Lyrics are the most important part of a song...

...according to Mark Seymour (Hunters & Collectors) in a podcast interview from Feb 2022. So you are aware of the context, he was specifically discussing the songwriting process in H&C. But he wasn't saying the lyrics were the most important thing for an H&C song, but for any song. Not the vocal performance, not the melody, but the words themselves.

I like Mark, but I couldn't disagree with him more. I love a good lyric, but I can certainly ignore them if I don't like them.

What say you?

I love Hunters & Collectors, but as a blanket statement, that's pretty hard to swallow. I've loved songs in languages that I don't understand! Also, I'm pretty sure I couldn't enjoy The Babys as much as I do if I thought lyrics were most important (to pick the first example that springs to mind)!

Thirty years ago I might have agreed with him. But these days I barely pay attention to the lyrics. Which is probably to my detriment - I sometimes wonder if I would notice, say, a white power screed.

I usually pay attention to lyrics, and pick out things pretty readily. (That habit has been handy as a DJ, since I have to screen songs for FCC-averse lyrics.) I can't really get behind any argument that the lyric, or any other specific factor, is the most important part of a song. The best songs, whatever their genesis or genre, have one thing in common: Each of them is more than the sum of their respective parts.

Does the FCC still care? I hear profanity slipping out on air on WFMU once every couple weeks (often in homemade edits that miss one "fuck.")



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/13/2023 06:25PM by steevee.

The FCC usually only responds to complaints from the public. They used to monitor the airwaves, but i doubt they have the budget for that anymore. The infamous incident when a Pacifica station played George Carlin's "7 Dirty Words" routine was the result of one - ONE - complaint.

The WFMU channel I program is an internet substation, free of gov regulations. As one DJ put it, we can play whatever the FuCC we want.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/13/2023 10:12PM by MrFab.

Yeah, I've missed a few edits along the way. The one that really had me waiting to see if the shoe would drop was when I played Drivin' n' Cryin's song "Powerhouse," and missed the big shout at the end. In the eyes of the FCC, that would've qualified as much more than a "slip." But I never heard a word about it -- not from any listener, or from KSER's staff, or from the feds. (Jeez, my mom listens to my show via the Internet every weekend, and I didn't even hear about it from her.)

The things that come to my attention (or get brought to my attention) more often are lyrics that some listeners might find offending or upsetting. A certain person to whom I'm married tends to notify me about those issues, often after the fact. For example, I've been "told" that I can't play Faith No More's song "Surprise, You're Dead" in a world where we have a mass shooting every week.

They only care if someone reports it to them. Ordinarily they're not listening or monitoring every radio signal 24/7. It's just not possible. Also, if it's during the "safe haven" of between 10pm and 6am, then it's pretty much anything goes. That was always my favorite time to host my radio shows! Didn't have to pre-screen the songs.

The time frame between 10PM and 6AM isn't officially a "safe haven" on radio and TV. Obscenity, as defined by the FCC, is prohibited around the clock.

And it's true, the FCC doesn't actively monitor the airwaves; a station like KSER is likely to fly under the commission's radar, unless someone lodges an official complaint. But if such a complaint were to get investigated and validated, the penalty would destroy the radio station. The Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005 increased the fines for on-air obscenities ten-fold, to $325K per incident.

Lyrics mean close to nothing to me. I can hear a song 200 times and not know the lyrics. It's probably because I cant sing and therefore do not sing along.

I’ve never given lyrics as much attention as the music itself.

I could listen to a song with inane lyrics….but no matter how provoking the lyrics, if the song/music is off-putting I’ll never listen to it again.

It’s got to be a real skill to take a written lyric and put a great song to it, ala Elton John.

I usually don't pay much attention to lyrics since they are usually the worst part of a song, and being obsessed with music, I'd suffer a lot of cognitive dissonance! But…egregiously poor lyrics can easily be a deal-breaker for me. Conversely, when I actually hear great lyrics in a rare instance, that usually makes the music singular in my mind and really stand out against the crowd. OMD have one great song on their new album, "Kleptocracy," and it's so great that it lifts the whole, tired album up a notch or two. The song plays like the long-awaited sequel to the last song that made such an impact on me; Jarvis Cocker's "Running The World." Hit me with explicit, right on political content and I stand up and take notice.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

Music is by far more important to me than lyrics but then one of my all time favorite songs is "The Joke's On You" by Christian Lunch which just lyrics over a basic synth beat. Go figure.

The song itself dictates if the lyrics matter. Listening to one of my playlists at work, the following songs have played in the last 15 minutes:

Sugarcubes- "Birthday" No clue about anything Bjork says beyond "they're smoking ceegars", but not once in 35 years have I cared what else she might say.

Stan Ridgway - "Drive, She Said" Of course I listened to the words. What kind of dope doesn't listen to Stan Ridgway lyrics?

The Fall - "New Big Prinz" - can't understand most of what he's saying, but dearly love what I can understand, "check the record check the record check the guy's track record." So 95%, lyrics don't matter, 5% lyrics are great, and kinda dumb.

The Byrds - "You Ain't Going Nowhere" I'm supposed to say I care about the lyrics, but aside from the chorus I really don't. It's all about the pedal steel and harmonies.

Dinosaur Jr - "Start Choppin'" I listen to the words to the same extent I listen to a Bassett hound howling

Maddox Brothers & Rose - "Dig a Hole" The music is amazing on its own, but it's even better accompanying the story of digging a grave for Dottie Corey.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/14/2023 04:33PM by breno.

breno Wrote:
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> Stan Ridgway - "Drive, She Said" Of course I
> listened to the words. What kind of dope doesn't
> listen to Stan Ridgway lyrics?

This, in a nutshell! In fact, let's go out on a limb and say that lyrics are the sole reason why we love Stan Ridgeway!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2023 06:53AM by Post-Punk Monk.

Post-Punk Monk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> This, in a nutshell! In fact, let's go out
> on a limb and say that lyrics are the sole reason
> why we love Stan Ridgeway!

No way! His lyrics are great, but but his vocal delivery is definitely an important part of the reason I love Stan Ridgeway! I like the music, too!

DuckRabbit Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Post-Punk Monk Wrote:
> -------------------------------------------------------
>
> > This, in a nutshell! In fact, let's go
> out on a limb and say that lyrics are the sole
> reason why we love Stan Ridgeway!
>
> No way! His lyrics are great, but but his vocal
> delivery is definitely an important part of the
> reason I love Stan Ridgeway! I like the music, too!

I agree, not so much on his vocals, but the music, especially with Wall of Voodoo. Songs like "Factory" and "Call of the West" (and "Mexican Radio," of course) are a perfect melding of music and lyrics.

If you like to sing along, as I do, then it's important to know the words, but that is different from liking them or judging them as good or bad quality.

I've recently experienced something I thought interesting personally...knowing the lyrics of a song, sometimes for many years, but never really thinking about what they mean. The song "Good Enough" by Van Halen for some reason came to mind while I was in Walmart a few months ago. It's a song I haven't heard for probably 30 years, but I could still remember how the chorus goes. I started to "sing" it in my head. Then it hit me...it's about a girl who is not attractive but is good enough to have sex with. It's a nasty song, sung in such a crass manner with the grunt to mean "screw." I cringed once it hit me. How did the meaning of the song never make its way from my ears (via my lips) to my brain? I've had other realizations recently, but nothing else to make me cringe.

I'm a bit of a fan of H&C, but that statement is ludicrous; without the instrumental aspect of the song, you'd just be reciting poetry at one of those college coffeehouse poetry slam readings (which are usually awful to downright aural horrorscapes).

I can't speak for others, but it just seems like the overall quality of lyrical composition has waned over the past decade (with some notable exceptions); it's why I listen to more instrumental music than I do lyrical. For me, it's all about sound: if I like the sound, there's a statistically-favored possibility that I can wrap my head around the rhythm/backbeat structure of it. In fact, I don't need music to talk to me, I don't need it to tell me a story, I just enjoy the piece of art that it is. Like John Cage, I would prefer listening to road traffic rather than some of the muck they are calling music these days.

Love me some Stan Ridgway! I love the gritty, existential realism in his music. Also a big fan of Wall Of Voodoo, interestingly enough, I thought the music from Call Of The West was terrific, I could listen to that album sans lyrics.

After all the music I have listened to over the years, I probably couldn't recite all the lyrics to many of the songs; instead I usually focused on the tonal inflections in the singer's voice, much like in the music of Cocteau Twins, whose lyrics were designed for Liz Fraser's (heavenly) vocal gymnastics (she has been referred to by some as "The Voice Of God").



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2023 06:25AM by Fleeingbandit.

pizzicato five, hello?