Do you listen to the lyrics or just hear the song????

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Music Junkie
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Sat Aug 14, 2010 9:10 pm

The music is what draws me to a song initially, but I do always take the time to listen to the lyrics. For me the lyrics are what separate a great song from a good song. Although, there are some songs that I consider great that have the weirdest lyrics......I am with Tony, I might need some analyzing...... B) B)

J


songman52
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Sat Aug 14, 2010 10:24 pm

I KNOW I need analyzing, but that's for another thread. This is an interesting thread.
I Have always listened to the lyrics and the music was just the "string" to connect them and carry them. That's probably why I didn't get into more "hard rock" types of songs, with some exceptions, until I was older and started playing guitar.

A good "hook" would grab me, but it was usually the lyrics that kept me going. There were always some exceptions. One would be "Brown Sugar". I've always liked the tune but I would feel some conflict if I were to sing it in public. Personal thing.

Anyway, with all my song charts, the chords are the thing. It's not the lyrics I don't know, but the chord changes and progressions. Although with more experience and repetition, plus developing my "ear" I don't rely as much on the chord charts and can do more songs without support of the charts. So I guess that puts me in the category of lyrics first and melody second.

Oh yeah, the very first time I heard "Snow, (Hey Oh)" by Chili Peppers I loved it. The tune grabbed me even before I knew the lyrics.

Jerry


songman52
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Sat Aug 14, 2010 10:38 pm

Bill, my son is now 31. To this day I don't know if I can get through the last verse of "Puff the Magic Dragon" without some cracking in my voice. Or "Danny Boy", one of my dad's favorites.

And J, great songs with weird lyrics? Whatever do you mean? Like "If there's a bustle in your hedgerow don't be alarmed now; it's just a spring clean (sprinkling?) for the May queen"? Or "There's a killer on the road, his brain is squirming like a toad"? I still like that song and it's fun to sing.

Jerry


tvarga
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Sun Aug 15, 2010 11:13 am

Interesting question. I too only listen to the music, focusing mostly on the melody, harmony and instrument playing.


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Music Junkie
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Sun Aug 15, 2010 11:59 am

songman52 wrote:
And J, great songs with weird lyrics? Whatever do you mean? Like "If there's a bustle in your hedgerow don't be alarmed now; it's just a spring clean (sprinkling?) for the May queen"?

Jerry
Jerry:

I am LMAO right now, cause when I made that comment that exact song was in my mind. I absolutely love that song, but, WTF????????

Or-----"Seems that the wrath of the god's got a punch on the nose and it started to flow, I think I might be sinking"....... :huh: :huh: :huh:

All I can say is that there must have been some good stuff floating around when these lyrics were being written.... :woohoo: :woohoo:

J


Catman
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Sun Aug 15, 2010 3:42 pm

I listen to the music, and pay little attention to the lyrics, unless the lyrics are the dominant feature of the song (think Leonard Cohen...) This means I enjoy songs in other languages as well. There is a song that has been playing on the radio recently that I really enjoy--it is in Moroccan, so I don't understand a word.

There is also a radio program that I usually listen to on the commute home from work where the presenter plays songs from many different countries in many different languages (Greek, Spanish, French, Italian, Romance, various dialects of Arabic, Gaelic, and others).

-David


Lavallee
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Sun Aug 15, 2010 5:12 pm

I waited to post an answer because having a french background, the lyrics in English are not always easy to understand in the song (unless you read them)and I thought that it was just a language thing. When I was a teenager where my English was quite weak, I would pretty much pay only attention to the title. So now there is no problem understanding but I still do not pay too much attention to them. I have always perceive the singer as an extra instrument bonding the whole musical piece together. This is probably why that the singer is most of the time the most popular member of the band.

I thing Myley Cyrus has plenty of talent, even if I do not dig her type of music/songs, having a professional musician as a father must be motivating

Marc


AndyT
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Sun Oct 17, 2010 3:28 am

Lyrics? What are those?

My wife is amazed that I have no idea what a song is about but I can sit down and in a few minutes play it. Then she asks me if I know what its about and I have to look up the lyrics. On occasion, I stop listening to a particular song because of the lyrics. Until I can re-write them to better fit my world view.


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neverfoundthetime
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Sun Oct 17, 2010 6:28 am

Nice thread Tammy, missed this first time around and reading through I'm thinking: what are they on about, just LISTEN to Tammy singing this song with AL posted only last week.... then I noticed the thread is 2 months old. I must have been down in the cellar looking for a good wine or something!

Anyway.... I'm like Tony and Jerry (could make a nice thread of it's own!) and unlike Dennis, Leeson, MJ and Catman. If the lyrics aren't good when the melody is, then I get pretty annoyed! I feel a bit shafted. Michael Jackson is truly the king of THAT genre IMHO. I love a well told story or message to be unravelled in a beautiful melody and harmonies. Song is there to convey powerful emotions and messages and it's a shame if the chance is flubbed. I'm a big fan of Gordon Lightfoot and Dan Fogelberg (not a bad lyric between them) and the Moody Blues although it's also the voice of Justin Hayward and those Moody vocals that gets to me too. I seem to absorb lyrics quickly and it's usually the chord sequence I have to pay attention to when playing.

I found Dennis and his brother's situation to be interesting but not surprising... not exactly sure why but there is a bell ringing somewhere. I find it much easier to make up a tune on the guitar than make up good lyrics although I'm lyric oriented. As to right brain left brain, the researchers in this field point out that it's always the whole brain that's involved in an activity with neurons firing all over the brainscape but with activity centred in certain areas. Music seems to be more networked and has more neurones firing off all over the place than almost any other activity so it is true that music reaches parts of the brain that other beers cannot reach! Musicians have more neural connections (active brain mass) than non musicians apparently. So what we are losing on the beers we are gaining on the strings! I digress..... :-)


wammer
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Sat Oct 23, 2010 10:07 am

Sooooooo this might interest a few of you........Def a campfiire tune LMAO.......... :ohmy:



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