I wrote, not long ago, about how I tend to listen to a song and think of the human voice as another instrument rather than listening to the words.
This evening I watched Star Wars III, and I was keenly aware of the wordless vocals in the awesome score. The human voice can create a sound with such power which simply cannot be duplicated. Words would have been superfluous.
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This has little to do with Star Wars, but going back to your original post about words in songs. I do find it really surprising that you're not much on lyrics. In a lot of my favorite music, the music is really just a vehicle, a medium, if you will, for delivering the lyric, the message. Not that the music isn't important; it plays a vital role in communicating that message as well. But without the lyrics, it wouldn't mean nearly as much. Consider, for example, folk music, which is a genre I know you like. Isn't it mostly the lyric content that "drives" the song?
And what about the songs from musicals? Don't the lyrics, ideally, help further the plotline of the play, or at least give us some insight into the character singing them?
Kootch...I don't argue or disagree with you about the importance or validity of lyrics in a song. I only say that I tend to hear first the way a voice sounds, rather than what it is saying. This isn't true ALL the time for me, but is true far more often than not.
Is folk music driven by lyric content? Maybe so. But folk music is also rich with vocal variety, I think more so than pop music, from that "high lonesome" sound (which I don't like) to that mournful, almost nasally sound of someone like Allison Krause (which I do like).
Sure, the lyrics in musicals should further the plotline (though I think that is the case maybe 50% of the time, it is also used as character identification which technically doesn't further the plot but does help the audience understand the characters), and I probably listen to musical theatre lyrics more than any others, but sometimes I hear them enough to get the gist of the message.
I am not saying that this is right. I am not condoning it as the only way to listen to a song. No way. It's just me.
I am making a conscious effort to listen to lyrics and am discovering new aspects to old favorites.
I can't help but wonder why I listen this way, though. In part, perhaps, because I have such a deep-rooted aversion to poetry. It's like test anxiety when I have a poem in front of me.
And maybe partly it's the way I grew up listening to music. It's always been as background -- filler for dead air. Music to cruise by or music to party to. I don't think I have ever put on an album and just sit to listen to it (maybe that's not true...maybe you and I did back in our J-High days). When I put music on I am usually doing something else as well, often reading.
I know there are lyrics. I know they are important or they wouldn't be there. but for me, I am more apt to like a song or not based on it's sound. I've been known to like songs for 20-30 years and am just now discovering what the songs are about. Sad, but true.
I understand. It's one of those differences between you and me, I suppose.
I don't like the use of music as "filler" or "background" because I want to pay attention to what's being said. And I will often put on some music and just listen to it.
And another thing...
(Actually something I meant to mention before, but forgot.) I can't listen to music and read at the same time. My attention becomes divided and I can't focus enough on either one. Just me, I suppose.
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