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-   -   Do you listen to the lyrics? (https://www.musicbanter.com/general-music/76294-do-you-listen-lyrics.html)

Isbjørn 03-31-2014 09:49 AM

Do you listen to the lyrics?
 
When you hear a new album for the first time, do you pay attention to the lyrics, or do you just focus on the music? Do you read the lyrics while listening, or do you just try to make them out with your ears?

Goofle 03-31-2014 09:59 AM

I pay attention to the lyrics but I don't let them bother me all that much if they are pretty bad. I very rarely read the lyrics whilst listening to the music.

I am mostly concerned with the sound of a song and, if that hooks me, over time I will grow to either appreciate or learn to ignore the lyrics.

Janszoon 03-31-2014 10:00 AM

Generally speaking, no, I don't. I listen to music for the music. All I ask of lyrics is that they're not so noticeably bad as to distract from my enjoyment of the music (take note, Kanye).

There are some exceptions though, a handful of artists who I listen to partially because I enjoy their lyrics.

crazed 03-31-2014 10:10 AM

It depends- if the vocals are clear enough I can make out the lyrics then I don't read them. But if I can't make out the lyrics then I do read them, usually only on the first listen of an album.

Scarlett O'Hara 03-31-2014 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon (Post 1433394)
Generally speaking, no, I don't. I listen to music for the music. All I ask of lyrics is that they're not so noticeably bad as to distract from my enjoyment of the music (take note, Kanye).

There are some exceptions though, a handful of artists who I listen to partially because I enjoy their lyrics.

:laughing:

I usually just hear the music first and then if the lyrics catch my attention while I listen I will play it like 20 times, especially if the music and lyrics in a song are eargasmic.

djchameleon 03-31-2014 10:24 AM

I throw lyrics out the window and focus mostly on the sound of the song, catchiness of it and on the instrumentation to see if there is something that I like about it. Especially if the lyrics are horrible, I can easily avoid/block it out.

Also I never bother to read the lyrics seeing as they aren't terribly important to me but if the lyrics catch my attention and stand out enough to make me notice how great it is then I'll pay attention by listening more intently but nope don't read them.

Black Francis 03-31-2014 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Briks (Post 1433387)
When you hear a new album for the first time, do you pay attention to the lyrics, or do you just focus on the music? Do you read the lyrics while listening, or do you just try to make them out with your ears?

For me, It depends on the song and the artist.

Like if i listen to Bob dylan i pay more attention to the lyrics than the musical arrangement.

But with other artist (lets say my fav the pixies) it's not really about what he says in the lyrics is how he sings them (although his lyrics are pretty good)

Recently im forming the habit to look for videos of a song with the lyrics already in it, if the lyrics are good for me they enhance the song in a major way.

If not, they better have a good musical arrangement or else i won't like song.

For the most part, I think a good song arrangement is more important than the lyrics.

Frownland 03-31-2014 11:30 AM

I usually just focus on the music first, then I focus on the lyrics when I return to the album if the music's good enough. I'm in the same boat as Janzsoon with the standards that I have for lyrics i.e. not outright ****e. It also changes for genres, like I don't give two ****s about most black metal lyrics but focus very much on hip hop lyrics. I will look up the lyrics to make sure that I know what they're saying so that my understanding of the universe doesn't come crashing down years later when I find out I've been thinking of it the wrong way this whole time.

Trollheart 03-31-2014 03:25 PM

Unlike it would seem everyone else here I am a big fan of lyrics. I used to get albums when I was younger and play them over and over until I had all the lyrics to all the songs (way way before the internet made it so easy). It helps me to be able to sing (really badly) along with the songs when they play. Even now, if I hear a bad lyric or even an out-of-place one in a song it won't ruin it for me, but it will give me less pleasure than it would had it been properly constructed.

Being an aspiring writer I have a love of the English language and so I guess this may be partially to blame. I love a lyric that tells a good story --- you'll have seen this trait in me if you've read my "More than words" section in my journal, or indeed "The Word according to Waits". I personally don't care how good you think the music is, if the lyric is bad then the song for me suffers as a whole. On the flip side, great lyrics to a terrible tune is just as bad.

I think a song, or album, is an opportunity for the artiste to share his her or their point of view, let us inside their heads and hearts, and if they don't do this, and do it properly, I consider it a chance wasted. I think you can understand a lot more about an artiste if you listen to their lyrics, although of course some like Mike Oldfield, Vangelis, Carbon Based Lifeforms etc can get their music across perfectly well without the benefit of lyrics. That, though, is an entirely different story.

Janszoon 03-31-2014 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart (Post 1433573)
Being an aspiring writer I have a love of the English language and so I guess this may be partially to blame.

Heh. I'm in the same boat as an aspiring writer and a lover of language, but that's exactly why I don't typically listen to music for the lyrics. Aside from rare cases like Nick Cave, song lyrics generally aren't even close to the level of actual literature.


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