# Can you enjoy a song if you don't like its lyrics? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 28, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998 "2004-12-28T20:51:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/21 "2004-12-29T02:01:57Z")
No, and I have been known to find better lyrics and sing them to the tune (at least in my head). I also don’t like artists who butcher lyrics–they are an integral part of the SONG–could you please enunciate so that we can understand you? Is it too much to ask? (I refer all Dopers to Louie, Louie, and rest my case.) ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/22 "2004-12-29T02:03:05Z")
Absolutely. I don’t even try and understand the lyrics to a song untill about the third to fifth time I listen to it. First and foremost, a song must have a good tune for me to like it. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/23 "2004-12-29T02:55:07Z")
Yes, most of the time I need to like the lyrics in order to be able to enjoy a song. In general I don’t like songs with really stupid or disturbing lyrics no matter how good the instrumental portion is…I just tend to think “What a waste of good music” in that case. 🙂 I love the site [http://www.songmeanings.net](http://www.songmeanings.net) because it has helped me make sense of some fo the more weird/silly lyrics I’ve run across ( incidentally, this is the page where people are speculating on the meaning behind the “I am an American aquarium drinker” song: [Wilco - I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Lyrics | SongMeanings](http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=63363) ) ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/24 "2004-12-29T03:17:54Z")
Lyrics usually don’t get in my way when I’m listening. Even nonsense lyrics can be fun when they’re done right (e.g. Dylan, Lennon, Plant, Cobain), although I couldn’t tell you what it is that makes them “right”. But when it comes to playing the songs, I often balk. Lennon’s “Dear Prudence” is a joy to play, and the words have a coherence to them that makes it all work. But I just can’t bring myself to sing “jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule” (Dylan’s “Visions of Johanna”) or “aqua sea foam shame / sunburn from freezer burn / choking on the ashes of her enemy” (Cobain’s “All Apologies”) even though I enjoy listening to the songs. What really grinds my gears is a lyric that smacks of laziness and unoriginality, like Hagar’s “only time will tell if we stand the test of time” or Huey Lewis’s “don’t need no credit card to ride that train”. I’ll turn those off at the third note. There’s no denying that a simple-yet-rich and insightful lyric can turn a good tune into a classic that bears repetition much more gracefully than less well-crafted words. Gillian Welch comes to mind. I can get chills from her stuff despite having listened to it dozens and dozens of times. And in the right setting, “Amazing Grace” still reduces me to tears. ---
**Author:** ![Priam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/77aa72/32.png) [@Priam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Priam)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/25 "2004-12-29T03:26:02Z")
Most of the time? Yes I can enjoy the song, but not if the lyrics just piss me off majorly. For example I hold up “Lightning Striking Again”. Until I actually listened to the lyrics, I didn’t mind the song at all. Now I just wanna go kick the guy’s ass. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/26 "2004-12-29T03:32:51Z")
As a huge fan of 70’s progressive rock, it stands to reason I enjoy songs with lyrics that make little or no sense! Pete Sinfield was probably stoned out of his mind when he wrote the lyrics to “In the Court of the Crimson King,” and Greg Lake probably had no clue what the lyrics were supposed to mean… but they SOUNDED great anyway! ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/27 "2004-12-29T03:42:40Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Greg Lake probably had no clue what the lyrics were supposed to mean… but they SOUNDED great anyway! “Every day a little sadder A little madder Someone get me a ladder.” Sounds great, Greg. Okay, that’s a wrap! ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/28 "2004-12-29T03:59:21Z")
Lyrics are an afterthought for me. If a good song also happens to have great lyrics, then it’s a bonus. But I’m generally more concerned with the way the words sound than what they mean. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/29 "2004-12-29T05:24:57Z")
Bad lyrics bother me. Favorite case in point: The Fireballs’ 1963 hit “Sugar Shack,” one of the few songs from that year I find musically interesting. Then we hit: _E **x** presso coffee tastes mighty good…_ **NO NO NO…** :mad: ☹ all wrong… no ‘x’ in Italian… did no one at the studio mentiion this? Ruins it for me every time. And don’t get me started on plain old dumb lyrics… ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/30 "2004-12-29T05:40:42Z")
Don’t like? No, I can’t enjoy the song if I _dislike_ the lyrics. I don’t have to love the lyrics to like a song, but they can’t make me mad. Can’t understand? Not as much of a problem. I like “Glina Z Wo³omina” by Pan Helcount very much, but I have no earthly idea what song is about, or even the language. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/31 "2004-12-29T05:44:53Z")
I cannot fully enjoy a song if I don’t like the lyrics. The words are a huge part of the song. If you have nothing better to say than “I’m on fire/With desire,” why should I spend my time listening to your song? I’ll give an example: there’s a song called “You Love to Fail” by one of my favorite bands, The Magnetic Fields. By all rights, this should be one of my top 3 songs: I love the tune, the production, Susan Anway’s voice and most of [the lyrics](http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=145044). However, there’s that pesky verse 3. > [@](#): > > I’ll be your confidante > Come and go as you please > I’ll honor and protect my > Wagner in dungarees **My Wagner in dungarees?!** I puke just thinking about it. Although I still love the song dearly, it can never achieve its full greatness, in my mind. One thing I’ve noticed in this thread is that many people are equating nonsense lyrics with bad lyrics. **pepperlandgirl** gave the example of “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart,” my favorite Wilco song. I don’t have a problem with these lyrics because they aren’t aiming to create a narrative exactly but rather a tone. In songs like these (see also the work of Robyn Hitchcock and many, many others), it’s the sound of the words or the imagery that the words create that matters. I’d rather listen to someone with interesting “nonsense” that means something to me rather than hear tired cliches that have become so misused and overused that they no longer have any meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Phantom\_Dennis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@Phantom\_Dennis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phantom_Dennis)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/32 "2004-12-29T07:24:27Z")
Melody, vocal quality, emotional intensity, and rhytm are much more import to me than lyrics. Bad lyrics detract from an otherwise good song, but they seldom ruin it completely. And good lyrics are simply icing on the cake. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/33 "2004-12-29T07:35:32Z")
I’m a big fan of music, not songs. I had a friend once that thought he was a huge “music” fan because he had like 10,000 songs on his computer and could identify a good chunk of them if he heard the lyrics. But he couldn’t do nearly as well with just the music, for example a friend had a ringtone of his _favorite_ song and he didn’t recognize it. For me, it’s all about the music, really. Vocals are just an instrument, the _sound_ of the vocalizations can be good or bad, but the _words_ themselves are wholly meaningless to me. I tend to be a big fan of classical music, with a heavy focus on the Baroque era, the classic era is great too (turned off a bit by romantic) I enjoy operas without caring about the words because the vocals have a good sound to them (obviously assuming it’s a good piece/good performer.) I’m a huge fan of the symphony and the string quartet. For modern music I like all kinds except for 90% of country music I dislike. I dislike the “country good ole boys lets party in Nashville” type of country music but the more “Western” oriented “country” music I can find a good rhythm to and enjoy. My favorite genres tend to weight towards big band music, jazz, and rock and heavier rock because of a big focus on music in all of these. I also perplexingly really like the crooners but again that’s more the sound of their voices and not what they were singing. I couldn’t sing 25% of the lyrics to my ultimate favorite songs, I just don’t care about lyrics in that way for whatever reason. ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/34 "2004-12-29T07:57:51Z")
Nope, the lyrics make it or break it for me. That’s why the country song “Holes in the Floor of Heaven” makes me want to rapidly poke woodland creatures with a sharp stick. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/35 "2004-12-29T11:08:21Z")
I agree with **Abbie Carmichael** , although we listen to different music. Let me give you an example of what I mean. John Cougar Mellencamp has a song which starts of with some melodic guitar licks which I really like. To me, it’s reminiscent of good Bruce Springsteen. Before I got to know it, I’d get into it and relax the way I do when a good song comes on the radio. Then the lyrics start (they are approximate): > [@](#): > > I want a lover who won’t drive me crazy, > Some girl to thrill me and then go away. > I want a lover who won’t drive me crazy, > Some girl who knows the meaning of “Hey hit the highway.” The result is I can’t stand a song I’m inclined to like. They really do ruin the song for me. I’m a fan of folk music, in part because it has more interesting lyrics than rock and roll. Still, there’s one thing in a song by Stan Rogers which bothers me just a bit every time I hear it. It’s the last line of a song called “Famous Inside”. It reads “I know that you all feel a little Famous Inside and I’m no different than you.” Each time I hear it, part of me whispers “‘from’, not ‘than’!” It’s still a good song, though. Even in my church choir where we sing a lot of music in Latin, I think I do a better job if I understand what I’m singing and I like the fact that they print the lyrics in English as well as in Latin in the church bulletin. CJ ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/36 "2004-12-29T11:20:09Z")
I couldn’t possibly be a fan of David Byrne, Andrew W.K., or Tom Waits if the lyrics were the prime focus of a song for me. Especially in Byrne’s case… half the time the words seem like just an excuse to make a nice-sounding noise, and that’s all right with me. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/37 "2004-12-29T11:31:45Z")
I remember the first time I heard “Bandages” by Hot Hot Heat. I thought - “Holy fuck – he’s saying ‘Burn the jews’!!!” Then I immediately thought, “Shit, and it’s really catchy!” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/38 "2004-12-29T12:42:09Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > If the main focus of a song is the lyrics, then yes, I need to like the lyrics to like the song. But I tend to prefer stuff that’s not lyric-oriented anyway. This pretty much sums up my attitude. For most music I listen to, the main point of the song is the music, and not the lyrics. The only lyrics that bother me are cheesy “love-dove/fire-desire” type rhyming lyrics. Abstract and nonsensical lyrics do not bother me in the least, and I often prefer evocative imagery and word association (Pixies, REM, anyone?) to more linear plot-based lyrics. This is not a rejection of conventional structured lyric writing. It’s just that my kind of music doesn’t marry well with this approach. If I listen to, say, Jeff Buckley, Eliot Smith, or The Magnetic Fields, then the lyrics certainly are a focal point and can make-or-break a song for me. But with bands where music is clearly the focal point, my concern is more whether the song “rocks” or not. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/39 "2004-12-29T12:57:42Z")
I’m definitely more of a lyrics person. Probably because I really like to sing, and I can’t sing along with stuff I can’t discern. But some lyrics really do piss me off. Someone mentioned Lou Christi’s _Lightning Strikes_, and, Jesus on a pogo stick! This guy’s talking to his girlfriend and saying “I’m gonna go screw as many girls as I want, because I’m a guy and that’s the way we are; but you be a good little girl and sit here and wait for me to be ready to settle down and then we’ll have a nice little wedding”. He followed it up with the chillingly stalkerish _The Night Has A Thousand Eyes_, in which he reiterates “Hey, don’t screw around on me, girlie, 'cuz if you do, I _will_ find out about it!” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998/40 "2004-12-29T13:11:30Z")
If I find a lyric in a song that I really hate, eventually it’ll drive me nuts. I don’t have to love the lyrics to a song, but if they’re really bad, it’s a problem. Heck, I don’t even have to understand them, as long as they’re interesting SOMEHOW. I really like word soup _a la_ Lennon or Tori Amos as long as it’s done right, with some interesting sounds or images or juxtapositions or something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-enjoy-a-song-if-you-dont-like-its-lyrics/281998.md?page=3)