I always listen for lyrics in pieces that have them. If there's no underlying message or at least some deft manipulation of the language then I can't stand it.

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What the man said WORD!

Interestingly, I had a discussion with my mom about this the other day. While not all too common, the fact that lyrics can be separated from the rest of the music can be exploited for a wonderful poetic effect. The song itself is about a single concept, with the music and the lyrics portray different(and often opposite) viewpoints. Simon and Garfunkle's "I am a Rock" and a few Do As Infinity songs make good examples. Do As Infinity is an interesting case if you don't understand Japanese. On first listen, you think the music is about one thing, and upon reading a translation, you realize the lyrics are completely at odds with that idea. Then when you finally read the lyrics while listening, it feels like reaching a point of enlightenment. You simultaneously understand the emotional struggle of both sides. This can sometimes be done with music videos, too, although sadly the vast majority are just marketing without art(as opposed to the marketed art of music).

On the subject of lyrics in "regular pop", I find I don't often listen to lyrics as much as when I was a child. I used to enjoy parodying songs, and could often write a parody in one go after hearing a song a single time. I can recall lyrics of songs from 5 or more years ago easily(I'm 19, FTR). I went out of karaoke for the first time with friends the other day...I knew lots of older songs, but had no clue with more recent ones.

It drives me crazy when my friends want to share a new song with me over AIM and such…and do so by sending lyrics. If I could strangle people over AIM…well…let’s just say I wouldn’t have access to a computer right now.

Lyrics don't really affect the music too negatively for me unless they are truly, truly incredibly awful, in which case I have trouble listening to the song.

And it should go without saying that "good lyrics" are "good."

I'll give each song a concentrated listen to hear the lyrics specifically, if I find myself impressed I'll remember to listen for them when the song comes up on my playlist.

There are songs where I'll deliberately tune out the lyrics, because if I listen to them, I'll be offended or repulsed to the point where I can't enjoy the song at all.

But for the most part, the voice is most importantly an instrument and probably my favorite one at that. And besides, a good third of my playlist is in languages I don't know. I think part of my enjoyment of these songs is that I get to enjoy vocals that use the pacing of language, but without the distraction of comprehension.

I am so not a lyrics person.

Except on those few occasions when they reach out, grab me by the throat, and say, "LISTEN TO ME!"

90% of the time I don't care about lyrics. Much of the best pop music has nonsense lyrics. Sometimes lyrics are important, protest songs and so forth, where the simplistic music is supposed just to carry the message. When lyrics are well written or clever they can enhance some kinds of music though, especially since pop/rock etc. is so much about attitude anyway.

Oh yeah, give me good lyrics, baby!

Without any lyrics, there is no message.

Without a message, there is no punk.

-Matt

I don't listen to emo because of the lyrics (and the vocals, and the guitar, etc.) and I don't listen to mainstream hip-hop because of the bad messages within it. They promote gang violence, pimping, and materialism. (The emcee in my avatar wears a mask to show that hip-hop isn't about the image, but the lyrics and hip-hop itself.)

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I hardly know anything about rap and hiphop (I've got a few lps from the last twenty years - hardly anything). But I do know that a lot of people in the poetry-publishing circuit have always cast an eye to the power of rap as a medium for discursive poetry. Anybody who knows anything about Slam Poetry knows that hiphop electrified poetry of the last twenty years in a way that is comparable to what the Beat Movement accomplished and, perhaps, the Harlem Renaissance before that. But, like the worst excesses of punk in the 80s, rap in general has become such an empty reiteration of misogyny, materialism, and inane violence -- and such an inadvertent celebrater of the unequal Society it initially rebuked -- that it's easy to ignore.

Like a lot of other genres of music, you can't really abuse the artists by saying, "Wise-up and write some more intelligent lyrics!" because the artists know how hard it is to get on in the industry, so they write what sells. Like the worst kind of self-indulgent poetry, it becomes something conventional, comfortingly familiar, and made to pander to the sensibilities of the listener rather than to say anything different, much less anything true.

Seamus Heaney recently issued some platitudes about Eminem. I wish I were able to respond to rap more positively, but Eminmem is no Woody Guthrie and no Marvin Gaye (circa What's Going On) either.

I can't deal with degrading lyrics which most rap has these days, it just makes me feel terrible and I can't stand what they're saying. It's so offensive. As for metal I can deal with vulgar stuff like "blood spurted from her throat" and stuff like that just because it's nonsense but talking about "raping hoes" is wrong dude, just plain wrong.

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Art: I agree.

To me the vocals are another musical instrument, and thus the vocal sound, and not the meaning of the words, is what is important to me. Doesn't bother me at all to listen to Opera, and not know what they are saying when they sing. The message to me is in the music of the voice more than in the words of the voice. If I want words I can read, or listen to non-music on TV or radio.

I love good lyrics. Always have. Love those fast paced images that Dylan used to toss out so effortlessly. And the imaginative wordplay of John Lennon. And Neil Young's early vision that came through in his lyrics was a big part of my early music appreciation. I've always had an affinity for quirky, fragmented lyrical images, and often find myself drawn to artists that write that type of music. Lots of modern artists in that style. Bands like Sparklehorse and Califone and Holopaw and Willard Grant Conspiracy and Black heart Procession and Cat Power and Wilco and many, many more. It's a very rich and diverse time for lyrical music now, at least it seems that way to me. Just recently I made a post someplace else about a couple songs that use "borrowed" poetry, and I was just listening to one of them this morning, the stunning "The Trials Of Harrison Hayes" by the Willard Grant Conspiracy from Regard The End, which includes a very poignant rephrasing of one of the well-known Eliphaz Proverbs from the book of Job ...

Misery doesn't come from the earth
Trouble doesn't sprout from the ground
People are born to trouble
Just as sparks fly upwards into the clouds

Always loved that "sparks fly upwards" image. And in turn it made me think of another case that I also really like and have posted about before, and used on a comp or three, "Metal Heart" by Cat Power from Moon Pix. I love the way she weaves the lines from "Amazing Grace" in with her own words ...

I once was lost but now I'm found
was blind but now I see
How selfish of you to believe in the meaning of all the bad dreams

Metal heart you're not hiding
Metal heart you're not worth a thing

Sounds like it was written for that song, especially when she delivers it with that dusky, forlorn voice. Very nice stuff, made all the better for me because of the strong lyrical imagery.

I agree with the intelligent majority here. Vocals are no more than another musical instrument. Just as a drummer can increase his complexity and beauty by playing with time and switching up the rythm a lot, a good vocalist will not only have beautiful (or, rather, fitting) harmony, but also write poetic lyrics in order to make him/her more than "just another singer".

But lyrics can influence musical styles. I play in a Jazz Fusion band, and I would never dare play what I play now if we had to add lyrics to our music. It would just sound weird, to me.

I love Van Halen. But I HATE the lyrics. I listen for the insane guitaring by EVH!

Check out the lyrics to Panama :

Yeah, we’re runnin’ a little bit hot tonight.
I can barely see the road from the heat comin’ off of it.
Ah, you reach down, between my legs,
Ease the seat back.