It’s not uncommon for songwriters to be asked, “What’s this song about?” The question is almost always answered with a discussion of the story line, the characters, the story behind the song, etc… In other words, all about the lyric and how it came to be.

Even though I understand why this happens – everyone speaks or writes words, not everyone speaks the language of music or of songs – this still always strikes me as odd.

It strikes me as odd and reductive because, although effective words are crucial to a song, a song is so much more than words, so much more than the story told in those words. And I’m not only talking about what music (which is in itself an overwhelming force) adds when combined with lyrics. I’m also talking about sound – the sound of the words. The sound of the words contain just as much ‘meaning’ as their literal content.

Look at Bob Dylan. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his lyrics. But why do his songs live? Why are they still played all over the world every day? Yes, they have great lyrics. But his songs live because they’re great songs. The music is not just a pleasant frame around the words. It’s all great – music, lyrics, sounds; the whole thing, when it’s all blended together – the song.

Among the foremost propagators of “the content of the lyric is the song” are pop music critics. Their job isn’t easy; they have to use words to describe a multi-leveled experience (I sympathize; I often have to do the same thing in these blogposts!). They go to the low-hanging fruit – the words.

Words… they know. Music… usually not so much. It’s not so hard to use words to write about other words, so that’s what they do. It is hard (impossible?) to do justice to sound – which includes music – with prose.

The next time you read journalism or an interview about a pop song, take note. It’s probably all about the lyrics, with a few adjectives thrown in to describe the music.

We all fall into this at times. But it’s important for songwriters to keep things in perspective. A song, when working well, is a many-layered experience.

Not to minimize the importance of the content of a lyric, but in the totality of a song it’s just a part. Sometimes a larger part, sometimes a smaller part. But just a part. What a song is ‘about’ is much, much more.

Let me know your thoughts, additions, disagreements in the Comments section below: