David Byrne is one of the few artists i believe is a genius. I think he has a way with music and words that is very unique and different. I always loved his bizarre lyrics. Sometimes they were beautiful, sometimes weird, sometimes shocking, sometimes heartfelt. It was interesting to hear him say this. And his views on interpretations of songs.

The video seems to have gotten removed.

If it's about the over-reliance on metaphor then I agree with him. People tend to read whatever they want into song lyrics because they are so vague. Then they'll feel the songs are "deep" because they seem to "about" their own issues. Likewise, poor grammar seems to do a similar trick. It can be quite hard to fit the appropriate words to the melody, let alone complete sentences that would actually make sense.

I 100% agree with the guy.

Lyrics don't matter that much, what matters is the melody, the instruments, the vocals, the thing that goes in the song.... Sometimes people bash dance club songs for their lack of lyrical depth or because they're not profound... We all forget that the guys who shaped Rock n Roll rarely had any profound & mindfucking lyrical material, rock n roll was all about fun, dancing and having a good time, or telling a story that has a meaning, or something that makes the listener relate to it in a way it makes it "good".

Writing good lyrics is just a bonus, if you have that then you're probably respected and praised, but if you don't then people have no reason to bash you for you choosing something you want.

[Edited 4/18/14 5:57am]

I like what he said about the sound of words being just about the most important thing.

He writes interesting lyrics and I love the way he shapes them around the sounds of words.

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I get bored to death by song lyrics that are cliched and don't have much vocab to them. It's infinitely better to go somewhat abstract than cliched.

I disagree with David Byrne, if you have shitty lyrics I aint listening.

lazycrockett said:

^Yes I watched, I understand what hes getting at bout the beats and the music and tribal rythmes but to me lyrics are helluva important.

I'm big on lyrics, but if you have to have just one strength in a song, words won't carry you. And far too much music writing (particularly review) dwells too much on lyrical analysis (probably because it's the easiest part of a song to write about). Even when lyrics are good, it's the music (or performance) that makes them truly great.

As to Byrne, I've plugged it before and I'll plug it again: David Byrne's How Music Works is a fantastic read.

That youtube vid doesn't seem to work, so heres another link:

http://cnn.com/video/?/vi...ed2010.cnn