67 replies to this topic

[Sickpup]

cause admittedly, i go back and listen to shit i liked when i was a teenager and the lyrics are somewhat lacking. Yet I still enjoyed the artists and, you know, i like them now. but i find that i'm less willing to give a free pass to newer artists with similarly or perhaps slightly less inane lyrics. do other people notice this? or do you still not give a crap about lyrics?

[Duff.]

The other day, I was thinking about the lyrics to The Star-Spangled Banner and I thought, "Heh, that's actually pretty cool." I should drink less.

[DrJimmy]

you develop an appreciation for better lyricists, and, unfortunately, you lose some respect for many of your favorite artists. most rock lyrics suck, so quite a few heroes fall.

[color bars]

Not necessarily. I would think it differs from each person. For me, I'm still and have always been attracted to melody more than lyrics and don't realize what the artists have to say until long after I know the song, but, definitely, as I've gotten older, I've grown to apprciate the message more, and quicker. Perhaps it's maturity, or perhaps I just have nothing better to do.

[le chaton]

no.

[color bars]

no.

Very clear and concise reasoning.

[boobs]

I liked Bob Dylan when I was 15. I like Suga Free now that I'm 23. Figure that one.

[Mitchell]

I liked Bob Dylan when I was 15. I like Suga Free now that I'm 23. Figure that one.

You were so much younger then, you're older then that now?

[Sickpup]

I liked Bob Dylan when I was 15. I like Suga Free now that I'm 23. Figure that one.

rap really will melt your brain. just like mom said.

[color bars]

I liked Bob Dylan when I was 15. I like Suga Free now that I'm 23. Figure that one.

You're just going through one of those phases.

[DrJimmy]

I liked Bob Dylan when I was 15. I like Suga Free now that I'm 23. Figure that one.

You were so much younger then, you're older then that now?

i've always hated that lyric ("i was so much older then, blah, blah..."), even when i was young.

i should have thought about this more. there are some songs with goofy or outright bad lyrics that i will always love.

case in point: "Signs" by Five Man Electrical Band

"And the sign said long haired freaky people need not apply
So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went in to ask him why
He said you look like a fine upstanding young man, I think you'll do
So I took off my hat I said imagine that, huh, me working for you

Sign Sign everywhere a sign
Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign"

for some weird reason, i always get a little choked up when he sings:

"I said thank you Lord for thinking about me, I'm alive and doing fine"

[Mr. Sinistro]

I think what you're asking is: "Will Pour Some Sugar On Me stand the test of time?"

And the answer is: Absolutely.

[BobtheSquid]

I find they matter less to me as I grow older.

When I was younger, my tastes were so much more narrow, and I was such a stupid rock purist (and not very smart; I remember being really conflicted when a straight-up rock band like U2 used synths and beats on Achtung Baby, never mind the fact that I already adored New Order, Depeche Mode and the Cure).

And I was very much into lyrics and what songwriters were trying to say, and I'd have a hard time enjoying a song if there was even just one dumb line (like the aforemented U2 album, and the line "more than a lot" in "One").

But now I don't care that much. A good song's a good song, and lyrics don't have to be poetry, hell, they don't even have to make sense. A lot of my favorite songs I don't even know what they're singing about, and I don't care. It's the feeling you get, not any kind of analyzed meaning.

In most cases, I really don't care what the lyrics mean.

[Sickpup]

a bad lyric can take you out of the song though -- that "feeling" you mentioned.

[le chaton]

no.

Very clear and concise reasoning.

just how i like it.


considering i listen to a lot of foreign music (of which the lyrics are in comprehensible) i say no.

[color bars]

considering i listen to a lot of foreign music (of which the lyrics are in comprehensible) i say no.

Right. Well, that is obviously the exception to the matter. But, let's say you listened to foreign music, had no idea what the lyrics were because you don't speak the language, only to find out that once translated, it's some horrible dirge about rape, sodomy, or some subject you find extraordinarily repugnant (maybe you enjoy rape and sodomy). Then how do you feel about the song? Just wondering....

[More Drama]

Qualified 'yes,' but I think the question is misleading. Do I still want the same thing I did from pop music that I did when I was 17? (I never listened to it before that.) Back then, it was listening to whatever was on the radio, whatever other kids bought...and you go back and listen to young bands' records - say, Pablo Honey - and it's the same sort of thing: when you haven't heard much music, you've got a limited range of response. And, for me, at that age and underexposed, it was certainly more about programmed reactions. What I felt I should be responding to. I thought Gavin Rossdale was profound. Probably. I listened to lots of blaringly obvious love songs back then, even though I never felt any of that.

So, sooner or later, you become Dangerously Exposed and possibly even endure the unfortunate experience of figuring out who you are. Range of experience, range of emotional response, they're wider, and if by then you've heard a lot more music it becomes easier to recognize what will matter to you. (I don't know if people might consider this a narrowing of taste, but I'll take it over wild, undisciplined acquistiveness - which always strikes me as desperate and bored.) The lyrics I like now mean more to me now than the ones I liked back then meant back then (if you follow). But words mean more in general, now.

And it wasn't qualified, after all: yes. It's just not about age.

[Moo & Oink]

I listen to a fair amount of instrumental music now, so I'd have to say that lyrics matter less.

[undo]

"Do lyrics matter more as you get older?"

Topic translation: Lyrics certainly won't suddenly matter less as you age. Therefore, lyrics do matter more to older, wiser, and more mature listeners. Attraction to beats or melody is a juvenile phase that most listeners will outgrow.

[DrJimmy]

Attraction to beats or melody is a juvenile phase that most listeners will outgrow.

taking it a little far there, no?