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What makes great lyrics?


Mike

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•Is it thought provoking ideas and references?

•Is it relating to common subjects, concepts, etc?

•Is it abstract in nature, nothing concrete, just, nothing I can put a finger on, sounds good.

•Tell a story

Many of the best lyrics (IMHO) were drug induced. The Beatles created some great lyrics from 1966 on.

Some of my favorites are ..

Don McClean's - American Pie and Carly Simon's - You're So Vain

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Lyrics are Poetry

so good lyrics are good poetry

Now, most poetry that you hear of and study at school

is poetry that is telling a story

or talking about something

so everyone

automatically thinks

"Hey, good poetry tells a pretty story!"

but they are wrong,

good poetry is all about

meter and rhythm

syllables

even more so with music

Lennon wasn't writing with the words meaning in mind

he was writing to the meter.

A tradition

that's been carried on

by Stephen Malkmus.

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To me, good lyrics are raw and emotional. I love Yes's lyrics. They're so nonsensical in terms of the English language, but they flow with a meter and tone that just seems to make perfect sense to your subconcious.

Cold summer, listening. Hot colour, melting the anger to stoooooone!!

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Lyrics are nothing but words it takes someone with a better understanding of themselves and emotion to portray that emotion into the words they write and sing. You dont like a song because of the words themselves you like the song because of the meaning the words have when the singer/songwriter puts his emotion into the words he is singing.

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Lyrics are Poetry

so good lyrics are good poetry

Couldn't disagree more. Some lyrics are quite 'poetic' sometimes, and, very rarely, some lyrics verge on poetry, in my opinion (but some serious literary heavyweights argue that lyrics are never and can never be poetry).

The greatest lyrics are usually make pretty crap poems, and, like I say, probably are not poems at all. If there are any you think are great poems then stick 'em up here and let's discuss.

:D

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I feel great lyrics are ones that move the person listening. Whether they make you cry, laugh, or just think about what the artist is saying...as in political based tunes. Lyrics are what draw me to a song, I've always been a lyric reader when I would buy an album. It's wonderful to hear a song and feel that the artists has seen into your soul. Are they poetic, sure to some extent...but are they poems, probably not what one would consider a "true poem", but they can have the feel of poetry within.

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Great lyrics don't have to fit the song very well, in fact sometimes the reason they're so good is because they fit very poorly. "I Don't Love Anyone" by Belle and Sebastian are some of my favorite lyrics, because the song is very upbeat and cheerful, yet the lyrics are sort of depressing; "I don't love anything/not even Christmas/especially not that/I don't love anyone/well maybe my sister/maybe my baby brother too/I don't love anyone." It reads like a poem written by a depressed 2nd grader, but it goes with the song so poorly that it's interesting, and I really like the lyrics.

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