What's the point of having lyrics when I can barely hear them?
I say this listening to My Bloody Valentine's "When You Sleep," a song I absolutely adore. A song, I should point out, whose lyrics I can hear. It took me a while, but I can pick it out. On the other hand, some My Bloody Valentine songs I'm lucky if I get one or two words out of the whole thing. I love My Bloody Valentine. But still. What's the point?
For me, I suppose, it makes me really pay attention. The songs leave the pop sphere, where it kind of sinks in subconsciously and I wander around singing it for the next three days or so. I have to put in work to make sense of the lyrics and music. Or, I have to accept the music for what it is, whether I can understand the lyrics or not. The words become another instrument, taken less for their meaning and more for poetry on a basic level, the way the words sound.