Does reading song lyrics ruin the song for you?

[The Stranger]

I've noticed that sometimes when I really like a song, I mean, really like it. I'll replay a song at ANY available moment, all the time, I basically get addicted to songs a lot.

But if the song is sung in a way that I can't really hear the lyrics clearly it creates a sort of atmosphere and I just can't get enough of it. And that's why I can replay it lots because I think that it has a mystery to it that you can't memorize the whole thing so you

I heard this described a certain way once but I don't really want to mention the exact person because I'm afraid if someone saw this they could link it to me? That's the dumbest shit ever but yeah.

Anyway most of the time I end up looking the lyrics to these songs to see what exactly these people are singing about! And sometimes the lyrics were not as majestic as they were being sung and sounded. Sometimes they are just very simple statements when they sounded more poetic. But sometimes the lyrics live up to how they sounded but still soon after I am bored with that song and get bored listening to it.

Does anybody else find after they know the lyrics to a song, the song loses its interest?


--- By the way here are two examples of songs that I've noticed this sort of.

 

[mestizo]

Music has a way of changing your mood, and one of my favorite genre of music when I'm feeling down is thrash/speed metal to pick me up, somehow it pumps my adrenaline.
I'm a foreigner and started listening to music sung in English even before I knew the language, and there's a song I liked ( I still do ) by Metallica called Am I evil? Great song, but once I learned the lyrics it kind of ruined for me, I love my mom but there are times that I love listening to this song too.

 

[MinnBobber]

I'm probably the opposite. I'm a little hard of hearing so often cannot understand many of a song's lyrics.
I like to see the lyrics so I know wtf they are singing about

 

[mestizo]

I'm probably the opposite. I'm a little hard of hearing so often cannot understand many of a song's lyrics.
I like to see the lyrics so I know wtf they are singing about

What about instrumental music?
I have an album by a local band and I enjoy their instrumental versions better than the ones with lyrics.
Lyrics are not necessary all the time in my opinion.

 

[CarolKing]

I get addicted to songs too and can't get enough. i download off of iTunes and play it over and over again. Eventually I get tired of them, then it just goes into my fav tunes category.

It's so much easier getting the words to songs that you love now because of the Internet. Years ago when I was a teen. I would play my record over and over again so I could write the words down. I would spend hours in my room. I love singing and love music. Eventually I was able to put that to good use.

It doesn't ruin it for me to know all the words. I think eventually I get tired of the song. How about the artists that are still playing the same old songs that made them famous. People don't want to hear their new stuff. They want to hear all the fav songs everybody loves.

Lot of times I won't discover a song that I really love until years later after it's been popular. I had no interest with the group NSYNC when they were popular. Years later I discovered how great of a group they are. I love the song "I Promise You". I know none of you probably like a boy band. They are really talented when you hear them sing the way they harmonize and can sing acapella together.
No, and their never getting back together as a group. I'm sure Justin Timberlake makes more money on his own.

 

[The Stranger]

@mestizo I also enjoy a lot of instrumental music. Sometimes it's the only thing I can listen to and I would always use it for studying or reading boring text books.

I also find that I rarely listen to all kinds of music at once. Mostly I get into a groove of a certain style of music and only that satisfies me. Sometimes it even gets so bad as I can only listen to a single artist for weeks!

It's so much easier getting the words to songs that you love now because of the Internet. Years ago when I was a teen. I would play my record over and over again so I could write the words down. I would spend hours in my room. I love singing and love music. Eventually I was able to put that to good use.

God back in 6-8 grade me and my buddy would do the same thing. I'd sit in my room and listen to papa roach ( ) on my cd player and write the lyrics down in a notebook with black paper. I would use those cool bright colored gel pens and write each song in a different color and he would do the same at home. Then we'd bring them to school the next day. Shit it sure sucked - keep having to rewind the same part over and over again! Fuck all that shit now huh!?

 

[crawdad]

i hear ya stranger, same deal here...reason for me is that i when i hear a song i feel it more than i understand it, if that makes any sense...once i gather some understanding of what the song is actually saying it does somewhat distract to that original feeling i had about it. often times a song will remind me of emotions i forgot about since ive forgotten about a situation i was in, which rarely has much to do with the words as it does with the arrangement of sounds. quite often i essentially play a movie scene in my head that ive made up based partly on past experiences when i hear a song, i think doing that (for me at least) somewhat turns off my attention to the words since i already have a story going on. while i've always been like this im sure the 10+ years of playing with a band has something to do with it.

sometimes a song really does hit me and i look up the lyrics to find out what is being said and pick it apart, hoping to gain some insight from whomever took the time to write it. that said, i mostly listen to instrumental music....post rock, ambient electronic, trip hop, etc.

I heard this described a certain way once but I don't really want to mention the exact person because I'm afraid if someone saw this they could link it to me? That's the dumbest shit ever but yeah.

not to me!

nick drake - hazey jane ii

...
Let's sing a song
For Hazey Jane
She's back again in my mind
If songs were lines
In a conversation
The situation would be fine

 

[h3rbalist]

I often think I know the lyrics to a particular song, then look up the lyrics on the internet to find out that it's something completely different.

Sometimes I would dispute what the internet tells me.

Fot example in the Nirvana song 'All apologies' the last line to me sounds like

'All alone, is all you are.'

Now this makes sense in relation to the over all tone of the song, but the internet tells me the words are in fact

'All in all, is all we are.'

But these words don't make sense to me.

Then there are the comical mistakes (I'm sure there is a correct term for this) like the lyrics for Weezers 'Hash pipe'

'You've got your problems
I've got my ass wide
You've got your big G's
I've got my hash pipe'


I hear.

'You've got your problems
I've got my ass wipe
You've got your big cheese
I've got my hash pipe'

 

[momofthegoons]

I hear.

'You've got your problems
I've got my ass wipe
You've got your big cheese
I've got my hash pip

Lmao... that's what I hear too...

 

[Havelock Vetenari]

I went quite a few years, before finding out what Eugene actually said, before finding out(at 3.38) :

Besides from that little shocker, i generally also like to know the exact words and have become a frequent visitor to 'lyric sites'.
Partly from not wanting to sing along with the wrong lyrics, but also just to be able to sing along(/'better' ).

 

[CarolKing]

For years I was sing the lyrics to Major Tom (Space Oddity) wrong by David Bowie.

I liked when the lyrics came with the music, with our record albums. You'd get big posters of the groups to hang on the wall of your bedroom. There would be info pertaining to the members of the band.- the teenage years, back in the 1970's

 

[hd_rider]

I, too, like looking up the lyrics to certain songs, especially if those lyrics are difficult to hear clearly, or if there is some disagreement on what the artist actually said.

One of those songs is "Yellow Ledbetter" by Pearl Jam. Have a listen:

Here are the most commonly-accepted lyrics for this song, but if you google it, you'll find there is much disagreement about what he says or how the song originated.

Unsealed on a porch a letter sat.
Then you said, "I wanna leave it again."
Once I saw her on a beach of weathered sand.
And on the sand I wanna leave it again. Yeah.
On a weekend I wanna wish it all away, yeah.
And they called and I said that "I want what I said" and then I call out again.
And the reason oughta' leave her calm, I know.
I said "I know what I was the boxer or the bag."

Ah yeah, can you see them out on the porch? Yeah, but they don't wave.
I see them round the front way. Yeah.
And I know, and I know I don't want to stay.
Make me cry...

I see... Oh I don't know why there's something else.
I wanna drum it all away...
Oh, I said, "I don't, I don't know whether I was the boxer or the bag."

Ah yeah, can you see them out on the porch? Yeah, but they don't wave.
But I see them round the front way. Yeah.
And I know, and I know. I don't wanna stay at all.
I don't wanna stay. Yeah.
I don't wanna stay. [x2]
I don't... Don't wanna, oh... Yeah. Ooh... Ohh...

 

[CarolKing]

I have been singing the song "Teach Your Children" wrong all these years. Just sung the real lyrics - love it even better than before.

I never sang it professionally anywhere, I would have studied the real lyrics if I had. I appreciate the song even more. If I could I would download the song along with the lyrics. I can't download and copy videos on my iPad.

Here are the lyrics though if anybody cares. This is one of my favs. I had some major screw ups but that's OK when it's just me and a little help from my friends.

I bet some of you guys were singing this wrong too.

1. 1. 
      Teach Your Children
      Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
      Lyrics
      You who are on the road
      Must have a code that you can live by
      And so become yourself
      Because the past is just a good bye.
      Teach your children well,
      Their father's hell did slowly go by,
      And feed them on your dreams
      The one they picked, the one you'll know by.
      Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
      So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
      And you, of tender years,
      Can't know the fears that your elders grew by,
      And so please help them with your youth,
      They seek the truth before they can die.
      Teach your parents well,
      Their children's hell will slowly go by,
      And feed them on your dreams
      The one they picked, the one you'll know by.
      Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
      So just… Full lyrics on Google Play
   
   CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG LYRICS - Teach Your Children
   www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/crosbystillsnashyoung/teachyourchildren.html
   You, who are on the road must have a code that you can live by. And so become yourself because the past is just a good bye. Teach your children well, their ...

 

[Tommy10]

Regular on rap genius here! Love me some annotated lyrics!

 

[EverythingsHazy]

I like to know the lyrics, but I usually avoid seeing the music video and or the singers, so the band and meaning I have come up with already don't get ruined. While I am sometimes pretty impressed with the word play and references made in song lyrics, I am rarely impressed by the video's or intended meanings.