# Do lyrics matter anymore?



## Xanadu (Feb 3, 2006)

example 1.
I Let It Rain Now Clear It Out [x4] 
And Lets Get It, Lets Get It [x7] 
Let It Rain A Clear It Out [x2] 
Chicken Noodle Soup Chicken Noodle Soup Chicken Noodle Soup Wit A Soda On Da Side [x4] 
Let It Rain A Clear It Out [x4] 
And Lets Get It, Lets Get It [x7] 
Let It Rain A Clear It Out [x2] 

example 2.
Do your chain hang low 
do it wobble to da flo 
do it shine in the light 
is it platinum is it gold 
could u throw it ov'r ya shoulda 
if ya hott it make ya cold 
do your chain hang low

example 3.
What you gon' do with all that junk?
All that junk inside your trunk?
I'ma get, get, get, get, you drunk,
Get you love drunk off my hump.
My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump,
My hump, my hump, my hump, my lovely little lumps (Check it out)


rap sucks. it's like they don't even try anymore. It's like they just throw words together, and hope it sells.*dissapointed*


Remember when lyrics meant something and/or told a story..

A child arrived just the other day,
He came to the world in the usual way.
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay.
He learned to walk while I was away. 
And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew,
He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad.
You know I'm gonna be like you."

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."

My son turned ten just the other day.
He said, "Thanks for the ball, dad, come on let's play.
Can you teach me to throw?" I said, "Not today,
I got a lot to do." He said, "That's ok."
And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed,
Said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah.
You know I'm gonna be like him."

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon. 
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then." 

Well, he came from college just the other day,
So much like a man I just had to say,
"Son, I'm proud of you. Can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head, and he said with a smile,
"What I'd really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys.
See you later. Can I have them please?"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."

I've long since retired and my son's moved away.
I called him up just the other day.
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind."
He said, "I'd love to, dad, if I could find the time.
You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kid's got the flu,
But it's sure nice talking to you, dad.
It's been sure nice talking to you."
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me,
He'd grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

You posted two extreme examples IMO.


There are SOME artists still writing decent lyrics.



They do matter to me.


(I'm also not a fan of 99% of the rap I've heard).


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## Graham (Jan 26, 2007)

"The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind....."


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

*Maybe a "Name that Tune!" thread?*

Guess the artist and title? That could be fun and good for a few pages of posts towards the contest!

"Thumbing a ride to Geneva
Standing in the pouring rain
I'm getting dirty looks
I wish I hadda took a train

Sometimes it gets so hard to remember
Even harder to forget
But if I don't find my way
How'm I gonna pay my debt?"

:rockon2:


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## Guest (May 5, 2007)

If you don't like it, don't listen to it...

Don't try to feel superior because you THINK what you do like is somehow better.... There are a billion people who think your favourite band sucks.


And they're JUST as right as you are.


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## lolligagger (Feb 4, 2006)

Xanadu said:


> Chicken Noodle Soup Chicken Noodle Soup Chicken Noodle Soup Wit A Soda On Da Side [x4]


Genius, scheer genius...Drool 

But as a fan of bluegrass music I have found that there were some really strange lyrics written a long time ago as well. I think its how the words are used...maybe it doesn't need to make sense (or be good on paper) to be appreciated.

Turkey in de straw, turkey in de hay
Turkey in de straw, turkey in de hay
Roll 'em up an' twist 'em up a high tuc-ka-haw
An' twist 'em up a tune called Turkey in the Straw


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## Guest (May 5, 2007)

"there were some really strange lyrics written a long time ago"
They are probably euphimism...


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## zao_89 (Feb 17, 2006)

Milkman said:


> There are SOME artists still writing decent lyrics.


Like:
Buck 65
Immortal Techniques
Fort Minor
Manafest
k-os
Family Force 5


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## hoser (Feb 2, 2006)

lots of crap lyrics in every genre. always has been. always will be.


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## Luke98 (Mar 4, 2007)

I indisputably say that those ARE NOT the exact lyrics to My Humps.

Bands who still for the most part write good lyrics:
Our Lady peace,
Sloan, 
Billy Talent,
....

yeah I can't think of anyone else but I'm sure a few exist.


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## Guest (May 5, 2007)

I think a lot of people in this thread are confusing the concept of "Good" lyrics with "Lyrics That I Happen To Like"

The two are not necessarily the same...


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## nine (Apr 23, 2006)

There are lots of great bands out there that clearly spend a lot of time on their lyrics. I'm sure the bands I'm thinking of aren't too popular on these boards though so most here won't be aware of them.

In popular music, however, I think that lyrics have about the same importance and quality that they've always had (not much).


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## ne1roc (Mar 4, 2006)

Luke98 said:


> I indisputably say that those ARE NOT the exact lyrics to My Humps.
> 
> Bands who still for the most part write good lyrics:
> Our Lady peace,
> ...


Billy Talent? You gotta be kinding?:confused-smiley-010


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## J S Moore (Feb 18, 2006)

"I can't help about the shape I'm in
I can't sing, I ain't pretty and my legs are thin.

But don't ask me what I think of you cause I might not give the answer that you want me too."


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## Guest (May 6, 2007)

IMO lyrics are just notes a vocalist uses. Think of
it as just another instrument in the arrangement,
complimenting the melody of the song. How it's
sung makes an impression on the listener. So most
of the time words mean nothing to the average listener
(opera anyone?). Steven Tyler mumbles alot during shows
and it sounds great.


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## rippinglickfest (Jan 1, 2006)

*Let there be Voice*

There are some great lyrics in the field of metal, I mean metal in the broad sense, but because of the vocal styles............ie cookie monster or the screamer types..........the lyrics arent decipherable. Which doesnt make sense........... why write stellar words and then scream the shit out of them.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Well, I certainly have my own prejudices when it comes to vocal and lyric style/ability, but they're only MY prejudices. Lots of lyrics just sound inane and lots of voices just sound dumb to me, but so what? It's nice to have choices, and it's nice to be able to change one's mind. In high school I hated Yes, now I like Yes. I also thought Bob Dylan was too wordy, now I don't think that at all. These days I don't care for what I can't decipher, but maybe that speaks more to my tastes...everyone's gotta exercise change in tastes, right?

As I've aged I've kinda got my head around more styles, though rap mystifies me. 

If we can accept literally hundreds of guitar sounds, why not vocal sounds, why not lyric styles?

Peace, Mooh.


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## Hamm Guitars (Jan 12, 2007)

The Tragicly Hip have writen more than a few songs over the years with really good lyrics. I know allot of people are sick to death of them, but I think their lyrics are one of the elements that make them so appealing to alot of people.


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

*"Let's get specific here..."*

It's true that a song is really designed to evoke feelings, or rather an emotional response in the listener.

Clear lyrics tell a story. The music emphasizes the story being told. We react emotionally to the ideas and concepts to the story and music package.

There is a term for songs without clear lyrics. We call them instrumentals! Instrumentals evoke feelings only, like with classical music. 

Cookie monster/screamer vocals essentially are instrumentals. They make you want to get up and slam dance. Nobody knows or cares that the song is really about an accountant/controller who sold his soul to Satan! 

Slang and idiom songs with seemingly random lyrics, like "My Humps" or "Turkey in the Straw" actually convey more information that it would first appear, but only to others within that demographic. If you're part of the "urban street culture" or the 18th century hills of Kentucky the lyrics are slang terms for more complicated nuggets of information. Traditional blues stye is a splendid example, with its cultural slang and field hollers.

Many songs with unclear lyrics have made their mark and still endure. How about "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs? I still don't know what the hell that song is about. Or exactly what the story is in "Louie Louie", either. 

Still, except for a select few most instrumentals don't have staying power. For every "Tequila" we have hundreds if not thousands of "Stairway to Heaven" or "Jeremy" alternates.

I'm just an old guy with old guy tastes but I've been impressed with much of the "slam dancer" hard core playing for some years now. If you love guitar there's not a lot elsewhere in rock these days. However, 10 minutes after I leave the club I've forgotten most of the specifics of which I had spent the evening listening. Feelings fade faster without a story.

I've been predicting for some time now that if hard core could axe its "Cookie Monster" or "Duck Quack" so-called vocalists and add clear lyrics to its well-crafted instrumentals it would immediately move into the lucrative mainstream market! Heaven knows we're way overdue.:rockon2: 

Maybe I'm all wet but it's just that I'd love to see many of my younger customers get the recognition (and the money!) they deserve!:food-smiley-004:


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## Lester B. Flat (Feb 21, 2006)

John Lennon sometimes wrote lyrics using words (sometimes made up words) and phrases for their musicality rather than their meaning. I Am the Walrus is good example of this.

I also think lyrics can't be properly judged out of context of the music. Some times good lyrics make bad poetry.


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## zinga (Apr 22, 2007)

Nooooooooooooo!!


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

I'm gonna repeat stuff I've said before, so,...

-> The voice isn't my favourite musical instrument. I prefer the guitar, the Hammond B3 and of often the sax over the voice.

-> If I want words, I'll read a novel or go see a stand up comic.

-> Lyrics go in one ear and out the other. So 98% of the time, lyrics are not important to me. The exception seems to be Frank Zappa and a few others. (What does that tell you about me).

_Ima little pimp with my hair gassed back
Pair of khaki pants and my shoes shined black
........._


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## gerald guerrero (Oct 3, 2006)

wow. this is deep! Man, what is up with you Canadians with all this great lucid and introspective anayisis? Sun spots?Are are you guys thawing out up there? whaever it is its brilliant!


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

Robert1950 said:


> _Ima little pimp with my hair gassed back
> Pair of khaki pants and my shoes shined black
> ........._



"I don't know where I'm comin' from
but I just met a girl called
Dynamo Hum!"

:food-smiley-004:


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## Luke98 (Mar 4, 2007)

ne1roc said:


> Billy Talent? You gotta be kinding?:confused-smiley-010


I mean most of the first album and select songs off the second. Meh, perhaps it's just my interpretation. Haven't listened to them in awhile.


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## Robboman (Oct 14, 2006)

*Apparently not*

Back to the original post for a sec, I think the examples were all RAP.

I agree and I've never understood this. Unlike musicians, rap artists don't have to worry about melody, harmony, vocal range, leaving room for other instrumentation, etc. Just program a loop or two and the rest of the track is wide open for lyrics. There's room for at least five times more words compared to other genres, and because they're spoken and not 'sung', they're easier to understand.

So how come they never say anything meaningful? Really, rap could be the perfect vehicle for a real lyricist or a poet with something profound, or at least intelligent to say. But all we get is variations of: "I'm rich, I'm a gangsta, I got all the ladies, I'm betta than you, bling, ferraris, lambos, hummers, etc.." I know it's a cultural thing, but still.

Are there any intelligent rappers?


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

It is easy to tell from this post that you don't listen to rap. Rap musicians DO worry about melody et al and are quite rhythmically sophisticated. Its use of metonymy, metaphor, and alliteration, is outstanding and often unparalleled in rock music. 

Rap started as commentary on social injustice and the harsh reality of American inner city life. While 80s rock was singing about Jessie's girl, dragons and magic, or "partying everyday and everyday night", rap was, at its best, articulating a structural critique of US economics, social policy, and media. Many rap songs are based on real world events and the inequalities such events illuminate (Public Enemy's "911's a Joke" comes to mind here). 

The problem with many of the posts here is equating "rap" with the reduced form of commercialized pop that now passes as rap. Like so many countercultural movements, it has been commercialized and transformed into a caricaturization of what is once was. In this case, rap has devolved into its antithesis: while it once rallied against the inequality of power and money, it now glorifies money and equates power and worth with the artificial trappings of commodity possession: "bling." It has now become part of the very system it critiqued much like 1960s hippy culture and 1970s punk cultures were reduced to "love cookies" and "punk fashion." 


TG



Robboman said:


> Back to the original post for a sec, I think the examples were all RAP.
> 
> I agree and I've never understood this. Unlike musicians, rap artists don't have to worry about melody, harmony, vocal range, leaving room for other instrumentation, etc. Just program a loop or two and the rest of the track is wide open for lyrics. There's room for at least five times more words compared to other genres, and because they're spoken and not 'sung', they're easier to understand.
> 
> ...


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## auger (Apr 23, 2006)

> -> Lyrics go in one ear and out the other. So 98% of the time, lyrics are not important to me. The exception seems to be Frank Zappa and a few others. (What does that tell you about me).


well said robert1950...
my kinda lyric's as well

I am gross and perverted obsessed and deranged I have existed for years but very little has changed 
i'm a tool of the goverment and industry too destined to rule and regulate you
I may be vile and permissive but you cant look away 
I make you think I'm delicious with the stuff that I say....
i'm the best you can get 
have you guessed me yet?
I'm the slime oozzing out of your tv set.....

Auger


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

Robboman said:


> Back to the original post for a sec, I think the examples were all RAP.
> I agree and I've never understood this. Unlike musicians, rap artists don't have to worry about melody, harmony, vocal range, leaving room for other instrumentation, etc. Just program a loop or two and the rest of the track is wide open for lyrics. There's room for at least five times more words compared to other genres, and because they're spoken and not 'sung', they're easier to understand.
> So how come they never say anything meaningful? Really, rap could be the perfect vehicle for a real lyricist or a poet with something profound, or at least intelligent to say. But all we get is variations of: "I'm rich, I'm a gangsta, I got all the ladies, I'm betta than you, bling, ferraris, lambos, hummers, etc.." I know it's a cultural thing, but still.
> Are there any intelligent rappers?



...sigh...here we go again:

1. stop listening to mainstream rap. like ALL mainstream music, it is designed for people with mainstream...uh....taste.

2. if you think rapping is easy, give it a try yourself.

-dh


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

I here ya David, see my post above.

TG




david henman said:


> ...sigh...here we go again:
> 
> 1. stop listening to mainstream rap. like ALL mainstream music, it is designed for people with mainstream...uh....taste.
> 
> ...


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## Robboman (Oct 14, 2006)

david henman said:


> ...sigh...here we go again:
> 
> 1. stop listening to mainstream rap. like ALL mainstream music, it is designed for people with mainstream...uh....taste.
> 
> ...


1. OK. Perhaps you could suggest some acts for those of us not interested in gangstas, thugz, bling, booty or how big the wheels on your Hummer are.

2. I never said it was easy.

What I WAS trying to say is that rap could be the best possible genre for LYRICS. I'd just like to hear some meaningful, thought-provoking words for a change. Rap already has an Elvis (Eminem), I think it needs a Bob Dylan.


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## nine (Apr 23, 2006)

Aw man, not this rap discussion again. It's such a waste of time on these boards.


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## hoser (Feb 2, 2006)

yeah really. look up the other thread...or did that one get deleted.


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## Guest (May 8, 2007)

"like ALL mainstream music"
You know why they call it mainSTREAM??

Cause it's shallow and fast moving....


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

ClintonHammond said:


> "like ALL mainstream music"
> You know why they call it mainSTREAM??
> Cause it's shallow and fast moving....



...yep!

:rockon: 

-dh


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## nine (Apr 23, 2006)

ClintonHammond said:


> "like ALL mainstream music"
> You know why they call it mainSTREAM??
> 
> Cause it's shallow and fast moving....


Exactly. Making assumptions based on popular music isn't really fair. And finding the good stuff might take a little work, which the majority of people just don't have the desire to do. Which is fine because not everyone is into music that much, but that doesn't mean good stuff isn't out there.


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## WarrenG (Feb 3, 2006)

Robboman said:


> 1. OK. Perhaps you could suggest some acts for those of us not interested in gangstas, thugz, bling, booty or how big the wheels on your Hummer are.


Public Enemy.


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## nine (Apr 23, 2006)

WarrenG said:


> Public Enemy.


A Tribe Called Quest


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## Robboman (Oct 14, 2006)

jroberts said:


> Lucy was 7 and wore a head of blue barettes....


Hey, that is EXCELLENT. Who wrote this? I'm guessing it wasn't eminem or 50 cent. 

Thanks for those other recommends, I have listened to a bit of Public Enemy over the years, haven't really checked out ATCQ, so maybe I will.

Was there another thread about lyrics? That also involved rap? I didn't see that.


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

"To The Majesty Of Rock!
The Pageantry of Roll!
The crowing of the 'cawk',
The running of the foal!
The shepherd with his flock,
The miner with his coal.
We're in this together...and ever...

When we die, do we haunt the sky?
Do we lurk in the murk of the seas?
What then? Are we born again?
Just to sit asking questions like these?
I know, for I told me so.
And I'm sure each of you quite agrees:
The more it stays the same, the less it changes!
:rockon:


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