I am exactly the opposite.

without lyrics, at least to me, the music sits more in the background, whereas with them I tend to really focus on whatever I am listening to.

Music to me isnt just a way to relax. it is something to study, challenge, and a means of inspiration. the "minimal brain involvement" has never been what music is about, from where I sit.

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I would imagine that most of us have spent our hard earned dollars on our equipment to try and increase our emotional connection to the music we love.

From my perspective, I tend to spin music from genres where the lyrics require minimal processing from my brain (blues) or where there are no lyrics (jazz instrumentals).

While artists such as Bob Dylan and many of the other great "wordsmiths" are obviously a valid way for people to get an emotional hook into their music, for me... I want to process my music with the least amount of effort.

Minimal effort = maximum relaxation.

We all spend vast amounts of our daily lives processing information to extract their meaning and context (emails, conversations, newspapers, television, even driving)

I think I'm in between.

I can go on adventures during songs with lyrics that apparently have nothing to do with the content of the song. Some songs without lyrics seem, when I think upon them, to also have plenty of lyrical content.

My wife mocks me because I can sit through a song with lyrics and sing along for the entire thing and then when she asks me what the song is about, I'll say, "I have no clue. I just like it." Kind of Gestalt impression listening, I guess.

For her, it's all about the lyrics, unless it's Coltrane.

We went to see Simon and Garfunkel a couple years ago and I nudged her during the sixth or so song and said, "You know, this song is kind of sad."

(I already knew all the words by heart.)

She said, "Yeah, it is."

Next song, same thing. I knew it by heart already, but I thought, "Hey, this one's kind of sad, too."

So, I nudged again and pointed it out.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she replied patiently.

Long about the fourth or fifth song in a row that I leaned over and said, "Hey, you know what? This is a sad song," she finally looked me in the eye and said, "Look, dummy, it's Simon and Garfunkel. They're all sad songs. OK? That's what makes "Feelin' Groovy" such a strange song."

Bloody hell.

I always thought, "I am a rock, I am an island" was about personal independence or something. Turns out it's kind of a sad song!

She also told me about what Carol King's "I feel the Earth Move" was about.

Yikes!

That's because you know nothing about liberal arts. You think like an engineer. For exmaple, Paul Simon wrote poems and put them to music. If you can't read a poem and comprehend it than just stick to the melody with the words. You don't have to be correct, Eleanor Rigsby.

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That's because you know nothing about liberal arts. You think like an engineer. For exmaple, Paul Simon wrote poems and put them to music. If you can't read a poem and comprehend it than just stick to the melody with the words. You don't have to be correct, Eleanor Rigsby.

Wow, that must have been some white lightning, Lamont Sansford.

Headache today?

I resemble that.

Aimee Mann's lyrics are brutal, truthful, bitter and filled with regret. Just like real life and relationships. I dig 'em. The Pixies lyrics, for the most part, don't mean anything I can figure out- but they still convey the emotion of the music. Devo's lyrics are funny and mock our techno/regressive culture. Buddy Guy's lyrics speak of loss in a matter-of-fact coldness that is emotionally chilling. Talking Heads lyrics can be playful and subversive at the same time. So I guess I have to go along with ncdrawl! Who knew?

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the last thing I want to do is spend energy deriving meaning from lyrics.

I'm speechless.

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the last thing I want to do is spend energy deriving meaning from lyrics.

I'm speechless.

That's good because otherwise, you would force him to derive meanings from your words.

That's very funny, Alex.

Thank you. I hope I didn't cause you too much distress deriving meanings from my posts. I try to keep them short and simple, thus accessible to everyone. Few words, mostly tones.

You've been writing in the arena of Joseph Heller lately.

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Nateley's mother, a descendant of the New England Thorntons, was a Daugther of the American Revolution. His father was a Son of A Bitch.

I'm laughing a very musical laugh.

You are capable of such playful and brutal mockery. Like a mix of Devo and Aimee Mann (Lust In Space?). The effect is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally satisfying. Can you put this shit to music? I would gladly expend the requisite energy.

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I have to go along with ncdrawl

all who come to their senses and recognize me as The Lord thy God eventually do. My chief draftsman has just finished the design for my NCDRAWLYOUTH Insignia.

=Kaiser

Hello everyone!

This is my first post here, although I read this forum for quite a while. But reading this topic made me wanna say something.

I thought , naive as I am, that audiophile are music lovers, where music is seen like a form of art.

How on earth can anyone can say that the lyrics of a song are not important? And I am not talking here only about Bob Dylan, but about the whole music establishment,being they Led Zepp or Pink Floyd, Megadeth or Nevermore, Simple Minds or Talk Talk.

I believe that people who spend thousands of dollars on audio and say things like this, they are truly missing all the point of music. I thought people that are into music, are highly spirited and have a clue about literature, cinematography, history and not just being in search of relaxation and perfect sound.

For me, music is not about getting me relaxed, it is a quest, it is a way of life, it is the soundtrack of my days of doubt and joy.

I don't listen music for the sake of sounds just like I don't read Kafka to make the time pass. I am listening becaue I want to explore myself and others, and learn new things.

Don't get me wrong, I respect your comunity, and I have so much to learn from you all, but I find it somehow sad to see that music became an excuse for buying nice toys for grown up people.

And you can easily observe this here, since 99 % of topics are about this and that gear and are so few serious discussions about MUSIC. I don't recall to have read here about Bjork or Tori Amos, about Motorhead, Soft Machine , Nucleus or Mother Love Bone.

And don't tell me their recordings are not audiophile and you prefere to listen to a Dolly Parton SACD instead of a CD from Dead Can Dance.

If you are not gonna kick me out for these blasphemies, I shall write again, cause I definitly need some advices from you all.

Peace from Europe, the continent of war.

For me, there's music where I listen very carefully to the lyrics, other music I just relax to, and some makes my foot tap. A few records make me wanna dance.

With opera for example, where I really should be listening to the lyrics, and learn the story behind it, I just don't.
When I play anything with eg Sarah Slean, Leonard Cohen, Van the man, Steely Dan or Donald Fagen, I always listen to the lyrics. With things like blues I often listen to the lyrics even if there's no point to it. It's all the same. Jazz or classical just makes me hover in the chair, from utter relaxation. Band of Gypsys makes my foot go. Sometimes even brings me up on the floor.

Welcome, Il Postino.

Great first post, so make sure you don't only ring once...or twice.

The OP, returnstackerror, was just opining about his favorite music, which is not lyric rich in content. Just another valid perspective- although I completely agree with your attachment to the meaning of words.

And we wouldn't want to minimize Motorhead's historical contribution to the musical lexicon, would we?

Please tell us about the music you love whenever you can. There's a Now Listening thread in the Open Bar which has some interesting lists and there are music category threads where you might find discussions that follow your specific interests (i.e. Rock, Jazz, Classical).

It's great to have a Romanian contributor.

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The OP, returnstackerror, was just opining about his favorite music, which is not lyric rich in content. Just another valid perspective- although I completely agree with your attachment to the meaning of words.

Thank you rvance for your constructive comment... and of course words are our most important means of communication... you just cant get away from them... which is why I like to get away from them when listening to music.

Peter

Hey, I listen to lots of Jazz (from Scott Joplin, Brubeck, Jarrett and Coltrane to Chick Corea and The Bad Plus) and I don't miss the words at all. It's transcendental!

Hello !

I felt that I was a little bit off topic on the time I was writting to be honest.

Being my first post here, made me wanna say some things that were on my mind.

It is nothing personal, and hope You are not upset with the things I said.

I respect everyone's opinion and try to cross swords with the ideas discussed here, an not with the people who spawned it.

Peace!

Thank you for your welcoming!

As I wrote above, I had some things on my chest for few years, and this was my first post on an audiophile forum ever, although there is one in Romania too.

I will further on, try to post my ideas on the specific areas on this forum.

Cheers!

PS : Excuse my english mistakes from time to time. I love the language of Edgar Allan Poe and Fowles , but here and there I might be losing grip.

I wouldn't say that lyrics suck, but for the majority of songs that I listen to, I treat the vocals as just another instrument, and do not bother to process the meaning of words. I feel that the vocals are just as important as the instruments to a song, but just not as words.

There are a number of exceptions though. As an example, most of Robert Cray's lyrics can't help but catch my attention for their cleverness.

If lyrics were highly important to my enjoyment of a song with vocals, then I wouldn't listen to any Italian opera since I don't speak Italian. I don't actually listen to Italian opera, but that's not the point.

I admit I sometimes think about what I may be missing, as I sing along to a familiar song that I have no idea what the words mean.

"I think I'm in between.

I can go on adventures during songs with lyrics that apparently have nothing to do with the content of the song. Some songs without lyrics seem, when I think upon them, to also have plenty of lyrical content."

I'm with Bhudda. It can go either way- a great lyric can be as powerful a mode as can be. Yet, other pieces, be it jazz, classical or more modern, can pull me into another world just as much.

On the other hand, lame lyrics (if I can understand them) with good music can really put me off. Unfortunately, in a lot of rock, it's best not to decifer too much of what's being said or you'll be disappointed.

My favorite lyricists in rock might be Elliot Smith, Sting (while in the Police) Beck, and Morrissey (while in The Smiths) and for sheer "What the...? Yeah!" feeling it's definitely Frank Back (while in the Pixies) and Micheal Stipe of REM.

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Thank you for your welcoming!

As I wrote above, I had some things on my chest for few years, and this was my first post on an audiophile forum ever, although there is one in Romania too.

I will further on, try to post my ideas on the specific areas on this forum.

Cheers!

PS : Excuse my english mistakes from time to time. I love the language of Edgar Allan Poe and Fowles , but here and there I might be losing grip.

No worries, Il Postino. You are communicating very well in English. Better, in fact, than some past American presidents. I would not fare so well on the Romanian forums.

Thank you!

Ah, but think of all the historical events that lyrics have been involved with: "we shall overcome..."; "Daisy, Daisy, give me you answer, do" (one of the, if not, the first song sung by a computer); "Au Clair De La Lune (first ever recorded April 9. 1860 by Frenchman Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville of a woman singing this song; not Thomas Edison's Mary had a little lamb!); Rod Stewart's "She Won't Dance With Me" (The third song played on MTV and the first to use the word "fuck"!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_music_videos_aired_on_MTV

So, I think that some lyrics suck...the Neo-Nazi White Racist "Oi!" bands, for example. There are generations of great lyrics for us all to enjoy.
M

Maybe it's because I'm guilty of it myself, but I hate pretentious lyrics - gimme simple, small, short stories and I'm happy.

So....

that means a lot of pre-rock Great American Songbook stuff, Chuck Berry (the greatest rock n' roll writer), Dylan when not in his cups, the Beatles pre-Revolver, some r & b and soul writers, Hank Williams, Hank Snow, Merle Haggard, some blues guys.

(And yep, I like a lot of modern country too, because at least I understand the people being sung about.)

I approach art with a sharp stick - some Leonard Cohen, (especially as he gets older and funnier) is ok, but the truth is, most lyrics from the last 30 years - whether it's personal (James Taylor to Aimee Mann) or heavy metal silliness or angry punk or a lot (not all of) rap, leave me cold, tire me out.

I hate it when people are singing "at" things, ideas, people. I hate most jazz lyrics, as much as I love jazz.