why do you like the music you like?

[Coffee]

Some songs, I like the lyrics.
Some songs, I like the tune.
Some songs, I like both, and I play those the most.

I have a fairly diverse taste in music, going from Ennio Morricone to Jeff Buckley to Metallica. However, I've thought about the quality that is the throughline for the songs I love the most. To me, the best songs have a desperate, urgent quality to them, as if the composer/performer will burst if they do not perform the song. Give me any piece of music with emotion and blood in it, and it's a winner.

I am also a songwriter, and I can report that my perspective has changed as I've grown older. The truth is, most people hear the beat first, then the music, and then, only then, the lyrics. I grant that there are plenty of folks who are different, but I've found the most success when I focus on a smooth, clear melody, and worry less about lyrical coherence.

We can argue lyrics all day long, but if the music isn't there, lyrics are like clothes on the line without pins.

[katyseagull]

For me it's almost all in the tune and the melody. I can't tell you how many times I've looked up the lyrics to a song that I love only to realize how stupid they are without the music behind them.