Comments by "P M" (@pm2886) on "Today’s Lyrics Are Pathetically Bad" video.

  1. Maybe that's your problem. Maybe try thinking of lyrics as another instrument. It's nice if they coalesce into a punchy idea, but it's not essential.
    4
  2. As much as the europhile snob in me wants to applaud, I cannot in good conscious pretend that cultural framework doesn't matter. Lyricism comes in many flavours, and many forms. The most banal ideas can be rendered poetry by their framing and delivery. Joni Mitchell's "A case of you" is an example of something which is really just pretentious romanticism, but made beautiful by it's cultural context and musicality. The same applies to the right kind of 'lowbrow' rap. When you move into the space it occupies, your frame of reference allows you to avoid comparing everything to Mozart (aka the Beatles).
    1
  3. Further ... to suggest that lyrics matter that much, is to suggest we can never love songs sung in a language we don't know. Half of all music I personally listen to, is not in English. Songs I love. Music which moves me. And I don't understand a word. They could be singing about turnips, and I'd still love it.
    1