I've never paid much attention to song lyrics. With repeated listening I might learn bits of it but for many songs I've got no clue what they say even after decades of listening. For me, vocals are just another instrument. Still, I've been the vocalist in several bands!
There's a big difference between Finnish and English lyrics for me. As Finnish is my native language, I find it way easier to decipher lyrics, unlike in English, even though my English is pretty good.
Now that I know about my auditory processing difficulties, I wonder if it's related to that. How about my fellow autistics? Do you pay attention to lyrics?
It varies, depending on the genre. The lyrics & their meaning are more important in some genres than others. I love to sing & have been in a few choirs. I don’t enjoy singing in other languages purely for the sound, because when I sing, lyrics are important to me. It’s not enough for me to know the overall gist of the song. It’s less important when I’m listening, or merely singing along.
@LehtoriTuomo@actuallyautistic I love lyrics, and have a collection of songs I know by heart.
I get vaguely troubled when a song doesn't really make sense - so for instance Toto's Africa has lyrics that seem like they mean something, but on examination you realise you have no idea what the song is about.
However, although my French is pretty good (no where near native) I really cannot understand 95% of songs sung in French purely by listening to them.
Part of the problem is that sung French (as well as in poetry) the pronunciation of words and word endings is different to spoken language. But I wonder if the main issue is the amount of brain processing power required - and I ain't got it!
@LehtoriTuomo@actuallyautistic I am a lyrics person. I like Ani Difranco for the same reason other people like Bob Dylan. Ditto political rap. There's music I like purely because of the lyrics.
And I had an argument with someone about whether Song to the Siren even has intelligible lyrics.