The Lyrics Or The Music: Which Is More Important To You?

Question

For Me it's the Music, but not by much. How about You?
And why? Feel free to be as long winded or a short as You like with Your answer

I am so touched right now.

Every single important personage in the section I know of has answered this.
Thank You All
You're Awesome

I want You all to know that I just went through and read every single answer and gave You all a thumbs up.
There were so many good points brought up and so many good arguments made by so many people I'm amazed.
Thank You

At 50 answers and 8 Stars this is easily one of the most successful questions I have ever asked.

Answer 1

Great question....!!!

I believe the music is what first catches your attention, like when you first see someone who is hot.

But its the lyrics that grab and hold on to you, like when a persons personally is way hotter than their looks.

And you get a hit when you find a song that has both... :)

Answer 2

To answer your question, I'd say lyrics because lyrics have meaning. They can also be perceived in different ways. If I wrote, "I love you and I miss you," one person could think about an old lover, and another person could think a close friend that passed away. I personally think both lyrics and music are important, though. Take rap for example. One person might say they hate rap, but they love meaningful lyrics. What they don't know is that some rap songs do indeed have meaningful lyrics. Certain genres of music appeals to different kinds of people. Lyrics are the message, music is the bottle. Sorry it's kinda long, I love music in general. x__x

Answer 3

More often the music drives the lyric and a lot of times the words wind up changing because of the pacing.

It's rare that a melody changes for the words, Elton John might be one of the few that will cram words into the song to make it work because he's not a lyricist.

As a listener, I think they're equally important. Case in point is "Sopranos" where the words and music drove some of the storyline and set the mood for the scene.

I think you can tell a lot more with music than you can words.

Some of the greatest songs have pretty weak (and often misinterpreted) lyrics but the music drives the point home.

Answer 4

Well, it's really the final product. The lyricism may sound good, but if the instrumentation is flat and uninspiring, the song may sound poor. This is a major case with a lot of folk/indie bands...they have deep lyrics, but the stuff is kind of bland in the end.


On the other hand, powerful riffs and hard melodies mean nothing if the vocals and lyrics suck...I'm looking at Mr. Cannibal Corpse...non-stop satan lyrics and bad vocals that make the song suck.


The real thing though is the final product. Doesn't matter how many brains were put into lyricism and how much talent was used to create a killer riff...if the final product is not good, the song will fail.

Answer 5

To me, the music is the most important part. If the music is good enough, you don't need lyrics (there are plenty of plain instrumental songs) to make a good song, but good lyrics alone have a harder time to hold up as a good song. There are some songs that have very little instumentals that can pass as a good song on it's lyrics alone (folk and some indie) but it's much harder.
But then again, but lyrics can ruin a song. If I hear a song with great instumentals, I will always have something nagging at me if the lyrics are terrible. I say just cut out the lyrics if you can't write good ones.

Answer 6

Music. Music comes first, then lyrics. A good combination of lyrics and music is always great, and it's usually the thought-provoking lyrics of a song that make it legendary, along with some of the music as well. (A great example is John Lennon's "Imagine". Had it had totally different lyrics, I doubt it would've received as much acclaim as it has.) Still, I prefer music. Some bands write subpar or absolutely useless lyrics, but that's fine. It's not like I can do any better, although stuff that is either extremely useless or rude is usually terrible.

Answer 7

In the beginning with the early Beatles and Stones stuff it was all about both for me. Then by 1966 or thereabouts lyrics meant nothing to me, and my focus was mainly on the music. Until the late 60's when I really got into Frank Zappa, and all that changed, and I could appreciate both again. Though even with bands like Yes, King Crimson, and the like, I don't really pay attention to the lyrics all that much.
I would have to say it depends on the band, or the song (for me anyway). Especially with groups like 'The Sensational Alex Harvey Band', or 'Blue Oyster Cult', you can't help but be moved by both.
So I'd say that lyrics and music play an equal part for me. Depending on the artist, or the song.

Answer 8

On first listen to something, it's about the music. If I don't like how it's played or I don't like the singer's voice, they could have the best lyrics in the world and I still wouldn't like it.
But once I get into a band or album, or even just a song, I would prefer for there to be at least decent lyrics. But I like a lot of songs which don't really make sense at all, but I love the music, so it all kind of evens out.

Answer 9

Definitely the music. The older I get, the more I realize that in no way, shape, or form do the lyrics apply anymore to what I have going on in my life. In fact, I listen to post-rock a lot more these days because the music is almost able to interpret a story solely through its content, not through vocals. Bad lyrics and vocals are the first thing that will always turn me off a song.

Answer 10

With out a doubt, music
I find that a lot of songs have great music, but there are very few people who are really good lyrics, so the lyrics are never as easy to relate to. Music is universal and can be interprated many ways. Music is defanitly more beautiful. With no lyrics, it's still a song, just instrumental, but with no music, it's just (usually) very poor poetry
so yeah, MUSIC

Answer 11

Well, I don't like lyrics about love stories particularly, nor do I like rap lyrics that are just about bragging and putting someone else down. I also don't like the lyrics of death metal music. Give me a good song by Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen instead. And, a lot depends on the song itself. In a song by Bob Dylan, the lyrics are more important. In a song by Brittany Spears, the music is more important because it is meant to dance to, not to listen thoughtfully to.