importance of lyrics Options

[sandkind]

just curious, there has been so much discussion over on the live board about lyrics, how important are they to you. i've stated frequently lyrics are the last thing that draw me to a song. for me, first and foremost is the music, and the voice is pretty much another instrument to me. i could really care less what the lyrics say 99% of the time, as long as i like the tune.

[Pokey]

It depends for me .. there are some songs I listen to for the lyric, some for the music and some just do both. Morrissey for example is an always has been a poet that somehow got mixed up in the music buisness. His words grab me like no one elses ever have and I feel a connection to them. Whilst his song writing partners in his solo career have been pretty good for the most part, it's all very standard music in a way, it's not exactly what grabs me mostly. But with The Smiths he had Johnny Marr and the two just worked like bacon and eggs, absolutely beautiful together! The music was just as important as the lyrics at this point.

Same with a band like the Aussie band TISM .. sure they're a comedy band in a sense but the music they've written has never exactly been amazing, but some of their lyrics are just too good to pass up and it really makes it.

Then a band like Ween combines both, they write catchy yet very interesting songs and are always doing something new and keeping it fresh. Yet their lyrics can boarder on completely ridiculous to amazingly touching and profound all the way to absolutely hilarious.

Led Zeppelin is a band where as awesome as Robert Plant's voice is, I've always viewed it as an intrument rather than actually something with something to say. Led Zepp has always been a music band for me.

[sandkind]

Led Zeppelin is a band where as awesome as Robert Plant's voice is, I've always viewed it as an intrument rather than actually something with something to say. Led Zepp has always been a music band for me.

Ah, perhaps you are on to something Pokey. Zeppelin was my favorite growing up, so maybe that is why i don't pay much attention to the lyrics. However, don't forget to credit Bob Plant with the ever-classic lyric, "and when you squeeze my lemon, i'm gonna roll right out of bed!" lol

[Heather]

Ah, perhaps you are on to something Pokey. Zeppelin was my favorite growing up, so maybe that is why i don't pay much attention to the lyrics. However, don't forget to credit Bob Plant with the ever-classic lyric, "and when you squeeze my lemon, i'm gonna roll right out of bed!" lol

Haha! One of my all time favorite lines besides the "squeeze my lemon til the juice runs down my leg!" So yeah lyrics don't always matter, it's true. I agree that Plant's voice was more of an instrument than anything it didn't really matter what the hell he was saying.

But I think that everyone at some point in time has been moved by a line in a song because it somehow fit you or it was just such beautiful poetry. Or it somehow defined for you why you loved a band so much. Like Live for instance. The line "it's the way we sing that makes them dream." Perfect. So sometimes lyrics do count.