Samson, John Paul F.

11-STEM 3

Lyrics Or Melody – Which Is More Important?

In this article, we consider the eternal debate. Lyrics or melody – which is more important?
Which one should you be putting more effort into? Find out.

When it comes to songwriting, there are about as many approaches as there are songwriters.

You can express your creativity in a variety of different ways, but having songs that really
showcase your talent and personality will give you a boost of confidence as an artist.

Some say rhythm is the most important thing. Others might say lyrics or melodies. Still others
might point to chord progressions or harmonies.

In this article, we’re going to consider whether lyrics or melody are more important to a song.

The Melody Over Lyrics Approach

This approach to songwriting is probably best embodied by the late and great Kurt Cobain.

Grunge music carried a rebellious spirit with it, and it was clearly a backlash to the Hair Metal
and Power Ballads that dominated the airwaves throughout the 80s and early 90s.

Musically, Grunge was simpler, edgier, and had a little bit of the don’t-care attitude Punk music
was known for.

So the lyrics were also more abstract, and that was a stark contrast to the popular music of the
80s, which often contained direct and overt messages.

The melody is the hook of a song, and as such, this type of songwriting forces you to put your
energy towards creating memorable melodies instead of witty lyrics.

The Lyrics Over Melody Approach

Bob Dylan is a very accessible example of a lyrics over melody style artist.

Intended or not, Dylan was a brilliant songwriter who didn’t pay quite as much attention to the
musicality of a song in relation to the message of the song.

In fact, he eventually adopted a mumble-sing approach, which made it a little harder to

There are plenty of great songwriters out there, but not all of them emphasize lyrics over melody.
Some of them have found a meaningful balance that allow them to showcase both their melodic
sensibilities and wordsmith techniques.

The Compromise Approach

Maybe a song isn’t so much about the lyrics or the melody as much as it is about the overall
experience you create through it. If this thought resonates with you, perhaps your songwriting
philosophy requires a bit of compromise.

Artists like Elvis Costello churn out songs that are catchy enough to be memorable, but also turn
clichés on their head and make use of extended metaphors to spice things up lyrically

To some extent, this approach would also be represented by the New Wave music movement in
the late 70s and 80s. It was clever, a little poppy, but also somewhat abrasive.

A lot of New Wave bands were very intelligent in their songwriting, but the sound that severed
as the backdrop to the music was dominated by dry, twangy guitars (similar to Country or Surf
music), drum machines, and early synthesizer sounds.

The Balanced Approach

Both Fountains of Wayne and They Might Be Giants are bands that somehow manage to find the
perfect balance of memorable melodies with clever, thought-provoking lyrics.

If you have a statement you want to make, and you want to make sure people remember your
hooks too, then this approach may be the right one for you.

This can be hard to achieve, quite simply because your lyrics may not follow a specific rhythmic
pattern or rhyming scheme. Meanwhile, you still have to think about creating a catchy melody to
go along with the words.

However, when it’s done right, this approach can produce some incredible songs.

Final Thoughts

Lyrics or melody: in the end, is there really a right or wrong answer?

A great song is the combination of many elements; melody, harmony, rhythm, lyrics, and so on.
When these elements come together as a meaningful whole, it isn’t necessarily the strength of
one part or the other that makes it great; it’s a mixture of everything.

Why not experiment and try different approaches? Find a way to say what you want to say
through your music!
The Good Listener: What's More Important, Lyrics Or Music? by Stephen Thompson

We get a lot of mail at NPR Music, and amid the hair oil we order online as a means of avoiding
Whole Foods is a slew of smart questions about how music fits into our lives — and, this week,
the importance of instrumentation, lyrics and the combination thereof.

Holli Ryan Clements writes: "I'd be interested in hearing you discuss the value that you place on
lyrics when digesting a new song, as opposed to simply the 'sound world' the song inhabits. Do
you hold these two in equal regard, or is one more important than the other to your initial
listening experience?"

If you were to poll the hosts of All Songs Considered, Bob Boilen listens to lyrics first, while
Robin Hilton listens to the music first and barely notices the words until later. Working in close
proximity to the two of them is like living inside one of those old Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
commercials, but with "music" and "lyrics" swapped in for "chocolate" and "peanut butter."
Except those commercials didn't have people arguing about which is more important to the taste
of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. So wait. Okay, working in close proximity to Bob and Robin is
like whichever beer commercial has dudes arguing over "tastes great" versus... Look, Bob and
Robin argue about this a lot, okay? Breaking the tie would make one of them happy, so I try to
stay out of it entirely.

So I'll split the official verdict right down the middle: When judging a song based on first
impressions, my primary concern is that 1) the music is done right; and 2) the words, whether in
content or presentation, aren't done wrong.

Putting it that way, strictly by definition, lyrics and singing play a slightly secondary role to
music: Music without lyrics is still music, but lyrics without music are poetry. Massive swaths of
jazz, electronic, classical and other forms of music subsist just fine without words; I've got a
gigantic folder in my iTunes marked "Ambient For Editing," which is stuffed with the wordless
(or largely wordless) works of Stars of the Lid, Eluvium, Pantha Du Prince, Arvo Part and
others, which is saying nothing of Justin Bieber's hit "U Smile," which an enterprising DJ turned
into a gorgeous ambient work by slowing it down to a 35-minute crawl. Like so much
instrumental music, these works access emotions just as efficiently as words do, if not more so.

Lyrics and singing, on the other hand, are music's greatest deal-breakers; I can't tell you how
many times I've pushed play, been sucked into a perfect sound world and sat nervously, thinking,
"God, please don't let the singer screw this up." As often as not, he or she does just that. Vocals
and lyrics are far more subjective than other sounds: What tugs at my heartstrings may well work
your nerves. Which, in turn, makes great words and great vocals harder to come by — and,
perhaps by virtue of their scarcity, more valuable in the long run. But, since you asked, there's
clearly no wrong way to listen, much as I'd love to tell Bob and Robin that they're doing it
wrong. Call it a draw, but let's agree to tell Bob and Robin that they've both lost.