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Let’s face it: most lyrics look dumb on paper. Case in point: The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction.” The song ranked number two on Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest songs of all time list, but when it comes down to it, the chorus looks utterly unimpressive written down: “I can’t get no satisfaction/’Cause I try and I try and I try/I can’t get no.”
It’s a rare accomplishment when bands write lyrics that can stand alone without music. For me, masters in this tricky art include artists like Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Courtney Love, Patti Smith, and Ian Curtis.
But what about modern musician-poets? NME magazine tried to tackle this tricky topic in a recent blog post, but ultimately left a lot to be desired.
While the writers did cite the excellent Mountain Goats frontman John Darnielle, the rest of their picks ranged from inconsistent (The Shins’ James Mercer) to confusing (Friendly Fires’ Ed Macfarlane, whose example of good lyrics is “I’m on it”).
It shows that the writers had real difficulty coming up with modern lyricists, which is less of a testament to their skills, and more of a testament to the direction of music.
While I would add verbose storytellers like Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields and Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian to this list, even they stand outside of modern music trends.
There really isn’t a focus on lyrics in today’s avante-garde. Bands associated underground music like Baltimore’s noise scene and L.A.’s DIY scene are more about dada and bizarre sounds than lyrical messages.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I think it is indicative of our generation’s purpose for art: escapism. We’d rather dance than digest society’s flaws, because hey, it’s more fun.
But when the next punk-poets emerge, maybe we’ll trend out of message-less music and back into lyrics that look good on paper.
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