DMusic.com | for indie musicians and fans | Free MP3 music downloads - Forums: Music: What’s The Impact Of Lyrics On Music?

Forums > Music

What’s The Impact Of Lyrics On Music?

Philos60	Date: July 2, 2004 @ 12:37 PM - Does a song needs meaningful lyrics? – The painter needs colours and shapes, the author needs words and sentences, and the musician needs rhythms, tones, sounds and voices. These are basically the main differences of the three art forms. Words and text are in principle not required components to paint or make music. It’s enough to have a title or name for paintings and music pieces. Music is a language of itself. This is obvious for instrumental music like concerts, symphonies, organ, piano, etc. Rhythms, tones, melodies, sounds and voices mediate mood and feeling without singing meaningful lyrics. Therefore many international songs and hits for example are successful not because of exciting and meaningful lyrics, but due to the unique musical compositions and the specific sonic characters of the singing voices in accordance with the moods, minds and tastes of the mass of listeners. But the human voice is an individually different musical “instrument” to be used as an outstanding stylistic device as part of a song, a musical, opera or other music pieces. It needs sounds in such a way of vowels, consonants and resonant syllables to get a voice musical audible. Songwriters and rap vocalists apply words and text of known languages which fit to the chosen rhythm and sound. To express a voice musical effectively, it’s not necessary to use a native language like English, French, Italian, German, etc., an artificial, freestyle fantasy language can be applied as well as part of a music piece. Folksongs, hits, musicals and operas utilize traditionally meaningful lyrics for singing and recitative. Many foreign-language lyrics may not be readily understood always and completely by the mass of listeners. It’s not essential to understand the used language to know the true promise of the musical piece. Naturally it’s easier to sing in a native language than creating an adequate and tuneful fantasy language. However there are the possibilities to imitate a native language and hybrid forms of tongues. The imitation of a native language has to take care of the characteristic phonetic attributes of the selected native language. Well known are for example the nasal sounds of the French language. Who is using an imitation of a native language or fantasy words for lyrics is able to compose a song with vocal arrangement like a traditional songwriter. But there are still only a few vocal songs published using an artificial or fantasy language. Similar to the poetic licence of literature, the music maker can create new phonetic acoustic and language-like lyrics to use the human voice as pure art form for music. Is there anything to be said against or in addition?
DaveHall	Date: July 2, 2004 @ 7:13 PM Hey Philos, Nce to see you on the dmusic boards, that's a great post. You covered many aspects of Lyrics and song. I feel that as in all forms of art, music is an expression of yourself, and should be created as such. Scat is a form of vocalizing that is without words. Scatman Cruthers comes to mind amoung others like Goerge Benson who sings along with his leads on guitar. So in closing , I would have to say Lyrics are just an addition to the art of music if the artist desires... deja vu... _________________
MonnieB	Date: July 2, 2004 @ 7:23 PM It depends on the song, actually... if it's jazz, and Like Dave Hall said if it's George Benson or Scatman, and scat is the element that enhances the song, then no meaningful lyrics aren't necessary... But... if it's a song like 'All Is Quiet' by Yellowjackets and it's explaining something that tones and instruments can't portray on its own, then yes, lyrics are needed... In this case the music accompanies the words instead of the other way around... I have no clue if that makes sense at all, but that's my take...
-ethereal-	Date: July 4, 2004 @ 5:20 PM It's an interesting debate and I guess there is no real answer to it. There are many occaisions that instrumentals work better (like Godspeed you black emperor), or maybe just signing without discernable lyrics (like Sigur Rós' 'hopelandish' in their last album). I think that the importance of lyrics are diluted by pop music in that their presence in songs is taken for granted.
StefanieNewport	Date: July 4, 2004 @ 7:17 PM i found your post to be refreshing and insightful. as a musician, i have many songs that are instrumentals, and they have proven to evoke emotion without lyrical content. however when i write a song with lyrics, the music i compose with it follows afterward and every time i've attempted to add lyrics to a instrumental piece i have written, it never fits and i leave it alone. anyway... your post fit the way i write my songs and i found it really interesting....
MickeyBreezy	Date: July 4, 2004 @ 8:42 PM well as a rapper, i believe lyrics r very important, sum ppl listen 4 a hott beat, sum 4 a smooth flow, i listen 4 lyrical content. not nessecarily meaningful as far as real issues but just how creative can u b with words, i luv metaphors.
MickeyBreezy	Date: July 4, 2004 @ 8:42 PM ...sorry, i kinda lost whurr i was goin w/ that
StefanieNewport	Date: July 4, 2004 @ 8:44 PM i understood you..
MickeyBreezy	Date: July 5, 2004 @ 2:34 AM like NaS 4 instance, when he tells a story, u feel like ur thurr w/ him. n Eminem puts words 2gether that u wouldnt have even thought of. ...daz the 2 things i was tryna xplain
Philos60	Date: July 5, 2004 @ 7:25 AM @StefanieNewport Thank you for your friendly feedback. To use lyrics has impact on music and vice versa. I use my voice as musical instrument by creating syllables and fantasy word simultaneously during playing the instrument, because it's the right time to invent the fitting voice sound. @SnomaN You are right, for rap music lyrics are important. The underlayed music depends on the message or story one would like to mediate. Thank you all for your posts and interesting thoughts!
100thmonk	Date: July 6, 2004 @ 9:44 PM i change my opinion regularly on this, but tend toward believing that the relationship between lyric and music is very sketchy. the human body and human voice are arguably the inspiration of most instruments. like any other relationship the communion of word and music can have wonderful, harmonious results, but it could equally as soon be a mess of poor communication and neuroses.
Composer52403	Date: July 8, 2004 @ 10:45 PM Stefanie, I agree with you! I have written several instrumentals and tried to put lyrics with them at a later date, and they don't fit, can't fit, won't fit no matter how I try to manipulate the piece. However, in Psalm 23, I took pre-existing words, altered them slightly, and wrote the music around them. Great fit. It depends on the song as to whether lyrics belong in it, as well as the composer. If you feel a song needs words, write for what you have!
Westdox	Date: July 9, 2004 @ 1:32 AM I think that lyrics are important, and so is the music, but its hard for me to say one or the other is more important... The words i write, and the guitar riffs i play are both equal in 'musical value' to me, and i do not know where i would be if either of them were not present...
pancreaspuppet	Date: July 11, 2004 @ 4:13 PM An interesting thought: I was reading an interview with Brian Eno, and he commented on the fact that music is always moving forward, evolving, however lyrics seem to get stuck behind. In the last hundred years, we've seen progressions through expressionist, atonal music, jazz, minimalism, concret, rock, pop, etc, and now we're beginning to explore the endless possibilities of electronic music... but lyrics have progressed very little if at all.
BedroomSessions	Date: July 11, 2004 @ 4:31 PM one song sums this up touch my bum, by the cheeky girls
Composer52403	Date: July 12, 2004 @ 8:04 AM I think that the lyrics can actually detract from the music. Some of the most beautiful music out there, in my opinion, is instrumental music from songs where the lyrics have been removed.
billhudson	Date: July 12, 2004 @ 9:25 AM Good Post! Yes, lyrics are important, very much so! To me, words are a pillow in a way. I am wrapping the music and weaving the music with my words. I am telling folks a story. I want them to understand what I am saying and if they “get it”, then my job is done. That being said, to set the right words in place can sometimes take a lifetime. Take the song, “Gauguin’s Dream”. It took me a few years to write it. I knew what kind of life he led and how his paintings were very primal. I wanted to dig deep and keep digging until I knew I was close. So another word I re-write and re-write and then some. It is like digging for gold in a way. If you don’t do the work, you will not find the muse. Here is a line from a new song I am writing which puts it best, “I’m just sitting here looking at that blank orphan page/ does bring nothing/ it just the muses wage/” Still Pickin’ Bill H.