Do People Care About Hearing Lyrics Anymore?

[Amateur_Barbarian]

@muldoonthief

This must be a usage of the word “major” that I’m unaware of.

I realize the Nobel and PEN awards don’t stack up with Golden Globes and the Razzies, but we’re doing the best we can in a sea of pop.

[Clawdio]

Unintelligible (on first or even upon multiple listens) lyrics and interesting/thoughtful lyrics are not mutually exclusive. A lot of avant-garde rock (or pop) might never be intelligible without a lyric sheet, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t saying something interesting or thought provoking. My tastes are all over the map, different genres with some being clearly understood on first listen, and some I don’t understand until I look it up on a lyrics website, but that’s just like… my opinion man.

Now get off my lawn.

And the actors in pictures these days! All they do is mumble, I can’t understand a word they’re saying!

[RickJay]

@Richard_John_Marcej

No, you’re wrong. There’s an era of popular music that falls within the late 60’s thru mid 70’s that many call the “Singer-Songwriter” era. Many extremely talented artists who wrote songs that relied as much on the lyrics of their songs as well as the music. .

You mistyped “the 1990s.” I remember singer-songwriters being huge then.

Oh, and the #1 hit in 1969 was “Sugar, Sugar” by a made up band.

[Leonard]

@snfaulkner

Anymore? I never did.

In reality, more often than not, learning the words usually ruins a song for me. Because they are usually stupid. Very few lyrics enhance the song for me. The voice is just another instrument. I don’t care about the dumb stories they are trying to tell me.

I 100% agree as well. But for a reason. I don’t hear very well, and pretty much never understand anything when there’s background noise…which is virtually all lyrics. I don’t even know the lyrics to my favorite songs. Reading them is usually a disappointment too.

[digs]

I need some good lyrics. I miss the days when I’d hear a song and just have to drop what I was doing and listen to what the singer was saying.

I want to hear turns of phrase like Natalie Merchant having trouble getting out of bed due to “four poster dull torpor”. Or Bruce Cockburn wishing me “May your life be filled with light…except for when you’re trying to sleep.” Or Neal Peart’s advice: “Though we live in trying times, we’re the ones who have to try”.

And any Dylan or Cohen. I guess like Springsteen “we learned more from a three minute record than we ever learned in school.”

[Nava]

@not_what_you_d_expect

“My momma don’t like you and she likes everyone” says volumes to me.

And to me, but a lot of people take a look at the song’s name, never listen to the actual lyrics and think it’s an inspirational song. But then, the same holds for the aria of the Queen of the Night…

I think that “giving a shit about the lyrics” and “not giving a shit about the lyrics” are both perfectly valid, but what kills me is people who don’t give a shit about the lyrics yet require them to be in a language they understand. Since they don’t really listen, why do they care if they’re singing in English, Italian or Mongolian? I’ve asked a couple of people who did have that attitude and their response was a very mature “because… because!”