The following article was written by Jeremy Styles of Pearl and the Beard:
There are two types of people in this world: Those who listen to lyrics and those who don’t. It’s science. I tend to fall into the latter category. I usually hear a series of garbled noises and grunts, occasionally getting a word or rhyme here and there. Often, when hearing a song for the first time I focus solely on the instrumentation, and whether the melody itself is flipping my skirt up or not. After I have been captivated or repulsed by all of the musical attributes, I might try and learn the lyrics, though this is not as important to me as what is happening musically. I can’t really explain why.
Perhaps I was programmed early on by extreme repetition from when I had to sing praise hymns in church where very little thinking or lyrical snooping was involved. Or maybe because I fell in love with that 90′s style of music production where the vocals rest just barely above the thunderous nut-twisting guitars. Whatever the case is, I’ve learned that lyric deciphering is a muscle, and like any muscle, if used regularly, becomes stronger. I have not used this muscle and it has therefore atrophied. Occasionally, I will come across some music that, lyrically is the equivalent of a little wheelchair for my convalesced ears slowly dipping me into the kiddie pool for adult swim.
As I write this the Avett Brothers come to mind as an example of this good Samaritan behavior. The main voice is so prominent and the arrangements simple that my ear will be drawn more toward what they are saying rather than the ass grinding drum fills or 38 part orchestra with Gregorian Chant sung through a windmill.
I am, however, a songwriter, and I have learned over the years that lyric writing is essential in my field. I have repeatedly played shows where afterwards people came up and said it sounded awesome, but they couldn’t hear the lyrics. “Who CARES!?” I think to myself, “Did you hear the part where my guitar went WEEEEEEEEEEE and at the same time my voice was like OOOOOOHHHHHHH!!!!????”. I will stare intently in their eyes with my arms akimbo and consider their request, but also silently judge them. I have found that people want lyrics, so I must give them lyrics. But how, with my ears so entrenched in 1st grade learning behavior do I write lyrics in an adult and, my lord, even teen world? This, my friends, is where I love my remedial skills of lyrical decoding. I get my inspiration from misinterpretation.
I never set out to mishear lyrics, it more or less comes by accident, which is always a delightful surprise. While walking down the street listening to music, I’m often thinking about naked people, what I want to eat, or who I can share a meal and then be naked with. While in this reverie, a lyric will skitter through my ears and I think I will understand it, applaud myself for my discovery, and marvel at the songwriter’s verbal prowess and ability to understand the human condition far better than I ever could. Upon repeated listening or lyric sheet consultation I will find my discovery to be terribly erroneous. While those lyric lovers out there might feel embarrassed at the blunder or skittish in the karaoke bar, I revel in my mistake, grab a quill, 17th century Indian ink, and the finest Egyptian parchment in the land and write down my newly inspired lyrics. My mind will race with ideas, based solely on a completely wrong thought.
An example of inspiration through misinterpretation comes from an old guilty pleasure of mine: Blink-182. I don’t blame you for judging me, but as a fat little kid from a desert city who had to wear jackets to cover his rolls, I was angry, uncomfortable and loved fast, poppy punk. The song “What’s My Age Again?” has a lyric that says:
“With many years ahead to fall in line, why would you wish that on me?“
OK. Simple. What I heard was:
“With many years ahead to fall in love, why would she start on me?” Bam!!! What!? My mind grapes have been blown. It went from a selfish request, to a feeling of self doubt, early maturity, and foresight and wisdom beyond the puerile years. I never used this lyric, but you could see where a song idea could come from. Or at least I see where a song idea could come from, and I guess when writing a song that’s important.
I’ve even (so I thought) uncovered secret conspiracies. I tend to read too deeply into things and have almost gone to the police, Murder She Wrote style, upon hearing the lyrics from Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “Got Your Money”. He says at one point:
“Every eye, don’t you be watching me
I don’t want no problems cause I put you down
In the ground where you can not be found”
What I heard was the confession of Biggie’s murder:
“Now B.I.(G!) don’t you be watchin’ me
I don’t want no problems cause I put you down
In the ground where you can not be found”
OH EM GEE. Never mind that the timeline for when this was written may or may not match with the untimely death of Mr. Wallace, but what a hot scoop! Thankfully I didn’t go to anyone with this embarrassing information, but instead opted to save it for an audience of thousands of anonymous internet readers.
Another way I write lyrics is to mumble a melody over some guitar part I have written. Once I have a melody that gets me harder than superman’s kneecaps I will say whatever I can to fill up syllabic space. This often reveals some very telling things about my psyche, and I am glad no one is around to hear me make my eerie or perverted confessions. I then use my brilliant sleuthing skills that I have demonstrated previously to make sense of what I mumbled and create a coherent and life-changing song.
A lot of people have asked my band, Pearl and the Beard, for a lyrics sheet since we did not provide one with our album God Bless Your Weary Soul, Amanda Richardson (cough! Buy that shit. cough!). While I understand and remember the excitement of getting a new CD and pouring over the lyrics, I kind of like when people need to work at knowing what we say and even get it wrong. I love hearing what people have thought we said, because it often conjures up such great and vivid imagery.
Songs that we have written have taken on a completely new meaning for me over the years, and I think it’s important to keep music nice and fluid. Even down to what the person is saying. Often a writer felt betrayed, loved, hopeful, or mad as all get out, and put those feelings on paper. But those feelings fade with time, and while the lyrics remain the same, I, personally love that they change when they get into the ears of different listeners great and small, or terrible, like myself.
