Ashamed to Admit

[wateroftyne]

If I'm listening to Bob Dylan or Mark Knopfler, I love what lyrics mean.

 

If I'm listening to Yes, I don't care what they mean.

[ezbass]

11 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

 

 

If I'm listening to Yes, I don't care what they mean.

Just as well as they probably don’t mean anything anyway.

 

Outboard, river
Bluetail, tailfly
Luther, in time
Dood'ndoodit, dah, d't-d't-dah

[wateroftyne]

Just now, ezbass said:

Just as well as they probably don’t mean anything anyway.

 

Outboard, river
Bluetail, tailfly
Luther, in time
Dood'ndoodit, dah, d't-d't-dah

 

Quite.

[Bilbo]

When I was a teenager, it became apparent to me that forming a band was impossible because there were never any singers available. I got into instrumental music and Jazz was only a short walk away. Since then, for much of the time, I find lyrics/singers a complete turn off. Even when I book them for my Jazz club, it is with a certain reluctance and simply to keep the punters happy. There are exceptions, many of them, Joni Mitchell being one obvious one but the reason I always loved Jon Anderson's lyrics was precisely because they sounded beautiful but didn't mean a thing (they were part of the music not words to understand). 99% of lyrics are inane bollocks, pseudo philosophy (as a Prog fan, I often wince at the 'meaning of life' content of some lyrics). Even Neil Peart can make me cringe ('as a hawk goes soaring by....') - some great lines but a lot of A level poetry.. I have to admit that the presence of a singer on a recording is often a deal breaker for me. I do have albums with singers of them but I generally prefer it when they don't. 

[Stofferson]

Not sure if it's just me, but I can't listen to anything that I can't imagine myself playing. 

[Muzz]

Then there's lyrics that aren't really lyrics, but word-shapes and sounds, like the work of Liz Fraser with The Cocteau Twins...

 

I like a lyric; as has been said it can anchor the part in a song which might otherwise trip me up if I'm multitasking...but the opposite of that is our BL getting bored and inserting his own, which are fine when I'm expecting them*, but I always had problems when we did the Chili's By The Way, and he'd just throw in any two-syllable words which came to mind while I was busy concentrating on getting the bass line right...

 

 

*'Those who think they've got chlamydia, Sit Down next to me...'

[chris_b]

I like good melodies. IMO the best 2 lines in Rock are; 

 

She was just seventeen.

You know what I mean.

 

Shakespeare would have been proud to have written that.

[Geek99]

On 06/03/2022 at 01:01, Downunderwonder said:

There's a small boat made in China

Going nowhere on the mantle piece 

It's the same room but everything's dif'rent

You can blah the blah but not the ( rhymes with piece) 

 

ChOrUs!!!!!

 

Blah de blah de throwaway blah

De bla DeBlah de Blah...yada yada..

 

ChORuS!!!!

Weather with you - not a song I really connected with

[SteveK]

8 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I like good melodies. IMO the best 2 lines in Rock are; 

 

She was just seventeen.

You know what I mean.

 

Shakespeare would have been proud to have written that.

If not for John that second line would have been entirely different.

[Crusoe]

I remember when I was quite young, my next door neighbour and I discovered his mum's collection of Beatles records. We would sing Love Me Do, but argue about the tune. It wasn't until many years later that I realised we were singing the different harmonies.

[Newfoundfreedom]

19 hours ago, Stofferson said:

Not sure if it's just me, but I can't listen to anything that I can't imagine myself playing. 

 

I'm kind of the opposite. I would never play something I didn't like or wouldn't personally listen to. Which rules out pretty much all Jazz, which I absolutely can't abide, or anything by Oasis purely because I can't stand the nasal whiney t@sspot singer. It was a bone of contention when I was in a covers band, now I'm in an originals band it's not really an issue. 

[mikel]

On 05/03/2022 at 10:24, WAYNESWORLD said:

Before I start could I say the following is probably down to my inability to multitask. Something I have noticed over the years when listening to music and even reviewing some of my previous favourite bands is. I now appear to be picking not only the bass lines to hum  to but dissecting the whole composition and doing the same at the detriment of the lyrics. On reflection I realised that this is something I have always done and only really learnt backing harmony lyrics as required. Occasionally the main lyrics stick but for me become secondary.It’s like everything is musical but the lyrical content washes over me,even when I make an effort to listen to them . When I was very young and was learning to playI worked in a record shop and used to be able to help parents that we’re trying to buy records for there kids based on a single line of the lyric scribbled on a bit of paper but didn’t know what the record was called. That ability to put the vocal first diminished as I concentrated more on learning to play.Anyone else have this problem. Apologies to all the great lyricist’s out there.Please be gentle concerning my inadequacies.

Always done it. Close to the Edge, by Yes, is probably my all time favourite album. I can mentally isolate every instrument, and vocal, on the album. I can chose to listen to the sound as a whole, or an individual instrument. I love it. I also play drums in an originals band. I find that knowing the lyrics by heart, and the chord sequences, enhances my enjoyment of playing and also means I always know exactly where I am in the song.

[Monkey Steve]

On 08/03/2022 at 13:51, Stofferson said:

Not sure if it's just me, but I can't listen to anything that I can't imagine myself playing. 

funnily enough I'm the opposite - I'm drawn to music that I can't understand how to play

[Monkey Steve]

I don't have any criticism of the OP's position, and am a bit similar - partly it's because of my interest in the bass, but also because vocals tend to follow the roots of the bass melody.  Not always, but often

 

But of late I am coming to the opinion that I've been missing a trick when writing songs by not focusing on the vocal melodies (not the lyrics per se)

 

Possibly from a punk/metal background where often there aren't any vocal melodies, and I am aware that I've trained myself to not listen too closely to the singer from too many years of playing in bands at an early age when the vox were just shouting.  I also think it's a failing of guitarists that they write riffs, when people listen to melodies. 

 

F'rinstance - listen to Zombie by the Cranberries.  There's a very clear verse bridge chorus structure, but actually it's all over the same four chords.  If I presented just the chords or bass to a band they'd complain that I hadn't written a song

 

[TimR]

On 05/03/2022 at 10:24, WAYNESWORLD said:

Before I start could I say the following is probably down to my inability to multitask. Something I have noticed over the years when listening to music and even reviewing some of my previous favourite bands is. I now appear to be picking not only the bass lines to hum  to but dissecting the whole composition and doing the same at the detriment of the lyrics. On reflection I realised that this is something I have always done and only really learnt backing harmony lyrics as required. Occasionally the main lyrics stick but for me become secondary.It’s like everything is musical but the lyrical content washes over me,even when I make an effort to listen to them . When I was very young and was learning to playI worked in a record shop and used to be able to help parents that we’re trying to buy records for there kids based on a single line of the lyric scribbled on a bit of paper but didn’t know what the record was called. That ability to put the vocal first diminished as I concentrated more on learning to play.Anyone else have this problem. Apologies to all the great lyricist’s out there.Please be gentle concerning my inadequacies.

 

I'm fairly sure there was a study somewhere that found women listen to the lyrics and men listen to the music. 

 

I'll see if I can find it. 

[dmccombe7]

In the Glam covers band i know most of the lyrics mainly because its the songs i grew up with in my early teens and bought the singles and also a few years before playing bass. I dont particularly focus on the lyrics but on occasion i use them sub-conciously as a reminder for changes in te song.

In the punk band i vaguely remembered the songs from the radio but was never a punk fan so i have no idea what the lyrics are. I hear the vocal lines when i'm playing but only certain words or phrases trigger my brain that a change is coming. The singer could sing any words to the melody and i wouldn't know any better. I tend to learn songs mostly on the bass itself and write out every note.

Dave

[MacDaddy]

7 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

In the Glam covers band i know most of the lyrics mainly because its the songs i grew up with in my early teens and bought the singles and also a few years before playing bass. I dont particularly focus on the lyrics but on occasion i use them sub-conciously as a reminder for changes in te song.

In the punk band i vaguely remembered the songs from the radio but was never a punk fan so i have no idea what the lyrics are. I hear the vocal lines when i'm playing but only certain words or phrases trigger my brain that a change is coming. The singer could sing any words to the melody and i wouldn't know any better. I tend to learn songs mostly on the bass itself and write out every note.

Dave

 

Many years ago, an originals band I was in changed vocalists. My playing was initially all over the place with the new singer, as I didn't realise how much I'd been relying on vocal cues.

Lesson learned and rectified for future bands.

[Elfrasho]

Think this is pretty normal, especially amongst musicians. As long as you enjoy the sound coming in, then it diesnt really matter why! 

 

I don't think I know a single song word for word all the way through, and I think it's simply the fact that I zone in on the guitar line, bass line, drum fills etc.. Even the melody, just not the words, 

[Nail Soup]

Music plays a different role for different people. For me its the most important thing there is (apart from family and all that stuff).

I remember listening to a former England Women's Football manager on Desert Island Discs., thinking that they chose a terrible selection of records.... but in fact she wasn't choosing on the quality of the music, or even the quality of the lyrics.... but the underlying message of the song.

Just that was the role music played for her.

Same for me the other way round guess.... I'll watch a football match and just enjoy the general flow of the game, and don't really care about the details of which centre-back has the best footballing brain.