"not really a deep and meaningful person like Glenn Hansard seems to be"

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So said some person to me, speaking of Damien Rice, this fairly crap Irish singer songwriter. Glenn Hansard is the lead singer in The Frames, this average Dublin band.

Anyway this got me thinking, do you know any deep and meaningful people? Is anyone really fucking deep and meaningful? And this fools comment aside, is lyrical confusion mistaken for lyrical value over and over and over again? I just find this notion of songwriters floating around all day sighing and beating their breast really irritating. I have suspicions that the average guitar band spends alot less time and puts alot less effort into their lyrics than their fans would like to believe.

Am I wrong?

Furthermore, don't people call a lyric bad when it stands out? It stands out from the "good" lyrics which just float by and do nothing. Sure there are good lyrics which people remember, but isn't there a definite good lyrics are seen and not heard type philosophy operating in rock music all the time? If it passes by then it's ok. Is it fair to say this?

― Ronan, Friday, 5 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

1) No.

2) Yes. Bad lyrics are noticeable. Good lyrics pass by. Great lyrics you write on your binder for school and quote to all your friends.

― Alex in SF, Friday, 5 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Wow, so many questions; I'll just write and hopefully here and there something will appear.

I think the other category is cryptic lyrics. I mean, have you ever tried to decipher a Pixies song? I've just stopped trying and learned to love the music. Cryptic lyrics are placed into the categories of bad/good/great, often as a matter of taste.

Personally a bad lyric is a lyric that is so overwhelmingly bad, it affects my ability to appreciate the rest of the song; there are unfortunately too many examples of this. A good lyric is the opposite, it enhances the song. Take for example The Beatles' "I Am the Walrus". I have no idea what the lyrics mean, yet when I hear them scream "Expert textpert choking smokers, Don't you thing the joker laughs at you?" I can't explain why, but its a lyric that makes me feel good.

Then there is a song like Amiee Mann's "Momentum", whose lyrics I love. The lyrics are pretty simple, yet they cut to the heart of human emotion with wit and clarity. Now those are great lyrics.

― Monsur Hossain, Friday, 5 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

nine months pass...

If I may indulge in anecdotes, I once gave Glen Hansard a CD of my long-defunct roc group (we did 2 roc wot n. does 2 conformity - this is meant 2 b taken wit a wink and a punch in my own face); it was prolly a bad idea seeing its sound quality equaled a dictaphone recording transferred 2 4-track wit a 96-voiced boy choir hired 2 hiss in the backgrnd. He sed, "cool", never reported back; red all the hot press tour diary entries he gave; hoped he wd namedrop, but nah. not rilly a fan of his rock but rite now i'm thinking (perhaps inaccurately); "Ronan Fitzgerald, this man is not deep."

― naked as sin (naked as sin), Sunday, 26 January 2003 02:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Aw come on! I read Sophies World, I'm deep!

― Ronan (Ronan), Sunday, 26 January 2003 14:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm talkin Hansard, it's not a belief of true conviction so don't worry either way.

― naked as sin (naked as sin), Sunday, 26 January 2003 19:31 (twenty-two years ago)

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