The Insignificance of Lyrics

As was shown in my last post, the importance of lyrics, in terms of creating a successful song, is questionable. This was proved by revealing songs that have achieved international acclaim and yet contain lyrics that either don't make sense or are just blatantly simple. Frith argues in his book Popular Music: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies that "lyrics are an excuse to have a voice participating in or at the most an illustration of the music" (p34). I would argue that this is a reasonable statement. Lyrics can be seen as merely another instrument in creating the desired sound. It must be rare for a fan at a live concert to be standing in the mosh pit with ears alert to lyrics the performer is saying. Just imagine a mosh-pitter bumping into a fellow fan and that fan saying "Um, excuse me, can you stop shouting, i'm trying to hear the lyrics." To think that the lyrics outweigh the music in such a situation seems ridiculous. Nevertheless, perhaps in more intimate settings the significance of the lyrics rises.

'The National Year of Reading' campaign questioned 4000 people to gauge the importance of lyrics. Interestingly, it claimed that 90% of participants found reading the words helped them to gain a full appreciation of the music. And also, that the emotional importance of lyrics remained consistent across people from 16-65 years of age. This suggests that lyrics do indeed play a pivotal part in the consumption of music. Nevertheless, it is the context that must be considered when investigating the significance of lyrics. I would argue that they could be described as insignificant at music festivals. I would also argue that they could be seen as merely another instrument which adds to the sound when listening to an album for the first time. And, at a live intimate acoustic performance, perhaps then could they be seen as having some significance.