What's More Important To You, Lyrics Or The Music?

[Newguy562]

Both go hand in hand..Bob Dylan once said "Without the words there is no music."..
Well to be honest I always favored the music instead of the lyrics but bands like:
The Who (Tommy & Quadrophenia)
Pink Floyd (Darkside of the Moon,Animals & The Wall)
The Kinks (Something Else,Village Green,Arthur)
Genesis (The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway)
made me look deeper into the lyrics mainly because of the Rock Opera/Concept Albums that interest me at this moment in my music journey. It showed me a new world ...
When you hear a song what's the first thing you check out?

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Music.

There are only a few lyricists that I really admire: Randy Newman, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Ray Davies, Jarvis Cocker, Harry Nilsson, Beck. Aside from those guys I rarely pay too much attention to lyrics - with exceptions for Van Dyke and Tony Asher but aside from Smile and Song Cycle, I feel like Van Dyke's main strength is in his music and arrangements.

[Ron]

Luckily, Most songs have both!!!!

[stack-o-tracks]

Luckily, Most songs have both!!!!

What's more important to you, Ronald?

Or was that your response because you're equally a fan of both the words and fingermovings of the songs you listen to?

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Music all the way. You can lie to somebody with words but never with music.

[Ron]

Luckily, Most songs have both!!!!

What's more important to you, Ronald?

Or was that your response because you're equally a fan of both the words and fingermovings of the songs you listen to?

What's fingermovings???

[stack-o-tracks]

Luckily, Most songs have both!!!!

What's more important to you, Ronald?

Or was that your response because you're equally a fan of both the words and fingermovings of the songs you listen to?

What's fingermovings???

The noises in songs not made by vocal chords.

[Ron]

I like both.  In general I like everything and everybody.  I don't see the point in sitting down and pondering whether or not I like lyrics better, or music better, when most songs have both... and if they dont, I'll enjoy that too.  So I'd rather spend my time enjoying things than obsessing over which I like less. 

I just don't understand the need to categorize everything into boxes.  What will we do with the results?  If we all decide that music is more important than lyrics, does that mean we just abandon lyrics?  Which is more ridiculous, my conclusion, or the trip we took to it?

I'm just commenting on NewGuy's obsession with "WHICH IS BETTER, BASS GUITARS OR REGULAR GUITARS???"  and "I LIKE GIRLS VOICES BETTER THAN GUYS" and "IN AUGUST OF 74, NOBODY WAS BETTER THAN DYLAN"... or "I ONLY PARK MY CAR IN PARKING LOTS THAT HAVE YELLOW STRIPES, THE WHITE STRIPED ONES GET DIRTY QUICKER" or the millions of other inconsequential things in life.

Just enjoy the yellow lines and the white lines.    BTW, I like NewGuy.  Because I like everything and everybody. 

[the captain]

Because I like everything and everybody. 

Who R yr top 10 posters on this board?  (ok that's enough of that.)

Really, I do agree. I get ranking things--I think we've all had our moments when it seemed really essential for one reason or another. But everything, all the time? I think it is more interesting to actually discuss something than slap a number in front of it and call it a day.

That said, whatever gets a person listening to more music, in the end can't be all bad. (Unless it is some psychosis that also makes him murder people. That would be bad, I guess.)

[Newguy562]

I might say sh*t that pisses you guys off and you guys might sometimes say stuff that I disagree with ..at the end of the day we all listen to similar music(good stuff) and I like that...all of you are cool to me. 

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Likewise. Well, except for Cohen.

[the captain]

btw, I think music lies to people, too. Well, not quite lies, but certainly stretches the truth.

[LetHimRun]

The music by a mile. No contest.

[Lonely Summer]

People always talk about Bob Dylan in terms of the lyrics he writes, but I wouldn't listen to his albums if I didn't like the music.

[Chris Brown]

The music by a mile. No contest.

Same here.  Great music can save bad lyrics, but great lyrics can't compensate for awful music.  Ideally (for me, anyways), lyrics function as a delivery mechanism for a melody, not the other way around.