Your positive experiences with lyrics?

       Lyrics can be experienced to be good in different ways, like poetic, informing, funny, socially-engaged or

How do you find lyrics to be good?

And I hope, you'll enjoy it! 

David_D wrote: How do you find lyrics to be good?

More often than not when it's in a language I don't understand.

But I often love Joni Mitchells lyrics and storytelling. Like in Coyote... Rainy Night House... Carey... Free Man in Paris. Kind of straight forward yet very poetic and sophistcated. And her arrangements always seem to match every word sung. Yes, that's when I really love good lyrics.

Not for everybody, and I wouldn't say, there's much to complain about. 

At university (Univ of Illinois, 1973-77) I had intended to pursue medicine.  However, at this time, the USA was in turmoil from the Viet Nam war, and the deteriorating environment made headlines nightly.  It was very depressing. 

Jon Anderson's lyrics changed me and inspired me to pursue a path towards political peace and environmental justice! 

Getting over overhanging trees, let them rape the forest

Thoughts would send our fusion

Clearly to be home

Getting over wars we do not mean or so it seems so clearly

Sheltered with our passion

Clearly to be home

 I thought "I'll be damned if I'll stand by and let them rape the forests!"   Therefore, I changed academic direction and subsequently became an award-winning environmental scientist.  

I told this story to Jon Anderson after a concert in Chicago (35th Anniversary Tour, May 4th, 2004) and he gave me a wonderful, sweet smile! 

This is my present consultancy....http://www.neochloris.com

Otherwise lyrics that make me smile, chuckle, chortle or laugh out loud; as as longtime UK expat, the lyrics of Half Man Half Biscuit do this and are at the same time a goldmine of cultural information about my homeland.
To some extent also goes for Jethro Tull, Strawbs, The Damned, Ian Dury (and the Blockheads) et al.

On the other hand I get irritated by obscure and arty-farty words from the likes of Fish ("Fugazi", the song, for example) or Jon Anderson.

I tend to like socially-engaging lyrics (like Lennon's Working Class Hero) best  and putting some spite and irony into singing those lyrics help out a bit. 

Floyd/Waters lyrics have certainly had an impact or influence on me (either in everyday life or philosophy), as did early Jethro Tull (Aqualung and especially TAAB). Some early Genesis, Caravan, VdGG, Rush tracks' lyrics have also had a slight impact on me. (Marillion's Script is also a biggie, but that's about it in that area)

In the French realm, Jacques Brel and Noir Désir have had +/- the same type of (relatively heavy) impact on me. The slam of Grand Corps Malade certainly invite me to have thoughts about what he says. 

In general, it's somewhat quite harder for me to ignore French lyrics, so I'm harsher and more demanding when it come to francophone texts, but have found a higher appreciation in that area. I would even risk a generality in saying that on the average, French lyrics are generally of better quality than other neighboring languages. 

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There is also another category of lyrics that I tend to listen to are those visually-arresting (if that makes sense), being either funny  (the Dog, The Dog, he's at it again), poetic (maybe not that much in Jon's way), or simply a good storyline (Child In Time). Claude Nougaro's lyrics can be profound and finny at the same time. 

Of course, successive lyrics in a concept album enter this second category (like Gong's RGI trilogy), as long as I dig the concept's subject. 

Sean Trane wrote: ... In the French realm, Jacques Brel and Noir Désir have had +/- the same type of (relatively heavy) impact on me. The slam of Grand Corps Malade certainly invite me to have thoughts about what he says.  In general, it's somewhat quite harder for me to ignore French lyrics, so I'm harsher and more demanding when it come to francophone texts, but have found a higher appreciation in that area. I would even risk a generality in saying that on the average, French lyrics are generally of better quality than other neighboring languages.  ...

Hi,

A lot of this was what brought me to ANGE really early on ... the atmospheric, the poetic, and the nature of the singing was not about the song ... it was about the story and its content. To me, being Portuguese (still!), this makes sense within the Latin languages, although I have not felt quite the same about Spanish or Portuguese music at all ... Italian is a bit different, at least in how it is done ... for example ... Banco was incredible, but the singer made it happen, with his poetic and operatic voice. Le Orme, was really nice, and soft, and very clean in their lyrics, despite some ... we might consider not very good translations. PFM was really great in the early days, until all of a sudden the "story" was killed, for a song, and that was the end of them for me.

Then, you look at a Peter Hammill, and even a Kate Bush, and the individuality is about the emotion and the expression, many times as theatrical as is possible, which to me is similar to the early ANGE (in a weird sort of way), but it becomes something that most people don't like in rock music ... too much individuality and no one understands anything seems to be the problem.

But the history of the arts, like it or not, has been about the individuality, so I'm always wondering why a song without individuality, or some of the women you hear on the radio these days that have the voice and know the notes and have no soul behind it whatsoever. Heck, the kitchen and bath scenarios are usually better than that!

I'm not sure that "lyrics" are the important thing ... you can take Shakespeare and smash it senseless and no one will get anything, just like you can channel Ian and make it awful. People don't like Jon, because they dislike the idea, the concept and the philosophy which is so far and away from western bullsh*t! Reminds me of Ginsberg ... reading his stuff never got through but one day, in a silly movie about so much crap, he reads his own poem and the words have a very strong life ... same thing for Burroughs ... it's better heard, not read! (we keep looking for meanings and can't find them and it distracts us away from the "lyrics")

"arty-farty"? That's harsh TBH, especially applied to Fish's lyrics. I disagree. 

Jon Anderson's lyrics? In Yes, maybe, but it's never bothered me. I don't like his solo work, so I don't care there TBH.