Tags
alternative rock, Kiss, lyrics, morrissey, music, rock music, songs, songwriting, The Smiths
I posted this to my Facebook page on Wednesday:
With 24 hours, I had 50 comments. Going into this, I thought responses would be about 50-50. However, the respondents overwhelmingly chose the music.
OK, I realize it may be kind of a strange question. Music is music, right? So why wouldn’t it be the music that draws in a listener?
But I have a theory. If you’re a word/story person, lyrics draw you in. If you’re a musician/music person, then it’s the music.
I’m a lyrics person. The words draw me in and keep me coming back. This doesn’t mean that I’m not enjoying the music. But for me, the music is always in the background while the words pop strongly to the forefront.
My theory is that if you grew up as a musician or you gravitated to music, you are drawn into a song through the sound.
I grew up with music, but not pop music. It was more church music (Mom was an organist) and symphonic music (I played piano and saxophone for eight years). Instead, I was a television kid. I owned very few cassettes (yes, I grew up in the era of cassettes).
Actually, I was a “story” kid. I immersed myself in books. I read everything and anything during those long, isolated summer days growing up in the country. When my eyes grew tired, I turned on the TV where I immersed myself in more stories: sitcoms, dramas, soap operas.
Betsy and Steve Andropoulos! (That’s Meg Ryan). What young kid should not be watching “As the World Turns”? Everything I learned about story I learned from soap operas.
My husband, on the other hand, was listening to KISS’s Destroyer album when he was six years old. He soon added Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Rush to his collection. He took guitar lessons from an early age.
Because what six-year-old should not be listening to KISS? Ha ha!
His ear for music amazes me. He can listen to a CD and pick out the guitar part (or parts, in the case of two- or three-guitar bands), the bass line, the drum rhythm. I hear a collection of sound, and the only thing I can identify is the melody line. We are listening to the same thing, but hearing it in very different ways.
As you listen to Morrissey’s lyrics, it’s clear he’s influenced by poets such as Keats and Yeats.
My favorite lyricist is Morrissey. Yes, the sound of The Smiths is great, as well as the sound of Morrissey’s current backing band. But to me, the music is a vehicle that delivers the lyrics.
What about you? Does my theory apply to you?
If You Have Five Seconds to Spare 
Pingback: Another musical debate | We'll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down
I’ve reflected on this question before, and I’ve always leaned in the direction of the music. The words can be lame, but, as long as they are not outrageous, the music will carry it for me. I also have a policy at concerts, where I hear a good many pieces in languages that I do not know (or do not know well enough to be able to understand when sung on stage): I don’t read the translations beforehand or during. I simply listen to the sound. I can learn what the singers were saying for the second time, if I should care to hear a piece again.
I will, though, despite your request to pick one or the other, say one thing about the marriage of words and music. When the two fit together, it is something marvelous. This is why, for instance, my favorite composer of songs is Robert Schumann. He was a highly literate man (a gifted critic as well as composer), and he had fine insight into the words he was setting to music. His compositions fit the poems in the most sublime ways. If we were just talking about Schumann, I’d probably still say it’s the music that wins (he is, after all, Schumann), but it would be a little bit of a closer call.
Glad to be revisiting your blog after some time away and find this.
Good theory. I’m a musician and I’m drawn by the music, then the lyrics. Morrissey is def my fav lyricist.
Another one for my theory! Thanks!
I grew up with both music and books in equal measure, but loved books more when I was a kid. Now I’m a writer, but the music I’m drawn to is definitely based on the music, not the lyrics.
Thanks for your input! I wonder if your early exposure to music helps inform your choice.
Definitely a lyrics person as I’m, like you, all about words. I can’t read a musical note.
All right, one in support of my theory!