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Do you listen to Lyrics?

Are you the kind of person that listens to lyrics or not? Do you believe they effect you even if you are not listening?

I’m the type of person that listens which is both good and bad. It’s good because the artist put those words in there for a reason, to be heard, to spread a message or idea or thought. But it’s bad in that there are songs I like for which once I know the message I can no longer enjoy them since the message is not something that makes me happy to hear.

Some are Japanese songs. For example one of my favorite Pizzicato Five songs was the second to the last track on I think the Romantique Album. Before I learned Japanese I didn’t know the name of the track or what they were saying. It’s Jazzy piece and used to always put me in a good mood. But, now I know the song is called “Kanashii Uta” or “Sad Song” and it’s about a woman that just broke up with her boyfriend and is trying to move on. Not something that puts me in a good mood so I can no longer really listen to the song.

Some other examples, many people in love like the song “Saving all my love for you” by Whitney Houston. Unfortunately if you acutally listen to the words that song is about her having an affair with a married guy. Affairs and cheating are not topics that make me feel happy or lovey so that song is not something I want to hear anymore. Even if I was in love with some person that song would not help me celebrate my love, it would only make me think about its actual message which is adultry. Not a very romatic thought.

Another that comes to mind, less well known, is a song by Martin Gore of Depeche Mode called “Compulsion” from his solo album Counterfeit. I really liked the song but I can almost never listen to it because it is about realizing when to give up and move on and everytime I listen to it it makes me question my current situation. The lyrics are “got to move on some time and it’s about time” so whatever is currently center in my life I start to question. It’s about time I move on from my job or It’s about time I move on from my girlfriend or it’s about time I move on from Japan, whatever. While it might be good to question those things once in a while generally in my case it’s not because I already think too much but that song makes me question them even more so I can’t listen to it.

The latest is “Hey Ya” by Outkast. It’s great song and seems all happy and peppy but until yesterday I didn’t know the lyrics. The message is nothing lasts forever, not even love so let’s just forget about love and screw. That’s actually the message of quite a lot of popular music now-a-days. Maybe it’s true but I personally don’t want to be believe it. I want to believe in love and romance and happily ever after (though not neccesarily easily). So sadly I can no longer enjoy that song.

On the other hand, although it’s kind of old, until recently I didn’t know the lyrics to “Give it away now” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The song has a few lines that make it sound like it’s about sex. “What I got you got to get it put it in you”. But what the song is really about is love. Not romantic love but love for every one. Kind of like “What the World Needs Now Is Love” by Burt Bacharach. Knowing the message makes me like “Give it away now” twice as much as before I knew the message.

I also wonder if songs like that influence people’s thinking even if they aren’t really listening. I know that many people believe in subliminal influence even going so far as to listening to tapes with subliminal affermations. The lyrics are not even really subliminal since all you have to do is pay attention to understand them.

A couple of more negative examples. While I understood why people could get into the upbeat songs of “Mambo No. 5” and “It wasn’t me” by Shaggy since the tunes were so catchy it was still hard for me to except that the messages didn’t bring them down. It seems like women more than men liked Mambo No. 5 but it’s about a guy with 10+ girlfriends. Why women would like that song knowing that I don’t get. “It wasn’t me” is about a guy getting caught cheating on his girlfriend in pretty graphic detail. Again, not a topic that it seems to me would make most people happy or at least not most women but women loved that song.

Have you ever experienced that one way or another? Ie, good song bad message? or song you could listen to that you no longer can because you understand the meaning?

April 11th, 2004 | Tags: | Category: weblog
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  • http://www.japannewbie.com anon_Harvey
    Nice topic

    I am the type of person who listens to lyrics very closely. I can’t stand music in which the lyrics are like, 一応, there, but don’t really mean anything to me.  If I am listening to music with lyrics, the lyrics better be interesting.  So, I listen to a lot of techno, classical, jazz, stuff where there are no lyrics, and they’re not even trying to include lyrics.  SquarePusher, Prodigy, Underworld… Etc.

    As for lyrics affecting me… You’d be surprised but I listen to a lot of music with seemingly negative lyrics, and I love it.  I love Rage Againts the Machine’s lyrics and music. I love Nine Inch Nails lyrics and music.  I really like A Tribe Called Quest.. their lyrics are just goofy, but it’s a lot of fun. I also like RUN DMC’s lyrics!  Also back to the semi-negative, System of a Down… 

    There is this song in French called “Aisha” by Khalid that I absolutely love.  I didn’t understand the lyrics until I went to France though, and )I had been listening to the song for a full year before that.  After I understood the lyrics, I loved the thing even more!  It’s great. Check it out.  

    Hrm.  This isn’t really coming to a point, but basically, I love lyrics. If there are lyrics in a song, they are the most important part of the song for me.

    以上。 

  • ZehGerman
    ZehGerman

    I must say genesis,phil collins old band have some really good lyrics,

    “Jesus he knows me” must be one of the best songs made by genesis and we cannot forget the 80 s classic sussudio by phil collins himself .

    As to lyrics, im not a big fan of rap etc… because its always going somehting like this mother****, or*f**kyou. Lyrics should be meaningfull, something important, something that everyone can take part of. 

  • http://blog.greggman.com greggman
    Down Lyrics

    I didn’t mean to suggest down lyrics were bad.  Depeche Mode used to be one of my favorite bands and most of their lyrics were pretty down which is why they were often referred to as Depressed Mode.

    I have no problem with sexual lyrics either.  Janet Jackson is pretty dang sexual and I love her music but her lyrics generally make me happy (or horny ;-) )

    I guess what I find most interesting is that knowing the actual meaning of a song like “Saving all my love for you” I really can’t imagine anyone enjoying that song unless they were having an affair.  I couldn’t sit on the couch with my GF listening to “Love Songs on the KOST” (an L.A. love song program) and hear that song and not have it make me think about the topic of infidelity instead of thinking romantic thoughts.

    I guess maybe what I find strange is songs that seem to be about one thing by their course or by their melody that are actually about something else.

    Not really related but I remember listening to a radio program one morning and some lady just called in and said “Mr. DJ, please put on a song with a lot a love for my new baby” and the DJ fud’ed up and put on “Lotta Love” by Nicolette Larson which is a song about being on the verge of breaking up and that it’s going to take a lotta love to keep the couple together.  How said that he would put that song on for her.

  • SRL
    Lyrics

    I’ve changed my tune after finding out the lyrics of some songs. 

    Correct me if I am wrong but the music industry is powered by 12 to 18 year olds…mostly kids in the 12 to 15 age range.  At least that’s the stats from a few years ago, when I used to keep up with it.  Most of these kids must listen for the beat, the “party” aspect of the music or unknowingly listen due to the “bandwagon effect”, believe it or not wanting to be cool. 

    The 80′s seem to be all the rage back here in my three city area.  Now that I am older I notice that I never really listened to the lyrics or could not fully understand them when I was younger.  For one intance, the J-Giels band’s, Centerfold…is about a centerfold that used to be in the “guys” homeroom class…and he was really lusting after her…wondering what’s under her dress…  I never noticed this at the time, but I did have plenty of girls I mentally undressed in homeroom…Centerfold came out when I was in the fourth-fifth grade so I was not worried about sexual lyrics at the time.  Funny thing is the gal and guys who write these lyrics are Adults in the 20′s to 30′s and the main listeners are middle schoolers.  I always found this funny.  For example Janet’s past albums lyrics were stupid (to me).  And she says that she writes what’s in her heart at the time…stuff Like I want to meet a guy at a club and fall in love…shesh..shes almost 40!  Has she learned anything? 

    That’s my 1 cent….StickyRiceLover. 

  • http://blog.greggman.com greggman
    Janet etc.

    I listened to the lyrics even when I was relatively young.  I remember being fairly disturbed at around 15 when the 4yr old girl from across the street was in our living room singing “So come on baby make a move on me” by Olivia Newton John.

    Janet has a lot of poppy songs like “Someone to Call My Lover” but many of her latest songs are a lot more sexual than that one.  “China Love”, “When We Oooo” where she almost gets off on the track and “70′s love song” where she does.  Plenty of others like “Throb”, “If”, “The Body That Loves You”, “Anytime, Anyplace”…

    But yea, the majority of her songs don’t have any deep meaning.  That doesn’t make them bad.  They make me happy.

    Some other songs though that I switched my tune on.  I used to love Basia back on her “Time and Tide” album.  I could listen to the entire thing, it sounded so great.  But now I can’t listen to about half of it because I hear the words and the songs are downers.

    Another commonly mis-understood song is “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35″ by Bob Dylan, the “everybody must get stoned” song.  Almost everybody thinks it’s about getting high but it’s really about getting put down, picked on, etc.

    There’s also songs I can’t stand because they piss me off.  I hate smoking.  I put up with it here in Japan but I only have to deal with it a few hours a couple of times a week but I find it one of those things I just don’t get.  It seems like there is no point and the only reason people start is peer pressure.  So, I hate songs that promote smoking directly or indirectly.  Two in particular are Alanis Morissette’s “One Hand in my Pocket” and “Walkin’ on the Sun” by Smash Mouth.  I liked them both until I noticed the lines each one has that indirectly promote smoking.

  • http://www.goombas.org/ jim
    lyrics

    I tend to not pay attention to lyrics unless they’re the focus of the genre, because lousy (or offensive) lyrics can really ruin a good song for me. As such, while I enjoy a lot of pop music, I can’t listen to pop country or pop rap because pop lyrics are nearly universally abysmal, and country and rap are two genres that focus heavily on lyrics.

    It’s possible for me to tune bad lyrics out, if they’re subdued. And some people just don’t care: there’s this half mexican, half black kid who enjoys listening to a particular neo-nazi metal band; it was months before he realized what they were singing about. He was surprised, but just said “well, whatever,” and kept on listening, because the music was good. I have to give him respect for that.

    Personally, I tend to listen to instrumental or foreign music. Safer that way. J-pop is a favorite. I’m sure the lyrics are just as dumb as american pop, but that’s okay because I can’t tell!

  • http://blog.greggman.com greggman
    influence?

    That’s one of my question though, if the lyrics chant to you to do something, even if you aren’t paying attention are they influencing you at all?  I have no idea.

    Unfortunately for me I can’t ignore the lyrics once I’ve noticed them.  Sometimes I wish I could but it’s like someone whispering in my ear and eventually I notice.

  • SRL
    Music

    …foreign music…that reminds me…have you ever listened to Hindi Pop or Bollywood music?  Believe it or not, it’s pretty good.  There are lots of new Hindi songs with great beats.  A few American hip hop producers are mixing in Hindi beats and lyrics.  

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    When I really like a song, I have a friend translate, and the lyrics are usually romantic in nature. 

     

    Greggman, from the post you know allot more about music than I do…but I had fun participating. 

    To answer your last question…

    Yes, I think lyrics could influence a person even if they are not paying attention.  Here is the best proof I can come up with.  Occasionally, I find myself repeating the catch phrase or lyrical tune of popular commercials…I don’t like commercials, but they sneak into my head…Do I buy the product?  Maybe, as I have not paid attention or tried to draw lines between the effect of the advertising jingles and my spending habits.  That could be hard to analyze.  It must work or why would companies spend millions of dollars on the ads?  So, these lyrics in the jingles stick in my mind and quite possibly(if I had to bet I would bet Yes) they influence my spending habits.  Jingles are 5 to 10 seconds and songs are 3 to 4 minutes…does a larger dose have more influence or is it the repetition? 

     

    I have to get back to work – StickyRiceLover.

  • SRL
    Doh!

    Copy/Paste from word,  sorry to blight your site with that out of place font.

  • ww
    This is very interesting…

    Lyrics probably have different effects on different people. Usually when i’m listening to a song i’m hearing the lyrics, but i’m not really listening to them- i’m listening more to the music and the notes because i think that’s what really makes me like a song.  Though after listening to a song numerous times i’ll eventually memorize the lyrics and even sing along. 

    Songs can also influence my mood, but again i think that has more to do with the music than the lyrics.  If i’m feeling down i’ll listen to a slow sad song, and if i’m happy or feeling good i’ll listen to a more upbeat song. Sometimes lyrics will influence my mood, but generally it’s my mood at the time, not decisions i make (like drug use or smoking or my choice of language).

    So I guess there are people whose decisions/attitudes/personalities are heavily influenced by song lyrics as well as other media. I don’t really understand how, but it happens. Just different strokes for different folks i guess. =)

  • CatSienna
    witty lyrics

    One of the best albums I’ve ever heard and I played it to death, was a jazz duo called Dave’s True Story in the album I think by the same name. It has an ah-mazing set of lyrics. V witty, v clever and the singer has a voice the perfectly matches the mood of most of the song’s. The lyricist and composer was Dave. There’s a great sense of irony and feeling simultaneously and almost compassion sometimes cos it draws me to feel for the people in the song yet without setting aside the difference between love and lust!

    Sometimes the lyrics don’t matter because the music and voice are breathtakingly beautiful…Madredeus’s O paradiso album does that for me. It’s startling in the lead singer’s voice and I love the album even though I don’t understand the lyrics.

  • Sentunim

    Well, Im 16, but I listen to pretty lyrical music.

    Most of the music I listen to is from the “grunge” era of music. It’s great, and I definetly listen to the lyrics, they are one of the essential parts. Smashing pumpkins have some pretty awesome lyrics. Nirvanas are spacey, Alice in chains are dark. They all represent me I think.

  • Jim
    lyric is number 2

    Interesting article, Greg. I have same opinion. Sometimes it’s true better not to understand thing to enjoy it. It’s not always favourable after when we actually understand the meaning. I like JPOP, KPOP, or CPOP, or I listen also to non-Asian songs. Any songs in fact, as long it’s suitable for my mood. Understanding the lyric is number 2.

  • Terry

    I always listen to lyrics. It’s interesting how few people actually listen to them. Years ago there was “Alone again, naturally”. Women loved this song and made it a hit but if you listen to the lyrics, it’s the saddest thing you have ever heard.

    Funny how that can be but I think people get into the tune and beat and are hooked before they interpret the lyrics.

    I played in many rock bands and when the time would get late and everyone was “close dancing” we would alter the words and almost everyone missed it.

    Terry

  • http://www.chipple.net/ Patrick

    Figuring out later that a song I thought was happy actually had sad lyrics has happened to me too, notably with Pizzicato Five’s “kanashii uta” (Triste) that you mentioned, and also “Message Song”. However it doesn’t make me feel less happy about listening to the song.

    So I guess that lyrics do not have as much importance for me, though I do listen to lyrics most of the time. It has been one of my best ways to pick up Japanese.

    The only thing that sucks is that when I feel like singing one of these sad songs at karaoke and don’t think too much about the content at first, and then people get like depressed and wonder what’s wrong with me…!

  • Sado
    Lyrics are very imporant

    To me they are, at least. I mostly like bands who bring controversy into the world with their lyrics. Most commercial music is all about what Marilyn Manson sings about in ‘This is the new shit’; ‘Babble-babble-bitch-bitch Rebel-rebel-party-party, Sex-sex-sex and don’t forget the violence Blah-blah-blah I got your lovey-dovey sad and lonely Stick your stupid slogan and everyone sing along’. Although I always thought Manson was a sick man, this song completely changed my thoughts about him and right now I keep buying his albums. ‘Disturbed’, a new nu-metal band writes lyrics about individualism and religion which really interests me a lot. Rage Against the Machine writes about politics and the ‘truth’ behind our governments.

    The bad thing about my taste of music, and I think more people experience this, is that it’s never on the radio. At my work the radio is on all day long and no song ever interests me since it’s all about the same thing. Some songs are good because of cool melody, but that’s it.

    Discplayer is my best friend :D

  • Tracker

    I agree w/ Harvey, lyrics are the most important things in a song, and I do listen to songs that have negative lyrics, sometimes the music just goes so well w/ the attiude of the song that it just works, there was a song by a band I really love called Ph8, the song is called “The Hard Way” and is basically a sad song about a guy that is bitter againist his father for being neglectful, however I thought it was their best song, also I have liked songs about suicide ‘Adam’s Song’ by Blink 182 and ’45′ by Shinedown come to mind, but I’ve never been suicidal.

    I also love jazz, so instrumentals are great for me! feeling the emotion in instrumental jazz is just so uplifting sometimes, and some rock instrumental just are amazing.

     

    But getting back on track lyrics are important in a song to me.

    ty

    Tracker

     

  • Garret

    When i was young and dumb, I used to listen to NOFX. But now that im older and have gotten into politics, I cant stand that band. All the songs are about imature things (like “My vagina” and “fun things to fuck”), or about retarded and terribly scewed politics that i couldnt force myself to believe.

  • wulong

    I take it you don’t like Radiohead then? :)

    I actually like songs that are a bit sad; not all the time, of course. But they have their place in my collection.

    I found out one of Shiina Ringo’s songs that’s really up beat and happy is about a guy who breaks up with his girlfriend because he’s moving to the city away from the countryside. I was taken aback at first, but it still didn’t stop me from enjoying the song. In fact, it was interesting that the song was sad, but set to such upbeat music.

    Overall, I tend not to listen to lyrics; sometimes when I concentrate I can pick them up, but usually I let the words become lost in the music. Probably why my collection is heavily laden with idm :)

  • http://blog.greggman.com greggman
    sad songs

    don’t necessarily bug me.  Mostly songs that just don’t have a message I agree with or that have a message I really don’t want to be influenced by.  Vincent is one of my favorite songs but it’s dang sad.  I was (am) a huge Depeche Mode fan and some call them Depressed Mode as many of their songs are not upbeat. 

  • Pommerville1

    Yes I agree. How about Porn star dancing? This guy is for one singing about a stripper but then calling it “Porn star” dancing? It’s offensive and it doesn’t even make sense which is too bad because it has a good melody and beat. I usually change the station. And it seems like this type of lyrics are becoming normal. Is nothing sacred anymore? I would never allow my kids to listen to the rock station or at least I would have to change the station all the time…