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does music need lyrics to make sense to be good?

justjoshingujustjoshingu Posts: 538
edited January 2012 in Other Music
listening to fake plastic trees and realized, there are parts that dont make a no sense. but i love this song. i still think its better than half the stuff out there. (looking at you spears)

least it wasnt karma police.
mean people suck!
but nice people sw****w

Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments

  • BeerBaronBeerBaron Toronto-ish Posts: 4,097
    They may not make sense to you, but I am sure they meant something when Yorke was writing them...

    That song makes a lot of sense to me. Just one big metaphor ...
    1996: Toronto 1998: Barrie 2000: Saratoga Springs 2003: Buffalo, Toronto 2005: Kitchener, London, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto 2006: Toronto x2, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Gorge #1 2007: London, Dusseldorf, Vic, Lolla 2008: WPB, Tampa, DC, MSG x2, Hartford, Boston x2, Beacon 2009: Toronto, Chicago x2, Seattle x2, LA #3&4, San Diego, Philly x4 2010: Cleveland, Buffalo, Hartford 2011: Montreal, Toronto x2, Hamilton 2012: Missoula 2013: London, Wrigley, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Hartford, Dallas, OKC
  • justamjustam Posts: 21,410
    I think the meaning of that song is actually pretty clear.

    It's about people who are spending a lot of energy on the superficial appearance of their lives and it's taking a lot of effort to do so because there's something else underneath. The singer of the song wants to break through the facade, but it's tiring him out too.

    So, it's about the emotional cost of having two selves. The part you show and the part that's real underneath.
    &&&&&&&&&&&&&&
  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Seattle, WA Posts: 12,223
    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQ1QNNk2Us
  • Get_RightGet_Right Posts: 13,171
    no

    Look for a while at the china cat sunflower,
    Proud walking jingle in the midnight sun.
    Copperdome bodhi drip a silver kimono,
    Like a crazy quilt stargown through a dream night wind.

    Crazy cat peekin through a lace bandanna,
    Like a one-eyed cheshire, like a diamond-eye jack.
    A leaf of all colors plays a golden-string fiddle,
    To a double-e waterfall over my back.

    Comic book colors on a violin river cryin leonardo,
    Words from out a silk trombone.
    I rang a silent bell, beneath a shower of pearls,
    In the eagle-winged palace of the queen chinee.
  • decides2dreamdecides2dream Posts: 14,977
    considering music doesn't even need lyrics to be good, great even...i don't see why nonsensical lyrics would necessarily be a detriment. who knows, it could be for the better...merely another 'instrumen' playing, and not distracting you with what they sing, but simply how they sing it. there have been quite a few songs that i have loved with some weak lyrics, or nonsensical.....and it in no way lessened my love for it. do great lyrics that make sense add more to a great song? sure. but i don't think it's a necessity for a song to be good.


    so sure....no.
    :mrgreen:
    Stay with me...
    Let's just breathe...


    I am myself like you somehow


  • BinFrogBinFrog MA Posts: 7,309
    There are tons of great songs with nonsensical lyrics:

    The Beatles - I Am The Walrus, Happiness Is A Warm Gun, Across The Universe

    Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit, Scentless Apprentice

    Phish - Reba, Foam, Cavern

    Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine, Echoes

    lots of Beastie Boys' rhymes

    and on and on.
    Bright eyed kid: "Wow Typo Man, you're the best!"
    Typo Man: "Thanks kidz, but remembir, stay in skool!"
  • decides2dreamdecides2dream Posts: 14,977
    to be fair...i think it's best to refer to such as seemingly nonsensical. b/c as someone else already pointed out, and rightly so, just b/c you or i may not make 'sense' of them...doent mean the lyrics don't hold sense or meaning to the writer.....and lots of poetry, music, can be difficult for the listener to decifer, and possibly purposefully so.
    Stay with me...
    Let's just breathe...


    I am myself like you somehow


  • Heineken HelenHeineken Helen Posts: 18,095
    BinFrog wrote:
    There are tons of great songs with nonsensical lyrics:

    The Beatles - I Am The Walrus, Happiness Is A Warm Gun, Across The Universe

    Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit, Scentless Apprentice

    Phish - Reba, Foam, Cavern

    Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine, Echoes

    lots of Beastie Boys' rhymes

    and on and on.
    EVERYTHING by Sigur Ros... and not many people can say they don't make great music :oops:
    The Astoria??? Orgazmic!
    Verona??? it's all surmountable
    Dublin 23.08.06 "The beauty of Ireland, right there!"
    Wembley? We all believe!
    Copenhagen?? your light made us stars
    Chicago 07? And love
    What a different life
    Had I not found this love with you
  • BinFrogBinFrog MA Posts: 7,309
    And lest we not forget the original version of Yellow Ledbetter ;)
    Bright eyed kid: "Wow Typo Man, you're the best!"
    Typo Man: "Thanks kidz, but remembir, stay in skool!"
  • soulsingingsoulsinging Posts: 13,202
    justjoshingu wrote:
    listening to fake plastic trees and realized, there are parts that dont make a no sense. but i love this song. i still think its better than half the stuff out there. (looking at you spears)

    least it wasnt karma police.

    Not at all. I'm much more of a music guy than lyrics guy generally. On Nirvana's dvd, Kurt says that his lyrics are often impressionistic. They're not meant to be clear and explicit the way Bruce Springsteen tells stories. Nothing wrong with that. It's why I've always thought that it's kind of funny how people hate on Bush for nonsensical lyrics. Sure, a lot of them are ridiculously silly, but Nirvana, if you compared them side by side, isn't really a whole lot better.
  • PJGARDENPJGARDEN Posts: 1,484
    Strangest Tribe has always been one of my favorite PJ songs and I still don't really understand it. I acutally like songs that I don't get right off the bat or that never make sense to me. No matter how many times you listen to it, there is still a mystic about it.
  • ArcticangelArcticangel Posts: 1,443
    Bon Iver - For Emma...Forever Ago

    Most nonsensical lyrics ever...and one of the best albums I've ever heard.
    So no, lyrics don't need to make sense. In some ways, it's more fun because you can read your own thoughts and experiences into them.
    PJ: St. Paul 6.16.2003, St. Paul 6.26.2006, St. Paul 6.27.2006, Hartford 6.27.2008, Mansfield 6.28.2008, Mansfield 6.30.2008, Beacon Theater 7.1.2008, Toronto 8.21.2009, Chicago 8.23.2009, Chicago 8.24.2009, Philly 10.30.2009, Philly 10.31.2009, Columbus 5.6.2010, Noblesville 5.7.2010

    EV: Los Angeles 4.12.2008, Los Angeles 4.13.2008, Nashville 6.17.2009, Nashville 6.18.2009, Memphis 6.20.2009
  • JonnyPistachioJonnyPistachio Florida Posts: 10,219
    RHCP too...
    I love the random crap that Keidis comes up with. He admits a lot of it is just for the rhyme.
    Pick up my debut novel here on amazon: Jonny Bails Floatin (in paperback) (also available on Kindle for $2.99)
  • chiquimonkeychiquimonkey Posts: 9,337
    neil finn makes some gorgeous music, and yet some of his songs' lyrics are rather cryptic. the funny thing though is you can *feel* the point he's trying to make, even if the words don't necessarily make sense. so the communication isn't so much in the words themselves but the images and feelings they conjure up. good stuff 8-)
  • megatronmegatron Posts: 3,420
    Heineken Helen wrote:
    BinFrog wrote:
    There are tons of great songs with nonsensical lyrics:

    The Beatles - I Am The Walrus, Happiness Is A Warm Gun, Across The Universe

    Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit, Scentless Apprentice

    Phish - Reba, Foam, Cavern

    Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine, Echoes

    lots of Beastie Boys' rhymes

    and on and on.
    EVERYTHING by Sigur Ros... and not many people can say they don't make great music :oops:

    a lot more from nirvana too.
    cobain said he always hated people trying to find his meaning when he admits he just threw a lot of random lyrics together that sounded good together...mainly from seperate poems or notes
  • libragirllibragirl Posts: 4,632
    not necessarily.
    These cuts are leaving creases. Trace the scars to fit the pieces, to tell the story, you don't need to say a word.
  • pretextpretext Posts: 1,294
    Andrew Bird is one of my favorite artists, and often he makes up words. His explanation of the relationship between his words and music is pretty interesting:
    http://measureformeasure.blogs.nytimes. ... will-tell/
  • Stu42Stu42 Posts: 178
    i think the bigger question is do corny lyrics become a detriment to a song? Musically the greatest song in the world can be ruined by some embarassingly bad lyrics. Personally I think nonsensical lyrics can be a plus a lot of times
  • LONGRDLONGRD Posts: 6,036
    JonnyPistachio wrote:
    RHCP too...
    I love the random crap that Keidis comes up with. He admits a lot of it is just for the rhyme.
    Same with Soul Coughing. It's like freestyle poetry with a blend of rap.
    PJ- 04/29/2003.06/24,25,27,28,30/2008.10/27,28,30,31/2009
    EV- 08/09,10/2008.06/08,09/2009
  • DewieCoxDewieCox Posts: 11,429
    Doesn't have to. Alotta great songs don't have words at all. I would imagine there even more that were just made up on the spot or consist of a scratch vocal that made the final cut.
  • youngsteryoungster Boston Posts: 6,576
    Don't forget about Bush.
    He who forgets will be destined to remember.

    9/29/04 Boston, 6/28/08 Mansfield, 8/23/09 Chicago, 5/15/10 Hartford
    5/17/10 Boston, 10/15/13 Worcester, 10/16/13 Worcester, 10/25/13 Hartford
    8/5/16 Fenway, 8/7/16 Fenway
    EV Solo: 6/16/11 Boston, 6/18/11 Hartford,
  • musicismylife78musicismylife78 Posts: 6,116
    Bob Dylan comes to mind. Most likely the best songwriter in music history, the most talented at least. Alof of his stuff in the mid to late 1960's reads almost like stream of consciousness.

    And a modern example being Aesop Rock a hip hop artist. Another very talented guy, in the top tier of quality hip hop, and his lyrics are completely off the wall, just totally crazy.

    So no, lyrics dont have to make sense to be good.

    Music is art. Are paintings powerful and important if they make no sense? Jackson Pollack comes to mind. Are movies important and powerful even if they make no sense David Lynch's Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire come to mind.
  • CG275693CG275693 Posts: 61
    Think of all the songs that work even though people can't make out the lyrics or the words are misheard.
  • dunkmandunkman Posts: 19,646
    In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey
    Butane in my veins and Im out to cut the junkie
    With the plastic eyeballs, spray-paint the vegetables
    Dog food stalls with the beefcake pantyhose
    Kill the headlights and put it in neutral
    Stock car flamin with a loser and the cruise control
    Babys in reno with the vitamin d
    Got a couple of couches, sleep on the love-seat
    Someone came in sayin Im insane to complain
    About a shotgun wedding and a stain on my shirt
    Dont believe everything that you breathe
    You get a parking violation and a maggot on your sleeve
    So shave your face with some mace in the dark
    Savin all your food stamps and burnin down the trailer park



    so with all that in mind i'd say no.
    oh scary... 40000 morbidly obese christians wearing fanny packs invading europe is probably the least scariest thing since I watched an edited version of The Care Bears movie in an extremely brightly lit cinema.
  • Back_PedalBack_Pedal Posts: 1,171
    I enjoy Beck and Nirvana just fine, so I guess no.
    Thanks EPOTTSIII!
    "Vinyl or not, you will need to pay someone to take RA of your hands" - Smile05
    424, xxx
  • BinFrogBinFrog MA Posts: 7,309
    It just depends on what the music does to your senses. Lyrics are only part of the landscape of a song. That is why an instrumental song can move you to tears. That is also why you can 'feel' a song even though you have no idea what the lyrics are or what they mean.
    Bright eyed kid: "Wow Typo Man, you're the best!"
    Typo Man: "Thanks kidz, but remembir, stay in skool!"
  • rollingsrollings unknown Posts: 7,124
    You mean like....

    When you're old enough to repaint...
    but young enough to sell?


    of course they don't!
  • justamjustam Posts: 21,410
    No. Lyrics aren't required for music to be good.
    &&&&&&&&&&&&&&
  • rollingsrollings unknown Posts: 7,124
    Get_Right wrote:
    no

    Look for a while at the china cat sunflower,
    Proud walking jingle in the midnight sun.
    Copperdome bodhi drip a silver kimono,
    Like a crazy quilt stargown through a dream night wind.

    Crazy cat peekin through a lace bandanna,
    Like a one-eyed cheshire, like a diamond-eye jack.
    A leaf of all colors plays a golden-string fiddle,
    To a double-e waterfall over my back.

    Comic book colors on a violin river cryin leonardo,
    Words from out a silk trombone.
    I rang a silent bell, beneath a shower of pearls,
    In the eagle-winged palace of the queen chinee.

    ca-chinkers!
  • mysticweedmysticweed Posts: 3,710
    Rollings wrote:
    You mean like....

    When you're old enough to repaint...
    but young enough to sell?


    of course they don't!

    wow
    are you slamming neil?
    i suppose
    old enough to reap pain makes more sense . . .
    fuck 'em if they can't take a joke

    "what a long, strange trip it's been"
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