Which matters more to you? I was having this discussion with a few friends. And I found out that all of them pay scant attention to lyrics till about the 9th listen. I didn’t think that was possible. I tend to pay close attention to lyrics even upon the first listen. If lyrics don’t say anything to me, I tend not to like the song all that much. Even if the melody or beat is great.
…There are some CDs that I own that I listen more to music than lyrics (just about any 80’s one-hit wonder, modern R&B, rap, etc.) And there are some bands that I listen to more for the lyrics than the music. There are only a few bands that I have found that manage to entice me with both (Counting Crows-Adam Duritz is, IMHO, one of the few actual poets recording today; Ben Folds, Billy Joel).
I agree that it depends on the artist whether I value the lyrics or the melody more. For a while, I went through a snobbish period when I dismissed anyone who said “I just listen to the beat” as an idiot. I mean, how can you ignore the lyrics? Who doesn’t care what the song “really” means? Who wouldn’t enjoy puzzling out what Michael Stipe meant, after struggling to figure out just what the hell he was saying?
Then I became a fan of Celtic music. Since I don’t speak Gaelic, I have absolutely no clue what the lyrics mean. I adore Relativity’s “Siun Ni Dhuibur” and I like to think the words are something beautiful and meaningful, but they could be singing their weekly grocery list and I would be none the wiser.
I usually find the melody to be more important. With pop/rock/punk/country/etc. songs, it’s sometimes hard to understand the words, and I don’t always want to read the tiny print in the CD booklet. Also, I listen to a lot of classical music, which is all melody (I don’t listen to choral works though).
Definitely melody.
I’m so bad with lyrics that I have to read them as I play. I can remember chord structures and melody lines very well, but not the words.
So I have a really hard time playing Dylan…
I’m going to waffle even more than the rest–for me, it depends on the song rather than the artist or genre. It’s sort of a sliding scale–I may like a song with slightly trite lyrics if it’s got a really good melody, or certain lyrics set to a mediocre melody may catch my fancy. I usually decide on first hearing–I’m pretty good at catching and understanding lyrics (although Dylan is a challenge 
).
Lyrics followed very closely by melody.
I’m a singer and I find when I listen to a song I hear the lyrics on the first listen-and usually memorize them. A great talent for great songs but it also means I can sing BSB and Shaggy if I wanted to. And I don’t:(
This will sound really odd but I can listen to a song and just listen to one part of it…the guitar or bass lines,etc. I’ll listen to Heart Shaped Box,for example, for it’s entirety and then replay it just to listen to the guitar lines.
Both are important, but I notice usually the melody is what makes me like the song. I listen to alot of songs in languages I don’t understand, and I tend to fall in thelove with the rhythm and rhyme scheme of the other words.
Hey, I do that too! When I was a kid, I remember reading in a big book of facts that orchestra conductors had that ability. They could supposedly be conducting, and tune out everybody but say, the guy in the third row playing the triangle.
So I always tried to do that with music, and sort of trained myself into doing it.
Definitely lyrics. I can overlook bad singing or music, but I can’t listen to a song that actually has bad lyrics. I admire good songwriting, which is more lyrics than music–that’s why a cover with different music is recognised as the same song. This is consistent with the music I listen to: Tom Waits, Pavement, The Velvet Underground…
It depends on what the song is trying to do - I love my collection of anime J-pop music, even though the only English words in it make absolutely no sense, but when you listen to, I don’t know, Bob Dylan, of course the lyrics are more important. This is entirely intentional, I’m sure, with the artists. Although every so often I crack up laughing when I hear <incomprehensible-to-me-Japanese> Will you love me tomorrow? <incomprehensibility-that-has-nothing-to-do-with-English-line>
In the immortal words of the Blues Traveler song “Hook”:
It doesn’t matter what I say
As long as I sing with inflection
That makes you feel that I’ll convey
Some inner truth or vast reflection
But I’ve said nothing so far
And I can keep it up for as long as it takes
I enjoy great lyrics, but don’t need them to enjoy a song.
I’m with everyone on the melody first thing. For me, lyrics are a distant second. This is probably because I’m a musician, composer, and non-choral classical music fan. I probably don’t know any more lyrics than the chorus in about 80% of my favorite songs. I pay more attention to actual tune, instrumentation, the sound of the singer’s voice, and the beat, at least with “pop” (ie, non-classical) music. A song with a great melody and bad lyrics I will probably like; a song with great lyrics and a bad melody I will probably abhor.
I agree, for the same reason.
The music/composition MUST grab me or I don’t pay any attention.
Definitely melody first. My hearing’s not very good, but I can hear a beat.
Here’s a recent example: I just listened this morning to the Velvet Underground and Nico’s version of “Femme Fatale.” I had heard the song before, but Lou Reed’s version, and always liked it.
Not this time. I hated it. Nico cannot sing. Her inflections are terrible, and I must admit I am ignorant about the context in which this might be an historic or interesting recording. I assume that English is a second language to her, and that she had a hard time struggling with the words. It sounded like she didn’t understand what they meant. What Reed sang with irony and bite, she sang like she was reading from a lyric sheet, and not very well at that.
So it’s melody first. After a few listenings, depending upon how clear the words are sung, I’ll absorb the meaning and that increases my enjoyment of the song, but it’s gotta have a beat first if you want to rock ‘n’ roll with me.
It depends, but for the most part the two are pretty intertwined for me. If I can’t remember the lyrics, I can’t remember the tune, and if I can’t remember the tune, then I can’t remember the lyrics.
I know, it’s odd, but it’s what I’m like.
However, I do listen for bass lines individually, but so I can learn how to play them.
I am listening to Placebo right now(big surprise) and I love the bass line. But I also sing to the music. I need the lyrics; if there are no lyrics, I find them somewhere. I love to sing, you just might not like to hear me. Anywho, I like the lyrics to Loreena McKennitt’s music. They are so beautiful.
The above is for CDs only. Radio is a whole 'nother story. If I can figure out the lyrics to a song, that’s great. If not, then I live with it until I can buy the CD or get someone else to tell them to me. I mostly listen for the lyrics then the melody.
I guess I feel that if it puts me in a good mood, then it is a great song.
If a song has a bad melody, then I tend to switch radio stations without even listening to the lyrics. I can read beautiful words in books or on the back of toilet doors - when I’m listening to music, I want to be captured by the melody.
Having said that, if the lyrics are also beautiful, then the song is all the more rewarding.