10/18/2025 5:32:59 AM
How important are lyrics today?

12/19/2024 4:23:11 AM
Do you still use record shops?

10/18/2025 5:32:59 AM

How important are lyrics today?
Back in the 1930s, 40s, 50s lyric writers were in demand, they were often not musicians themselves but they had a good grasp of language, rhymes and phrasing.
In the 60s and 70s I'd say it was more about singer/songwriters - it was also an age of getting away with non-sensical lyrics.
Eventually the emphasis on lyrics faded and repetitive word riffs were popular.
Rap brought back lyric writing to some extent.

I was just reading the lyrics of the latest Holworks upload and gave this review

"So clever to use these strange lyrics that are hard for most listeners to interpret but by having the tune, rhythm and vocal so distinctive a listener really doesn't care too much"

I wondered if others here thought the same as me and what are your views on the evolution of lyric writing and its importance in songs today

10/18/2025 7:12:53 AM

Well political lyrics are more direct. I think in most cases people don't care much about lyrics but there is an exception, Taylor Swift fans care as deeply about her lyrics as they cared in the 60s about Bob Dylan's.

10/18/2025 8:46:39 AM

Thanks FT, that's something to consider but I just wonder if her lyrics are as impotant as how she dresses, poses, dances and dates.
However I know that she is often quoted on a range of topics so she is inspirational. Listeners have to check the meanings of many of her words like "incandescent" "clandestine" "machiavellian" "elegy and eulogy"
FT, I know you're not afraid to drop in the odd word or phrase that will make us think. Maybe you can tell us one's you are proud of !

10/18/2025 10:48:02 AM

I'm proud of the lyrics in this song.

10/18/2025 11:17:04 PM

You know, there is so much modern music where I have no idea what they're even talking about. My question is, why even write lyrics if they have no meaning and are unintelligible anyway? They become mere sounds. There has definitely been a shift towards style over substance in music. It seems to be more about the sounds people can make instead of the thoughts, or, God forbid, feelings that they are trying to convey. I think music should elicit a feeling, not just pump adrenaline. And it should be for your soul, and not just for your ears. I'm old fashioned, but I think you have no business writing songs if you have nothing new to say.

10/19/2025 12:05:17 AM

I agree with you Tom. Well said. -M-

10/19/2025 12:21:53 AM

Also agree, Tom...

I visit another site that vamps off Spotify, and there's a HotorNot section, where musicians reviews each other's music, and there is good music out there, however, invariably it seems, the lousy, mediocre music gets rated best by the "musicians" or whoever, reviewing...
--Lyrics are rarely if ever mentioned or considered.
--It's like there's a taboo about considering/valuing lyrics.
--Instead, a guy with muscles standing in front of a mirror waving a knife, crying about his "bitch" goes to #1, stuff like that...

10/19/2025 12:55:05 AM

FT is a fan of automatic writing and even those lyrics can work. I found these in the DMD section here and turned them into a song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-thmqH0Q8zQ

10/19/2025 7:52:51 AM ---- Updated 10/19/2025 9:05:23 AM

Strange lyrics, or simply unexpected? What in the world is this guy saying? To me as the writer, lyrics mean everything. There are people out here who care not for the music, but what the person is singing? That's is what makes the song in their mind. I try to fuse both so that I can merit approval from any perspective, angle, or ear. I'll explain:

COFFIN GORILLA
It’s like peanut butter is stuck to the roof of my mouth
Not so, my feet melt tundra, they want to dance it out
Behind me is my world of caution, oily slick when we touch.
Just like I was made for romance, and you are a lover’s crutch.

Place me like a coffin gorilla stiff inside your wooden cage
Let me show you why today a hairy monkey is all the rage
Encase me with your silk slip umbrella,
Put me on your branded stage
I am your coffin gorilla
Use me in our Golden Age.

Monkey see, monkey do,
Monkey look like me and you
That’s ok, we can swing,
We can climb, we can do anything.
Coffin gorilla, coffin gorilla, coffin gorilla
Almost dead but not alone.
Swing me in our tree tonight
Swing with me in our tree tonight
Swing with me in our tree tonight
Coffin Gorilla

(Lead Break)

Place me like a coffin gorilla stiff inside a wooden cage
Let me show you why today a hairy monkey is all the rage
Encase me with your silk slip umbrella,
Put me on your branded stage
I am your coffin gorilla
Use me in our Golden Age.

Monkey see, monkey do,
Monkey look like me and you
That’s ok, we can swing,
We can climb, we can do anything.
Coffin gorilla, coffin gorilla, coffin gorilla
Almost dead but not alone.

Swing me in our tree tonight
Swing with me in our tree tonight
Swing with me in our tree tonight
Coffin Gorilla
***********************

Verity,

Thank you for pointing out my lyrical journey. I have never had to explain a song to anyone but I will this time. Higher Order Language, the HOL in Holworks is my forte for good or bad. I seldom use imagery everyone knows through a broken hearted cliche. That doesn't work for me.

Coffin Gorilla is a pick-up song, plain and simple. Met a girl in a bar? Like her? Do I want to make out with her even though she is half my age? So now I am a coffin gorilla almost dead but not alone. Men will do and say anything to get laid, right? Why say that in a song obvious, direct, expected. When one eliminates cliches or invents new ones there will be a disconnect to those reading the lyrics.

To meet her initially, I am filled with nervousness, trepidation, and arousal so much so I am tongue tied like peanut butter is stuck to the roof of my mouth without having to explain all that. Yet, I know I can dance so I interject that my moves are so good without saying that I can melt tundra with those steps. Since I have the experience of being with many different partners, I simply say I was made for romance and she is a lover's crutch. No cliche, yet the unescapable desire to do the deed is palpable, direct and intense.

The real fun starts when I ask her to put me stiff in her wooden cage. Take me home with you is all this means. What will she gain by having her hairy monkey? Hairy monkeys are all the rage, eh? This is my selling point to get her to move into action! Of course I do not say that. It would be too expected. I hint at some of the things we can do when we arrive at her house.

. . . Encase me with your silk slip umbrella,
Put me on your branded stage
I am your coffin gorilla
Use me in our Golden Age. . .

I will dance for you. Dress me up. let me have a parasol and your silk slip to adorn my naked hairy body without saying that. Our Golden Age are the hours we spend together in our love making.

I think the rest of the words are pretty straight forward much to my dismay, but I really do need to hammer the Simian imagery, so I use climb, swing, and do anything to further entice her through salesmanship to envision what will transpire when we finally get to her house.

This is as easy as I can make it. Ska is the backdrop and really hammers home the gorilla theme as if living on an island. . . . monkey see, monkey do!

10/19/2025 11:58:29 AM

Lyrics are very important to me, but I grew up in the golden age of songwriting. And I was exposed to all of it. Show tunes, Swing tunes, Folk, Rock, Country, Blues, Prog, etc. Today's music is all about beats. Unless you're Taylor Swift. There is a reason she is a multi-billionaire star. She writes strong lyrics that millions of people relate to. Her newest album is a Pop lyricists' masterclass.

10/19/2025 12:00:00 PM

It's very interesting to hear from a writer in so much depth, thanks to Mr Hol.
But I really enjoy the search for a explanation myself. It's like looking at a painting, not only can different people see different things, but those people can see different things each time they look.
Poetry for me (and many others) is best when it's cryptic or challenging, I believe you can read between the lines. Of course you may be way off the original meaning and you may regard something as 'disturbing' when it is quite innocent.

Anyway, even if you are not into words you may enjoy the sound of them, the force or gentleness of them.

You may repeat "Om" not realising it has a sacred history, a primordial sound from which all other sounds and creation emerge. But if you know nothing of that you find that this wordless chant is very soothing and cuts out all distraction during meditation.

Of course I also like a funny limerick and a cheeky ditty sometimes !

10/19/2025 2:10:03 PM

Oh ok, your comment - "these strange lyrics that are hard for most listeners to interpret" makes me think you didn't understand the meaning of the song at all. This is why I went into this line-by-line explanation so that you would get it. I still do not know if you get it. That you allude to strange lyrics that are hard for most listeners to interpret should say hard for me to interpret, shouldn't it? How do you know what "most people" will understand or not? I do thank you for your effort. I am grateful people are buying the song. That is what really matters after all.

10/20/2025 1:10:57 AM

You know, a word is also a sound element, not just a carrier of meaning. Some words are more naturally mellifluous and sing well, while other words are more difficult to use. Anyway, the lyrics are phonic decisions, consciously or unconsciously. I think if songwriters choose words by their sound rather than their meaning (as modern songwriters may be doing) then they're going to get a whole different song than if they were trying to get across a message or even a theme.

10/21/2025 4:10:45 PM

You know, there's a movie called "Words and Music."

Also, ever catch "Eddie and the Cruisers" from the 80s? A kinda Bruce Springsteen story?

The whole move to dance & synth & Ai meets the moment for the youth, I guess.

The society will need a revolution in its perspective to reverse the trend, or a catalyzing event, like a war perhaps, in the 60s, to create an atmosphere where words become important...

Ola...

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