Are the lyrics important in music?
Yes
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No
Side Score: 8
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Good lyrics definitely make a song better. But I might listen to something with mediocre lyrics if it has redeeming features in other areas. I see it like the way you'd grade a paper where the marks are distributed into different sections like content, structure, bibliography, and grammar. You take points off if one section sucks, but the paper can still pass if the other sections make up for it. Side: yes
Yes, just look at friday. I read the lyrics to that song and it sounded a fourth graders failed attempt at songwriting, I literally wanted to vomit. Then listen to a song like "vienna" by billy joel, and lyrics make the song so much more meaningful and deep. Any song can have a tune that makes you want to dance along or tap your feet. But it takes a great song to convey a message or realy speak to a person. Music is a great medium for messages but i feel that is being wasted in pop music. Side: yes
The rusted chains of prison moons Are shattered by the sun. I walk a road, horizons change The tournament's begun. The purple piper plays his tune, The choir softly sing; Three lullabies in an ancient tongue, For the court of the crimson king. The keeper of the city keys Put shutters on the dreams. I wait outside the pilgrim's door With insufficient schemes. The black queen chants the funeral march, The cracked brass bells will ring; To summon back the fire witch To the court of the crimson king. The gardener plants an evergreen Whilst trampling on a flower. I chase the wind of a prism ship To taste the sweet and sour. The pattern juggler lifts his hand; The orchestra begin. As slowly turns the grinding wheel In the court of the crimson king. On soft grey mornings widows cry, The wise men share a joke; I run to grasp divining signs To satisfy the hoax. The yellow jester does not play But gently pulls the strings And smiles as the puppets dance In the court of the crimson king. Side: yes
Assuming we are discarding any kind of instrumental music from this debate, I wouldn't go as far as Peekaboo and say a good lyric makes a song better, because if a song just sucks then no lyrics will save it from just sucking. At least I look at 90% of Rap and Pop/Pop-Rock music this way. But if a music is a nice piece of composition and has some kind of worthy melody, then a good lyric will only add to it, and a bad lyric will most likely degrade the merit, but, for either case, still not necessarily. But well writen lyrics, along with the way they sing them, are often a good tool for determining if the band/artist is pretentious or not. I always loved Guns N' Roses and Cradle of Filth, mainly because their songs were amazing, but also because their lyrics were also written with such a care that surprised me. On the other hand, I always liked Deftones for the instrumental part and singing, rather than the lyrics themselves... (I mean 1st two albums, the rest I stoped caring...) In the end I still prefer carefully writen lyrics as it means the artists are putting some effort into their work, and at the same time they can entertain me or even teach me something with them. Side: yes
I agree with you, actually. When I say good lyrics make a song better, I don't mean that any song with good lyrics is worth listening to. By "better" I just mean it's improved from how it would have been with bad lyrics - it could still be too sucky to listen to. But in my experience, songs with very good lyrics usually also have at least passable instrumentals/presentation/etc. It's not common that someone would put loads of effort into crafting great lyrics, then put together the rest of the song with rubbish. Side: yes
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I'm going to have to agree with Blayke13. I think some music is just plain better without lyrics. Some music is really powerful and then they add lyrics to it and it just..makes the power of very low. I like listening to just the music. I mean some songs are better with lyrics because it tells a story, but I don't know I just think its better without. Side: No
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