Do lyrics matter to you?

Yes.
It's usually the music itself that attracts me to a song in the first place, but they lyrics will often decide whether it becomes a song I love or not.

Ultra by Depeche Mode has the perfect combination of brilliant music with fantastic, thought-provoking lyrics.

yes, they do. I usually pay attention to them, although in some music the vocals are more another instrument to me than a source of the text of the song.

Yes, lyrics matter.

No, but "sounds shapes" matter.

I think Depeche Mode has great lyrics.

Yes, at least most of the time. There are songs I like whose lyrics I can't understand, either because they're in a different language or they're being sung by Lisa Gerrard, and I still like the songs, so it's not critical. But they definitely matter if I can tell what they are!

Absolutely

it depends. if they aren't really deep but aren't really hurtful either, then that doesn't bother me. it's when the lyrics start to be hateful and really violent for the sake of being hateful and violent that i stop listening

lyrical quality matters, the singing voice. and lyrics can make me like a song more, but i like plenty of songs where i dont care for the message.

Yes, they do. When I was a kid, they didn't matter. Now I listen to the lyrics.

Above everything else

I tend to prefer instrumental music a lot of the time. A lot of the music I listen to is sung in a language I don't understand. Some of the music I listen to where there are lyrics in English, I don't pay much attention because the lyrics aren't saying anything particularly meaningful to me. However, I would still say that lyrics matter.

*sings*

Let me take you on a trip
Around the world and back
And you won't have to move
You just sit still

Now let your mind do the walking
And let my body do the talking
Let me show you the world in my eyes

I'll take you to the highest mountain
To the depths of the deepest sea
We won't need a map, believe me

Now let my body do the moving
And let my hands do the soothing
Let me show you the world in my eyes

That's all there is
Nothing more than you can feel now
That's all there is

Let me put you on a ship
On a long, long trip
Your lips close to my lips

All the islands in the ocean
All the heaven's in the motion
Let me show you the world in my eyes

That's all there is
Nothing more than you can touch now
That's all there is

Let me show you the world in my eyes

Ice Machine

Running through my head secretly
Shout to the boys in the factory
Ring you on the telephone silently
Like blood like the wine in the darkroom scene
The darkroom scene darkroom scene

A letter once composed
Seven years long and as tall as a tree
Reading on the wall
Efficient efficiency
Efficiency efficiency

Resurrect has a feeling
On my window of a past reunion
Resurrect has a feeling
On my window of a past reunion
Visions of a picture
Like the city and the air we breathe
The air we breathe air we breathe

She stood beside me once again
I knew her face
We met before in the street
Recalling all the children dancing at our feet
Dancing feet dancing feet

Vince Clarke (1981)

Yes. They really matter a lot. Good music with bad lyrics=mediocre song. Bad music with good lyrics=almost okay song.

good music and good lyrics=good song.


I'm a lyrical freak. BUT some lyrics make more and more sense when they're sung so I think that music is equally important. But lyrics are more my thing. I'm not very musical, really.
Usually when I hear a new band, I fell in love with the music, but when I read or understand the lyrics every damn time it comes out that they're really good. So...I have a good lyrics radar, maybe?

The thing is that I love songs, music+lyrics, not just music. But if I was forced either to listen to an instrumental or read a poem, I would go for the poem. When you have both though, is maybe one of the most perfect forms of art ever, along with films of course.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Someone should teach most of them lyrics-writers how to write it because they're wrongly influencing today's youth when they try to write poetry - EITHER YOU DROP THE PUNCTUATION ALLTOGETHER OR YOU TREAT WHAT YOU'RE SAYING AS PROPER SENTENCES. Stupid youth...

I get really bothered when I can't locate lyrics because unless I see it I will not get what the song is about. I like intelligent lyrics, like ones by:
-Dead Can Dance
-Dani Davey
-Theatre of Tragedy
-Therion

I also like when writer's recycle lyrics of famous poets because even the crappiest poets write better than most of it that's out there. Stuff like Britney Spear's "Toxic" or Black Eyed Peas' "Hey Mamma", I'll kick ass of the person who wrote lyrics to those two songs if I ever see them.

They can matter.

I want somebody to share
Share the rest of my life
Share my innermost thoughts
Know my intimate details
Someone who’ll stand by my side
And give me support
And in return
She’ll get my support
She will listen to me
When I want to speak
About the world we live in
And life in general
Though my views may be wrong
They may even be perverted
She’ll hear me out
And won’t easily be converted
To my way of thinking
In fact she’ll often disagree
But at the end of it all
She will understand me

I liked Vince Clarke's work in Yaz(oo) too. Though, I'm not familar with that song...

In some songs, absolutely--like Alan Jackson's "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)".

Ahhhhh Somebody.......I love that song......and this one too:

I'm waiting for the night to fall
I know that it will save us all
When everything's dark
Keeps us from the stark reality

I'm waiting for the night to fall
When everything is bearable
And there in the still
All that you feel is tranquility

There is a star in the sky
Guiding my way with its light
And in the glow of the moon
Know my deliverance will come soon

I'm waiting for the night to fall
I know that it will save us all
When everything's dark
Keeps us from the stark reality

I'm waiting for the night to fall
When everything is bearable
And there in the still
All that you feel is tranquility

There is a sound in the calm
Someone is coming to harm
I press my hands to my ears
It's easier here just to forget fear

And when I squinted
The world seemed rose-tinted
And angels appeared to descend
To my surprise
With half-closed eyes
Things looked even better
Than when they were open

Been waiting for the night to fall
I knew that it would save us all
Now everything's dark
Keeps us from the stark reality

Been waiting for the night to fall
Now everything is bearable
And here in the still
All that you feel is tranquility

I think this one's my very favorite!!!!!!

I tend to listen to the music more than the lyrics, but sometimes I'll really appreciate catchy lyrics, or lyrics that have meaning to me, so I guess they do matter somewhat.

That's an interesting way to look at it, and I'm just the opposite. I would choose listening to instrumental music over reading poetry.

Lump sat alone in a boggy marsh
Totally motionless except for her heart
Mud flowed up into lump’s pyjammas
She totally confused all the passing piranhas
She’s lump she’s lump
She’s in my head
She’s lump she’s lump she’s lump
She might be dead
Lump lingered last in line for brains
And the ones she got were sorta rotten and insane
Small thing’s so sad that birds could land
Is lump fast asleep or rockin’ out with the band

She’s lump she’s lump
She’s in my head
She’s lump she’s lump she’s lump
She might be dead

Lump was limp and lonely and needed a shove
Lump slipped on a kiss and tumbled into love
She spent her twenties between the sheets
Life limped along at subsonic speeds

She’s lump she’s lump
She’s in my head
She’s lump she’s lump she’s lump
She might be dead

Is this lump out of my head I think so
Is this lump out of my head I think so
Is this lump out of my head I think so
Is this lump out of my head

Sometimes! I listen more to the music than I do the lyrics.

Considering this is my favourite song by Hendrix...I'd say so

Down the street you can hear her scream "you’re a disgrace"
As she slams the door in his drunken face
And now he stands outside
And all the neighbours start to gossip and drool
He cries "oh, girl you must be mad,
What happened to the sweet love you and me had? "
Against the door he leans and starts a scene,
And his tears fall and burn the garden green

And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually

A little indian brave who before he was ten,
Played wargames in the woods with his indian friends
And he built up a dream that when he grew up
He would be a fearless warrior indian cheif
Many moons past and more the dream grew strong until
Tomorrow he would sing his first warsong and fight his first battle
But something went wrong, surprise attack killed him in his sleep that night

And so castles made of sand melts into the sea, eventually

There was a young girl, whos heart was a frown
’cause she was crippled for life,
And she couldn’t speak a sound
And she wished and prayed she could stop living,
So she decided to die
She drew her wheelchair to the edge of the shore
And to her legs she smiled "you won’t hurt me no more"
But then a sight she’d never seen made her jump and say
"look a golden winged ship is passing my way"

And it really didn’t have to stop, it just kept on going...

And so castles made of sand slips into the sea, eventually

I could care less about lyrics. I love the melody & the drumbeats.

Absolutely - they sing to my soul.

At least most of them, like any band, even Depeche Mode are prone to occasional god-awful song.

It depends on what the song is talking about but i usually just listen to the beat. lol

Yes, sometimes lyrics matter. I find myself trying to relate to the words of some songs. I attempt to "feel" music if it speaks to me.

More than the music.

Not really.

It was the b side of an early single, before they released any albums.

god, yes. Lyrics are fantastic.

it depends on the song, who's singing it, and the mood i'm in.

Yes. Y'know, I just read a crappy article in a magazine about that very thing. Coincidence?
I do think that the music itself is what really sells records, but I have never cared for groups that do not have much to say or at least an interesting way of saying little. I agree with the idea that lyrics have replaced poetry, and that too few artists are as competent as their predecessors. Plus, there are great songs with awful lyrics and vice versa.

It depends--if I like the song I guess they do matter.

See, here's a good example. This is currently my highest rated survey, but it's really a light (almost rhetorical) question. It did spark some cool reactions, but it's not especially "deep", you know?

I've noticed that will often change over time. For some reason, surveys often have a tendency to get higher ratings when they first come out. I guess it has something to do with the percentages and how each vote is weighted...

This one has had 1- days to mature... I think it's going to end up around where it is now (high).
But, certainly in the first 24-48 hours a rating jumps around since there are only a few votes and any new vote has more effect on the average.

Yeah, they're really important. Here's some of my favourite -

We've all seen the man at the liquor store beggin' for your change
The hair on his face is dirty, dreadlocked and full of mange
He ask the man for what he could spare with shame in his eyes
Get a job you fudgein' slob's all he replied
God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes
'Cause then you really might know what it's like to sing the blues
Then you really might know what it's like

Mary got pregnant from a kid named Tom who said he was in love
He said don't worry about a thing baby doll I'm the man you've been dreamin' of
But three months later he said he won't date her or return her call
And she sweared gosh darn if I find that man I'm cuttin' off his balls
And then she heads for the clinic and she gets some static walkin' through the doors
They call her a killer, and they call her a sinner, and they call her a whore
God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in her shoes
'Cause then you really might know what it's like to have to choose
Then you really might know what it's like

I've seen a rich man beg, I've seen a good man sin, I've seen a tough man cry
I've seen a loser win, And a sad man grin, I heard an honest man lie
I've seen the good side of bad, And the down side of up, And everything between
I licked the silver spoon, Drank from the golden cup, Smoked the finest green
I stroked daddies dimes at least a couple of times before I broke their heart
You know where it ends,Yo, it usually depends on where you start

I knew this kid named Max, He used to get fat stacks out on the corner with drugs
He liked to hang out late at night,Liked to get crap faced and keep pace with thugs
Until late one night there was a big gun fight,Max lost his head
He pulled out his chrome .45,Talked some crap and wound up dead
Now his wife and his kids are caught in the midst of all of his pain
You know it crumbles that way,At least that's what they say when you play the game
God forbid you ever had to wake up to hear the news
'Cause then you really might know what it's like to have to lose
Then you really might know what it's like
To have to lose...

I don't get really overconcerned with them.

here's one that does matter to me.

Freebird
Written by Allen Collins - Ronnie Van Zant


If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be travelling on, now,
'Cause there's too many places I've got to see.
But, if I stayed here with you, girl,
Things just couldn't be the same.
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now,
And this bird you can not change.
Lord knows, I can't change.

Bye, bye, its been a sweet love.
Though this feeling I can't change.
But please don't take it badly,
'Cause Lord knows I'm to blame.
But, if I stayed here with you girl,
Things just couldn't be the same.
Cause I'm as free as a bird now,
And this bird you'll never change.
And this bird you can not change.
Lord knows, I can't change.
Lord help me, I can't change.

It depends. I love lyrics that make me think, that stimulate me and make me wonder at what kind of a mind came up with those words in that order that inspire those feelings within me.

But at the same time, sometimes I'm not in the mood for that. Like, I love Liz Phair and Poe for how I marvel at what they write and how it flows. But sometimes I like Britney Spears and Enrique Iglesias and what have you because sometimes I like that music. I don't like it when people get down on some music because they feel it isn't intelligent or they don't write their own stuff or it's simplistic. I don't listen to Spears or whathaveyou because it makes me think about what I'm listening to - I listen to it because I like the beat or it gets me grooved up.

Different strokes.

A lot of songs I listen to are purely on the basis of their lyrics.

That said, I do prefer having real music to back it up.

To the crowd
To the world
You were so dry
And with the token bird I made
Send it to fly right to your side
With the broken wing you sailed
Oh like winter in July
A barren river wide
I'll pray for the flood
To wash on you
It's here I'll be with you

Well if the birds can reach the sky
To this land I'll be with you
'Til the sun bursts from your side
With my hands I reach to you
When you think your chance is passing by
When you blow your moon away
I'll bleed like the reed
Fall with your knife
It's here I'll be with you

I'll fall

good survey

Absolutely. They are vitally important to be GOOD and meaningful in the songs that have lyrics in them.
Songs that were written without lyrics are equally important though - for what they are.

I don't feel the suns comin' out today
its staying in, its gonna find another way.
As I sit here in this misery, I don't
think I'll ever see the sun from here.

And oh as I fade away,
they'll all look at me and say, and they'll say,
Hey look at him! I'll never live that way.
But that's okay
they're just afraid to change.

When you feel your life ain't worth living
you've got to stand up and
take a look around you then a look way up to the sky.
And when your deepest thoughts are broken,
keep on dreaming boy, cause when you stop dreamin' it's time to die.

And as we all play parts of tomorrow,
some ways will work and other ways we'll play.
But I know we all can't stay here forever,
so I want to write my words on the face of today.
and then they'll paint it

And oh as I fade away,
they'll all look at me and they'll say,
Hey look at him and where he is these days.
When life is hard, you have to change

I don't like lyrics that are about men.....doing things to girls... however I don't care if they don't make sense, take Gary Jules for example, my favorite artist, you have to think for the lyrics to make sense.. most people do not get them.

"Her body lies like a landscape before you
You're selling your soul by the pound
Got snakeoil in spades for the wolftickets trade
You look but don't see me around"

lyrics are everything man.

hell yes

Yes it's sad really some songs have a great tune, ruined as soon as the vocals start in.

It really depends on the music. In jazz, I don't care.

In the rock world, I think if you're writing lyrics they better be good. It's what the heart and soul of a song in rock and roll is.

Mother, do you think they'll drop the bomb?
Mother, do you think they'll like this song?
Mother, do you think they'll try to break my balls?
Ooooowaa Mother, should I build a wall?

Mother, should I run for President?
Mother, should I trust the government?
Mother, will they put me in the firing line?
Ooooowaa Is it just a waste of time?

Hush, my baby. Baby, don't you cry.
Mama's gonna make all of your nightmares come true.
Mama's gonna put all of her fears into you.
Mama's gonna keep you right here under her wing.
She won't let you fly, but she might let you sing.
Mama's gonna keep Baby cozy and warm.
Oooo Babe.
Oooo Babe.
Ooo Babe, of course Mama's gonna help build a wall.

Mother, do you think she's good enough,
For me?
Mother, do you think she's dangerous,
To me?
Mother will she tear your little boy apart?
Ooooowaa Mother, will she break my heart?

Hush, my baby. Baby, don't you cry.
Mama's gonna check out all your girlfriends for you.
Mama won't let anyone dirty get through.
Mama's gonna wait up until you get in.
Mama will always find out where you've been.
Mama's gonna keep Baby healthy and clean.
Oooo Babe.
Oooo Babe.
Ooo Babe, you'll always be Baby to me.

Mother, did it need to be so high?

Yes!

they are what helps me relate best to the music....to identify

I am usually more into the music. I could like a song without loving the lyrics but it doesn't work so much the other way.