Any songwriter knows that a song will not make it without having
well-written music and perfectly crafted lyrics. But the
interaction between music and lyrics in a song poses two
questions. The first is which is more important and the second
is which should be written first. Nevertheless, the second
question is not truly an issue; as it is simply a matter of
personal preference and habit. The question that really needs
answering is in fact the first: "Which is more important?!"
To answer this question, we have to examine the audience
perception of songs. Songs are written for people to hear them;
therefore the way they identify with songs is most relevant and
crucial to the songwriting process. A good songwriter should
examine his/her audience beforehand and, consequently, shape the
song to be as easily conceived as possible by its intended
audience.
As I belong to western music by education (classical music) and
to oriental music by birth (being from Egypt), I have examined
-as deeply as I could- the perception of songs by both Arabic
listeners and European listeners. My conclusion is that those
two different cultures produced very differently biased people.
The Arabic culture and legacy is based heavily on poetry while
music remained trivial. Consequently, for Arabic listeners the
lyrics come first and music is reduced to a melodic vehicle for
the lyrics with the least amount of arrangement possible. Lyrics
come first for Arabic listeners!
On the other hand, Europe's music heritage is enormous with a
lot of genius composers who will always be remembered. At the
same time, Europe's great poets used the type of language that
today needs a lot of simplification to understand. The music
reaches the European listener before the lyrics!
So, does this mean that one can write "bad" lyrics for European
listeners and get away with it?! Of course NOT!! They eventually
catch up. Also, Arabic listeners will not listen to a song with
bad music. The idea is that if your audiences care less for
lyrics, then they wouldn't "appreciate" a complex lyric. In
fact, they wouldn't understand it and will label it as "bad". It
has to be "good" but not "complex". It's all about complexity.
Arabic listeners will settle down with a nice melody that fits
the lyrics well. It has to be nice, but it CAN'T be complex!! My
mother thinks that Dvorak's "New World Symphony" is "louder"
than music should be. I think she meant to say: "too complicated
for music". Conversely, European listeners will not settle for a
nice melody, you have to have strong chord progressions, a
powerful base line and a strong drum line.
So, I write more complicated lyrics for Arabic listeners and
more complicated music for European listeners. Study YOUR OWN
audiences and see what they like and to which side they are
biased, so you know how to adjust your song's complexity. But
beware; sometimes "less complicated" means "more difficult to
write"...Wish you simple songwriting!!
