Entertainment Weekly has a pretty cool article in this week's issue debating the importance of lyrics in popular music. Two music critics square off and come up with some compelling arguments for both sides (one side being that lyrics matter, the other side being that they don't mean a damn thing). I'm kind of on the fence on this one. It certainly seems that nowadays you could pretty much grunt your way through a song or say the same thing over and over again and make it a hit (see: Outkast's "Hey-Ya" or Blur's "Song 2"). Even music with totally nonsensical lyrics or jibber-jabber that doesn't even exist in the English language can become wildly popular (see: a good portion of rap music). Then you have lyrics that are trite and meaningless (see: pop music in general) where artists try to tell a story about a high school love affair and make it seem as if it was a classical Greek tragedy buy over analyze it and blowing it out of proportion. Generally speaking, most people today don't even listen to the lyrics much less read into them at any depth. I'd be willing to guess most average music listeners couldn't recite verbatim the lyrics to their favorite song on the radio right now without the aid of the song being on at the time.

On the flip side though, lyrics have given me chills, made average songs great, made great songs classic, etc. They are important. Lyrics are what connect you to the music. For instance, one of the reasons I don't listen to rap is because of the lyrics. I can't connect to them. I'm not from the ghetto, I don't have any bitches, I don't drink 40's, etc, etc. But when Zeppelin sings about being burned by a woman, or a tale of fantasy straight out of LOTR, I can relate. Or when Radiohead sing about being shut out, feeling like an outsider, etc.... I can relate. What would Frank Sinatra be without the lyrics to "Summerwind" or "New York"?

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 10:17 PM