
The curlews carve their Arabesques
And sorrow fills the silence all around
Come and see

There's a harbor lost within the reeds
A jetty caught in over-hanging trees
Among the bones of cormorants
No boot mark here nor finger prints
The rivers roll down to a soundless sea
Come and see
Come and see

The tides will come and go
With this bare waking eye
Who rose like the wind
Though we know for sure
Amidst this fading light
We'll not go home again

 

[Voodoo Turkey]

Lyrics are very important to me, especially in bands like Pain of Salvation and Evergrey where the lyrics are my main attraction to the band..

 

[budda]

Bev, why do you have to listen to the radio when driving for work? My boss turns on the radio in the truck between contracts, so I'll be tired, 4pm, "we're so hot we'll melt your popsicle" and all I can think of is how loud beheading of a king will be on the drive home

 

[Zer01]

Obituary was a band where lyrics didn't matter so much. In their early stuff, John Tardy just used a DM vocal style with no actual words, and I think he's one of the best DM vocalists there is. There's one song (can't remember which) that actually has lyrics but he won't tell anyone what they are. Guessing it's really offensive or something

 

[Petar]

good melody/harmony lines + not-obviously-stupid/idiotic-annoying-text = (mostly) good enough for me

But, when someone has something to say, it really shows...and in that case, it is able to help things reach the whole another level...!
Very often, though, the lyrics are there only generically, so that vocalist has something to sing... (which, if, again, the melody/harmony is good, and it, hopefully, is not so easy to understand, actually doesn't do much harm... )

On the other aspect, lyrics, with its inevitable existing sense can obstruct and narrow the wideness that music is able to create and project into listeners mind.

The reason i am in for instrumental music, alternative/unexisting language spoken vocals, or vocals which really are speaking something...

 

[eclipsex1]

I listen to music in an instrumental sense. I usually go out of the interpreting words mode, and just listen to how the vocals sound, the notes they hit.. Another instruments. Needless to say, there are moments that I have to ask people to repeat themselves several times because I'm not processing what they're saying

There are occasions where I do listen to lyrics, though. I enjoy most of Periphery's lyrics (they tend to line up very well with the mood of the song at the moment), and when I'm listening to.. Say.. Death Cab for Cutie, I listen to the lyrics. But I feel that a band is a LOT better if they can portray what they're trying to say through the actual music and not just using lyrics. I always thought that Metallica was damn good at that. Their music always seemed to say almost exactly what the lyrics were written about. To me, at least. Oh, and a good contributing factor about why I block out words is probably because 1. I can't stand hearing people talk about mindless shit, and I have very good hearing.. So in a school with ~5,000 people, it gets irritating. and 2. The radio is stupid. Pop songs are all about sex for the most part, and it just so happens that if I do go anywhere with anyone, they like listening to the radio.. It depresses me.

 

[Zer01]

Just want to say I love listening to Bjorn Strid sing but my god Soilwork's lyrics are awful. Might as well be random words strung together!

 

[SerratedSkies]

Few days ago I bought a cat
It is so cute, I want to fuck it hard
Walking on four legs, shaking that little ass
Dirty fucking slut who deserves to suffer
I place my cock in the center of tis asshole
Hard push, damn its tight but feels so good
I fuck like a rabbid, cat screams in agony
Faster adn faster, cat is unconscious
I cut off its tail and shove it up my ass
Innards ripped out, head cut off, cat is fucked up
Squirting my sperm allover the mess
Tomorrow Im gonna buy a dog

Personally, for me, I can think back 4 or 5 years ago, reading these lyrics, and immediately checking out the band right after. I fucking love this shit! Not necessarily fucking cats and dogs, but like... read that shit! Ok, a lot of people hate on death metal lyrics, but this shit beats Comedy Central by a mile. Better then "ZOMG GIRLFRIENDS! CAMO SHORTS!".

 

[GeoMantic]

Lyrics are a big deal in vocal music for me, even if I can't quite understand it, I'll read them to better understand the song.

As long as the lyrics are well written, I don't judge subject matter. They don't necessarily have to be complexly worded or have obscure references, but as long as it isn't poorly written I can handle it.

 

[leandroab]

For bands that do teh bro0tlz?

No. For all that I care they could be singing about happiness and lollipops..


Wait...

 

[PostOrganic]

I don't know the entire lyrics to any song I don't pay attention to them much but sometimes I find knowing the general subject matter adds a bit of feel to a song. Aborted's lyrical content definitely makes their songs seem more twisted. Same with the artwork as well...

 

[sevenstringj]

Billy Joel, yes. Dying Fetus, no.

 

[ittoa666]

I don't know the entire lyrics to any song I don't pay attention to them much but sometimes I find knowing the general subject matter adds a bit of feel to a song. Aborted's lyrical content definitely makes their songs seem more twisted. Same with the artwork as well...

The vocalist really has to catch my attention with good lyrics before I can enjoy them. Sven is a good example. Cannibal Corpse also wins in that category because they make you wonder with the song title, and then you read it and it opens up into a much more brutal story, almost like a comic book with a gory cover.

 

[MFB]

Depends on the song and stuff. I love singing Circa Survive, Circle Takes the Square, Phoenix, Pantera and all that shit but in death metal and that kind of stuff it seems more to add elements into the mix versus just having ridiculously technical or brutal guitars for 4-5 minutes.

 

[Hollowway]

Absolutely, and if the lyrics suck it kills the song. Having bad lyrics is like having a bad bass line, or a bad drum track, or any other piece of the music. There's nothing more depressing than listening to a great song in terms of the music, only to hear cheesy lyrics. Plus, I challenge anyone to find a song that has endured over the years that has bad lyrics. My view (and can you tell how passionate about this topic I am?) is that if you can't put good lyrics in a song, better make it an instrumental. Otherwise you need to get your Roger Waters/Neil Peart/Robert Smith/Sting/Amy Lee/Robert Plant etc. on and come up with some killer lyrics.

/rant

 

[ittoa666]

Absolutely, and if the lyrics suck it kills the song. Having bad lyrics is like having a bad bass line, or a bad drum track, or any other piece of the music. There's nothing more depressing than listening to a great song in terms of the music, only to hear cheesy lyrics. Plus, I challenge anyone to find a song that has endured over the years that has bad lyrics. My view (and can you tell how passionate about this topic I am?) is that if you can't put good lyrics in a song, better make it an instrumental. Otherwise you need to get your Roger Waters/Neil Peart/Robert Smith/Sting/Amy Lee/Robert Plant etc. on and come up with some killer lyrics.

/rant

It's even worse when the singer has an annoying voice.

 

[Daemoniac]

I don't mind if they're not "incredible" (though obviously if they are, all the better), as long as they're not shit.

I'm a bit picky when it comes to really "loving" the lyrics though.

 

[Tomo009]

Well I pretty much only listen to metal.... and about 95% of metal lyrics I detest... so yes they do, but it annoys me sometimes. I have learned to forget about the lyrics completely because of the utterly stupid nature of so much of it. I know Bloodbath is a side project for those involved and is just for fun, but some slightly more relatable lyrics would make their amazing songs legendary.