«Today’s Lyrics Are Pathetically Bad» Rick Beato

I listen mostly to darkwave and associated genres. While I can parse the words and the sequence appears to be grammatical (more or less), I can hardly ever figure out what he/she/they mean. Dada? Onomatopoetics? I don't know. I still like the music and mostly treat the vocals as another instrument.

I also like music that have vocals in languages I don't understand (Turkish, Greek, Russian, Polish, ...). Frequently the songs sung in the artists native tongues sound more authentic than when they try English (e.g. Ductape). I am not bothered with not being able to understand the words, occasionally wonder whether I enjoy some rather controversial content; think Rammstein, which I understand as a German native speaker.

I may be a bit lyrically tone-deaf as a hard-core scientist. OTOH I like writing, have 5 books with my name on the spine, and countless scientific papers. So I also have to read a lot, However, "literature" leaves me cold, poetry makes me mad. It is language that I find interesting, and language is there to convey meaning. Otherwise, why bother?

I have asked some musicians to explain their lyrics, but that was not well received. How dare I pose such a question? With Punk at least you know exactly what you get.

They say: "A joke isn't very good if you have to explain it."

Same with music/genres?

Just asking.

@bdp24 - I think we’re talking about two very different things. I’m aware of just about all the artists you mentioned and I do stay fairly up to date on the new young artists entering the scene. Like you, my tastes lean toward the catch-all Americana genres and there are certainly a lot of them who are very talented and who are putting out some excellent music. And yes, there are also plenty of "old-timers" who have been around for a long time and who continue to produce quality stuff.

But of the younger group, many of whom are terrific artists, how many of them are writing consistently great songs with lyrics that are anywhere near as sophisticated and memorable as those by Dylan, Simon, Morrison, et al? For example, I really like Billy Strings a lot and he he’s written some fine songs, but has he come up with a Tom Thumb’s Blues or Rave on John Donne or Me & Julio? Do the young songwriters of today write stuff that you can listen to over and over again and find something new to appreciate every time? Maybe they are, but I haven’t heard them yet.

These are four singer/songwriters/guitarist who have been doing it at a high level for decades:  Dave Alvin, Janis Ian, Richard Thompson and Joan Armatrading.

But let's talk Steely Dan.

There's a video where Rick Beato talks about how the song "Aja" changed what he thought popular music could be.  The man loves Steely Dan.  There are numerous video where he gets deep into The Dan Universe.

Becker/Fagen wrote some wonderful lyrics.  Give a listen to "Pearl Of the Quarter", "Glamour Profession", "Cousin Dupree" or "Lunch With Gina".  They were storytellers.

"From the Bottom" has an detailed video of the bass playing on Fagen's "The Nightfly".  If you're serious about the album, it's a must watch.

Disclosure - I'm a 70 year old boomer and I'm becoming crotchety in my old age. Also, I'm a big fan of Beato and I've watched quite a few of his videos. He's a musical expert and he has interviewed many of my favorite musicians.

I have SeriusXM in my car and when I'm on a longer drive I occasionally listen to the current POP station or Hip Hop or another station with new music. The lyrics of many of these songs, especially modern Hip Hop/R&B are absolutely horrible. They are venal, vulgar, misogynistic, and disgusting. Some are just banal but there is a pretty big subset of lyrics that were unimaginable 40 years ago. I drive along at 70n mph with my mouth agape hardly believing that I'm actually hearing what I'm hearing.

If you have SeriusXM or a streaming service where you can play this current music I recommend that you break out of your bubble and listen to this stuff to get a sense of what young people are hearing. As Huey Lewis sang, "Sometimes bad is bad."