Lyrics- some thoughts

Lyrics are really not the most important part of music for me. In fact- the less, the better. If you're gonna be wordy and obvious, you'd better be pretty friggin clever (i.e. Joe Pernice). Otherwise, I really like the abstract stuff where lyricists have some more "visual" words... sort of a lyrical impressionism. I'm very much into the whole "let the listener decide what it's about" thing.

So what kind of lyric really cinches the deal for me? Well, Jill and I were listening to the Promise Ring all day yesterday and a great example came up.

First, so I can make my point, pretend that words have no meaning- just sound. The only character is found in their sound and not in an attached definition. Then ask yourself what makes a good melody or musical phrase? Most people would say that when a short simple melody is played, but then repeated and as they are repeated, small variations are made on that one melody. Think about Marry Had A Little Lamb- it's basically one melody line of notes that is improved upon just slightly, but progressively. Now go back to my idea about words having no meaning and check this Promise Ring lyric out:

And she slept across the ocean
as we crossed the ocean.
And I got cross with the ocean.

from "saturday" on The Horse Latitudes EP

This is a good example, because this is nonsensical and really doesn't have meaning other than what you visualize in your mind. Anyway, it's a variation on a repeated lyric where CROSS and THE OCEAN are in every line, but improved upon progressively.

Also, for a frame of reference, he's been repeating (mumbling) the lines "She drank white wine. Makes me want to marry her memories madly." up until that point. Not a great set of lines but the fact that they are mumbled and repeated quietly until the song climaxes with loud guitars and the "cross the ocean" lyrics scream-sung, those opening boring lyrics set the stage for an exciting conclusion. BEAUTIFULLY done.

Anyway, there you go.