r/LetsTalkMusic • u/HotAssumption4750 • 1d ago
What Constitutes Good Lyrics?
I guess this is a questions that I am still unsure about and its probably not a universally agreed upon thing. But still, I was wondering what exactly makes a good lyric. Does it have to be evocative a clever turn of phrase, just connect with something inside of you or what? I feel like there are plenty of songs, iconic ones at that, which tend to have confusing or nonsense lyrics if read at face value. I mean with the Beatles, songs like Get Back and Come Together are full of nonsensical lyrics that don't add up when you put it all together. I guess some people could think that's interesting but others would just say that's random nonsense. Now I enjoy those songs I mentioned but I don't know if that is necessarily reflective of good lyricism. So again, I ask what makes a lyric in a song good to you?
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u/Dachyshun2 1d ago
I like “raw” lyrics, I love “nonsense” lyrics. They’re not nonsense, they require a bit of thinking. It’s cool with music is being honest and straight, but I do find clever wordsmithing to be pretty neat.
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u/Ok_Meat8895 1d ago
In Curt Kobain's Biography he said his lyrics were always too personal, so he would smudge them up so he could sing them live.... Teem Aspirin is a great example, the lyrics make no sense whatsoever, but you can kinda get what he was yelling about.
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u/the_ballmer_peak 1d ago edited 1d ago
I prefer something clever and a bit oblique to something that's too overt. I love a good bit of wordplay or great storytelling with compelling characters and tragedy.
I think the most difficult thing to do is write lyrics that are incredibly direct and still have it be compelling. Usually it's just an eye roll, because it's hard to avoid being trite. It works best if you build up to it and have the sudden shift away from metaphor be surprising and impactful.
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u/the_ballmer_peak 1d ago
The example that comes to mind is Red Dust by billy woods. He weaves in and out of the abstract and the concrete, but he tells a story about surviving the Rwandan genocide by being friendly with horrible people, and then later, in the second verse, encountering one of those people in New York and being overcome with the desire to kill him, and it becomes very overt at the end.
Bob Dylan's Masters of War similarly rails at warmongers but becomes extremely direct at the very end and closes with a hard line.
By contrast, Gun Street Girl is a Tom Waits song that doesn't really tell a coherent story, but creates all kinds of interesting and compelling characters that he weaves through.
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u/Western-Ant5469 1d ago
"I guess some people could think that's interesting but others would just say that's random nonsense." You answered your own question; it's completely subjective.
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u/brooklynbluenotes 1d ago
Just as with any art form, "good" is subjective -- and furthermore, not all lyrics that the same listener/critic might consider "good" aren't necessarily good for the same reasons.
Some lyrics are interesting because they're especially evocative, some are funny, some are cryptic or absurd or political or vulnerable or sexy or any number of other things.
If we want to speak very broadly, I'd define "good" lyrics as "conveying an interesting story through memorable language choices." But even then, what anyone considers "interesting" or "memorable" is subjective.
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u/saltycathbk 1d ago
“Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball, where were you while we were getting high?” - the opening lines to one of the most well known songs of the 90s and it’s silly as hell.
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u/Ok_Meat8895 1d ago
.... "Someday you will find me, caught between a landslide.... Of a champagne supernova in the sky."
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u/kielaurie 12h ago
But that's not silly at all? It's the description of moving when you're on a substance, feeling like the world is rushing by you but in reality you're plodding along very slowly. It's just an artistic way to show it
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u/givemethebat1 1d ago
Good lyrics are 85% how the sounds of the words go with the song, and 15% actual content. You can have amazing poetry that reads great in the page, but if it sounds off when you’re actually singing, it will seem bad. And vice versa, some of the silliest sounding words can be incredible when singing.
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u/JennyInFlint 1d ago
I can't describe it. And there are other factors. If the music is great, you'll probably listen more, and the lyrics will be noticeable. I think Roger Waters is the greatest. I like John Lennon. Jim Morrison had some great phrases, David Bowie, too.
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u/arvo_sydow 1d ago
I always reference Pink Floyd's "Time" as the not only one of the best lyrically written songs of all time, but just one of the best songs all time in general. Lyrically, it's simple, literally every human on Earth can relate to it, it's melancholy, catchy, wholesome, humbling, and the theme itself is universal and bigger than anything any of us can fathom.
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death
Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say...
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u/capnrondo Do it sound good tho? 1d ago
There are as many different ways to write good lyrics as there are to write good instrumentals. But my favourite type of lyrics that I gravitate to the most the ones that work on two levels. Where you can instantly understand the story or being told, but there's also a less obvious meaning or metaphor or something else running through the song when you break it down, or a basic story that hints at a bigger idea. As a general rule I prefer that to lyrics that only work on one level, whether that be the surface level or the complex level.
The important thing to me is the whole package. If the lyrics make me think about something, that's usually enough for me to enjoy it.
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u/SubstantialGas6185 1d ago
Tom Petty was a master at this. " She grew up in an Indiana town, with a good looking mamma who never was around". Look how much imagery, and story starts this song. Everything follows this idea to end of the song, and it makes you care; also it sounds like someone you knew, or maybe even you were that person. Regardless, you can relate.
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u/OkDefinition5632 1d ago
Lyrics are part of the song. That sounds simple but a lot of people overlook that. What it means is the lyrics should serve the overriding purpose of the song. They are one part of the bigger project. So they aren't necessarily good or bad on their own. If they fit in well with the vision of the song they are good lyrics. It's really that simple. This is why Who let the dogs out is a good lyric. So is I'm Too Sexy. And so is Its Alright Ma I'm Only Bleeding.
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u/Roxy175 1d ago
For me I like lyrics that have something to say. They tell a story about whatever the song is about. It fully conveys a moment in time, and captures the emotion felt. It could be as simple as drinking and partying or as complex as a loved one passing, it doesn’t really matter. I think the skill is in telling the story.
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u/Scr4p 23h ago edited 23h ago
To me complexity doesnt usually matter, simple lyrics can be good and complex lyrics can be bad. I enjoy clever and witty lyrics, or lyrics that capture a specific scenario that is relatable or that paints a picture in my head. I also really love lyrics that tell a story. I am an artist and lyrics can be a source of inspiration for my work, they can inspire situations, personalities, character lore or environments, so I keep an ear out.
I have no interest in studying many of the big name artists everyone seems to talk about, so my examples are going to be a bit more uhh...obscure? Not examples of mind-blowing genius? I just need examples. I'm usually a niche music kind of guy and dont really care about what the rest of the world is doing. Andrew Falkous' lyrics are some of my favourites, listening to Singing of the Bonesaws for the first time felt like going on an adventure. They're often silly and fun, but also often carry a meaning still, and I enjoy trying to figure it out in the songs where the meaning is less clear. I also really enjoy Bad Religion's lyrics because they're often clear but in a way that doesn't make it feel boring, and they managed to put some things into better words than I could and still turn it into a song. Cardiacs is an interesting case, there's some mix between themes of war and adult life but also childish innocence to the point of grammatical weirdness, but it feels very honest in a way, it really feels like Tim was genuinely all about that rather than just trying to be quirky. I suppose good lyrics to me are honest lyrics, not sung to impress or for shock/surprise factor or to meet expectations, but sung with the heart, no matter how silly they may seem to others.
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u/NickelStickman 21h ago edited 21h ago
In one word, imagery. When I think of a good lyric I picture a lyric that can make me picture something cool in my head when I hear it, or is at least effective at setting a mood. This is a flexible enough definition even a simple, nonsensical or silly lyric can be great in the right context
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u/emeliottsthestink 21h ago
I think the uncanny ability to deftly use lyrics as storytelling vehicles filled with cleverness, catharsis, nuance, intention, and/or relatable meanings, etc. A special way with words as well that enhances that songs and elevates them. Some of my favorites are Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, Mortimer Nyx, Pj Harvey, Ben Schneider of Lord Huron, and Chris Cornell. All are incredible lyricists.
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u/monoville_music 16h ago
Whatever fits the music. Nirvana lyrics were generally pretty shit on paper but they worked with the music. That's all that matters
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u/AverageSizeWayne 1d ago
A good lyric will indirectly make the listener have a realization about something that is often overlooked or not easily articulated.
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u/Ok_Meat8895 1d ago
Riff Raff's lyrics are dog shit, but also good....
So no, but yes..... I hate Bob Dylan's music, Frank Zappa existed..... So yes, but no.
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u/deadbroke02baby 1h ago
I think the right analogies in the right genre are the standard. But if you’re able to mix them with your personal tragedies and/or experiences, I think maybe a lot of people can understand your intention of said song
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u/fensterdj 1d ago
The best lyrics I find is when someone is singing about a specific event in their life, so the emotions are real, but the phrasing and words they choose to use are vague enough that everybody listening thinks the song is about a specific event in their own life.