1/26/2016 11:27:49 PM
What is most important: Lyric or music?

1/26/2016 11:27:49 PM

What is most important: Lyric or music?
Well, what do you think?

1/26/2016 11:50:14 PM

I think music is. Some instrumentals are good. Lyrics alone are basically poetry and I prefer music to poetry.

1/27/2016 2:07:18 AM

To me, music and lyrics are equally important unless, of course, it is an instrumental.

1/27/2016 2:09:21 AM

I think for the general listener, the 'hook' lyric can make or break a song, something that people latch onto and remember.

For a more refined ear however the 'hook' can be a musical phrase. Getting your instrument to 'sing' almost does away with the needs for words.

1/27/2016 8:30:49 AM ---- Updated 1/27/2016 8:45:56 AM

Good post,I love classical music, or older pop tunes, as a writer, it is always music, mostly instrumentals, that is my specialty, but on occasion words and music. depends on the mood and inspiration.

1/27/2016 8:42:05 AM

Hi,

I think a good exercise to get a feel for this is to imagine a song (let's say....Bridge Over Troubled Waters or Rolling in the Deep or whatever) and sense whether a repeated listening to just the music or lyrics sounds compelling.....
When I engage in this thought experiment, some songs filter out one way or the other...Sometimes I cringe at the prospect of repeated plays with one or the other of the elements....sometimes it seems alright....
Also it depends on whether I'm moving my body or just kicking back.....

1/27/2016 8:51:18 AM

I believe Both are equally important!
But more important is the uniformed blend.
I have heard many great "sounding" songs, with a great groove, great beats and arrangement. but the lyrics were, to be nice, misplaced.
Words that either didn't make sense or that didn't have the same "feel" as the music. Or simply lazy writing, if you know what I mean.
On the flip side I have heard/read many great lyrics set to bad music or wrong genre.
That's why I like these new covers songs that are popping up in commercials and in films, someone decided to take a song and change the music and/or genre and now the lyrics makes a whole lot of sense now!
So as a writer, one should work hard to find that perfect blend.
I myself had re-recorded a couple of my earlier songs when I started playing it in a different way and realized it's better now. (This usually happens when writing a new song and hit a familiar chord or chord sequence that reminded me of a previous song and go "Hey, let me try this old song" and voila, a remake is born.

1/27/2016 8:56:20 AM

I have a long ways to go before i am ever deemed a song crafter. lyrics and music, singer songwriter, that is not me, I specialize in instrumentals, not much of a lyricist, and i admit it freely here, and many know what I do and how good i am at it, so i stick with what i know. for the most part. Maybe I am lazy, and rather stay in my comfort zone of what i know,. i guess that is my calling. think I will stick around my piano now

1/27/2016 9:11:53 AM

Bryon, You are definitely a Songwriter.
Composers write songs with notes and melodies set to a rhythm section,
and sometimes those melodies can inspire and motivate people in their daily lives.
No words needed sometimes!
I myself have also written several instrumentals, sometimes just because I was
stuck with writer's block as a lyricist or heard something that told me
"Don't mess it up with words!" lol
(and to my chagrin, yet also delight, some of them are my most popular songs,
go figure, lol)
There are many great Instrumentals. from the 50's, 60s, all the way to today (though not as prevalent in radio as in the past), and some are classics.
If the instrumental has a hook, has a great groove and riffs, then it was in fact written by a Songwriter, not just a composer! :-)

1/27/2016 10:11:34 AM

Byron I agree with Jay song crafting is way more involved that lyrics along and you my friend are great at song craft.

As far as music or lyrics well I'm not sure its either I think its performance. I have heard great songs with terrible vocals not lyrics per say but terrible vocal performance just ruined the song.

I have heard misplaced music with lyrics and that makes it more difficult to listen to that misplace lyrics with the right music. But if the performance is good it might still be tolerable.

I have heard what Jay is talking about with misplaced vocals. I do hear it and I think it could have been done better but if the musical performance or the vocal performance is bad the no matter how well written the music or lyrics are its going to get turned off.
TSC,
Ken

1/27/2016 10:19:56 AM

Oh, I know I am good at instrumentals writing and performing, i have done a lot of playing in my life, tons, live out there working my chops, as a player, solo in bands trios, blues pop rock almost anything there is, still do on occasion, but prefer to teach and promote,so for me writing composing improvisation, of instrumentals well that is my forte, took some years though late bloomer, really late.

As for singer songwriter, I didnt write a real lyric and song till like till i was late 30's ,country tune while I was in a country rock band. I have written other songs since. some are here, all have been on commercial radio. everything pretty much, instrumentals and a few of my vocals. So have had limited success in radioland, but dont promote myself as I do others, i just have them around places and music directors and djs find the works. guess they like them. gratifying to see ones works get playlisted. anyways, yes, i write good instrumentals, classical and easy listening, i know that, but lyrics, not much ,i aint into that , not a passion for it , maybe just lazy.

1/27/2016 10:28:56 AM

Ken, I agree with you with the bad, or wrong vocals used in song(s). I am one of those you speak of, lol
I am first and primarily a songwriter. It wasn't until a later age that I decided to record vocals on my own songs due to getting frustrated by my old band
(especially the lead singer/guitarist) not being ready or serious enough to record. He had the habit of changing delivery or inflections of vocal melody which sometimes threw the band off. Eventually we got a new lead guitarist who also sang (and way much better than original singer) but by then the band had grown tired of playing together and eventually we disbanded. After a couple of years of trying to get singers to record on my tracks I decided to record them myself. On some songs my voice was good enough, on others, not so much.
Then I met a musician/singer who had a home studio as well and I recorded a few songs with him, with him taking over lead vocals on some and the songs sound much better with him singing than me! But for the most part, I sing nowadays, all I can do is my best and hope that's good enough.

1/27/2016 10:39:35 AM

Jay, All I am saying is that good lyric content can be ruined by a bad singer or that bad musical performance can also ruin a well written song.

So for me performance trumps lyrics there are a lot of songs on the radio with lyrics that I think are stupid but they are performed well and they are on the radio selling records and I am not so they are doing something right that I do wrong but that's ok I do it for fun and because I love it not to get signed we had that discussion in another thread.

My comment was not aimed at you I was just making a statement.
TSC,
Ken

1/27/2016 10:49:56 AM

No worries, I didn't take offense, I know my limitations, lol
That's why I always seek out other singers to sing my songs! :-)

1/27/2016 11:57:03 AM

Hey Allan, good to see you here!

Anyways, for me the music is the most important of the two, 8 days a week. I can still love a good song with crappy lyrics but not so much the other way around. However, I still appreciate good lyrics and they can surely turn a good song into a great one.
Need I say I suck at writing lyrics? :-)

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