lyrics or music?

[momophile]

Poll question: lyrics or music?

when you hear a song, do you listen to the lyrics or just bop around to the music?

I'm always saying to my husband that I like this song's message or that song's story and he's always answering that he wasn't paying attention to the words.

[ghostsofgiants]

1. Music first, usually.

Good lyrics won't redeem a shitty song the way good music will redeem a song with shitty lyrics.

[Omphaloskepsis]

2. What he said..

But I wouldn't apply that rule to hip-hop. I like a lot of hip-hop with lame beats and good lyrics.

[ghostsofgiants]

3. Yeah, hip-hop is definitely a lot more lyrical than most other genres.

[Omphaloskepsis]

4. Hip-Hop isn't real music..

We should get this out of the way as soon a possible.

[ghostsofgiants]

6. For the best, really.

[DarkTirade]

5. I've played 9 instruments over the years

and only one of them is voice. :P So for me, music first, then lyrics.

[Jamastiene]

7. Music first, then if it's Kurt Cobain, Joan Jett, or Ramones, I listen to the lyrics.

Or Courtney Love/Hole. Or a few others. I really listen to both, but only when it's punk rock. Otherwise, I listen to the music and the sound of the singer's voice, but don't pay attention to the lyrics. Mainstream music never really "spoke" to me, so now I tune everything but the music out.

[BlueJazz]

8. Having PP, Music comes first but Lyrics can be moving also.

I find some forms of Music corn-ball even with decent lyrics...(Folk)

[Fire Walk With Me]

9. Music first for myself as well.

I take in the entirety and the vibe and the feel before zeroing in on specifics. Sometimes I enjoy music in languages that I'm not familiar with and enjoy the lyrics as pure sound. Some Jamaican rap is good like this, such as

However, music with lyrics are more difficult for me to use as "background" or environment-building. As concrete symbols, they pull me back into a particular context. Often I am searching for something other than the "people" context, so that can be a problem.

The Moog Modular synthesizer sounds on this Tangerine Dream piece still give me goosebumps, my true test of any piece of music.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CoctTLnoMmI

Good question, thanks.

[argyl]

10. As a kid, the music was it. If the vocals sounded good, I didn't care what they were saying.

Now,if the lyrics move me,I appreciate them also.

[stuntcat]

11. yah, music first I guess

The sound of it is what gets me first, I like listening to Cocteau Twins and they're singing nonsense. Lyrics are like poems though, every line can be poetry, and some lyrics make me cry when I hear them, like If I Had A Boat, and Hallelujah. So this is hard to pick but it's the music I hear first.