Do Lyrics matter?

Lyrics are the main component to a song. But when I first listen to a track, the lyrics aren’t what grab my attention. I focus on the thumping of the drums, the jangly guitars and how it sounds as a whole. But what is it about lyrics that are so beguiling?

The beauty of lyrics is that anyone can interpret them how they want to and make them personal to themselves. A good lyric has got to provoke a reaction. Whether it makes you happy, angry or sad; it must make you feel something.

“What am I running from? Oh what am I running from? / It cuddles the creeping chaos coming/ I see it more clearly than ever before.”

Ether song a track by Turin Brakes is like delving in to the pages of a diary. You hear the desperation and hopelessness in his voice and even though you don’t know what “it” is, you have a feeling of empathy towards him. It’s personal and that’s why it stands out; making it that bit more authentic.

Do we really need to understand the lyrics? If we go by the annoyingly catchy ‘Mmmbop’ by Hanson, then that would be a definite no.

“Mmmbop, ba dupa dop ba do bop.”

This is one song that doesn’t make any pragmatic sense, whatsoever, and as I’m aware their only hit. I’m possibly the worst person for knowing a band’s lyrics. I’ll be that one idiot shouting the wrong words at a gig, most of the time. In that sense I don’t think lyrics matter, as I tend to convince myself that they’re something that they aren’t anyway.

“Un peu, d’air sur la terre / d’air sur la / d’air sur la / d’air sur la terre.”

With the help of some GCSE French, for the past 3 years I have been adamant that ‘The French Open’ by Foals goes something along the lines of ‘En peu est ou la terre?’ Having a very basic grasp of the language of love, I assumed that it was asking where something was. I was wrong. Even though I don’t understand the entirety of the song, it doesn’t stop me from enjoying it. Similarly, German band, Beat!BeatBeat! and Mancunians Wu Lyf’s lyrics are almost impossible to decipher; Wu Lyf even more so than the former. But again this doesn’t detract from the fact that they produce great indie anthems. Even if the lyrics are a tiny bit lost in translation.

When you start to take notice of lyrics, you realise how tedious and inadequate a lot of songs are.

“wasted and wanting/more than we’ve the power to achieve/ hopeless and haunted/ by a thousand ghosts of opportunity.”

Chapel Club produce inspirational lyrics and literary devices to great success. The alliteration is particularly effective and relatable; we all feel as if we can strive for more, to become better; as if there are opportunities out there, we just need to take them.  

“The pines hung like reconsidered suicides from the red palms of mountainsides – preserved, as Orion was preserved in stars – this was a long time ago. The echoes return slow– it doesn’t matter. The lake shook its silver and was still again, and the clouds surged and swooped and swam – like swans, or brutal Zeus who once, disguised, fooled leda with feathers of snow.”

To compare these to Kate Nash’s lyrics you do wonder how bands like Chapel Club don’t gain more acclaim.

“I use Mouthwash sometimes I floss, I’ve got a family and I drink cups of tea.” 

Just one excellent example of Nash’s streaks of literary genius. Note to Kate, must try harder. Chapel Club’s songs are sophisticated, flow cohesively, and scream intelligence. Their songs could quite easily be read separately as a story due to their poetic nature.

A cluster of music in the Top 40 is repetitive drivel. ‘We found love in a hopeless place’; Rihanna’s latest chart topper mentions the eponymous phrase sixteen times. Lyrically, it’s simple, monosyllabic, it’s nothing revolutionary and that goes for a lot of singles that make it to the higher ends of the charts. Rihanna could be singing ‘We found love in a soap less place’ and that wouldn’t have prevented it from reaching the top spot. I predict that her songwriter won’t be winning any Ivor Novello’s any time soon.

Lyrics are important but isn’t what makes the song. The music is equally as important. ‘To build a home’ by A Cinematic Orchestra is one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs in existence. The driving force behind the track is the piano quickening in pace then crashing to a halt, whilst the vocalist’s voice is steeped with emotion, projecting something quite saddening but it’s the sound of the emotion in his voice combined with the piano that creates a reaction, not the words.

For me, lyrics don’t need to be profound but they can’t be too simple either; a hybrid between words that can take you on a journey, make you forgot about the world for 4 minutes and rouse an emotion are what I admire.