Behind The Lyrics

Andrew Schwab

One of my favorite song writers of all-time is Andrew Schwab.  The way he is able to use metaphor to get his message across is pure genius.  One of his best written works is the album “Truthless Heroes,” which tells a story of one man’s life from childhood to his demise.  The record was written as a concept album, which tells a story. My favorite lyric, Schwab ever wrote reads, “They give you a pill, then remove your heart and, replace it with a battery.” The lyric has been a great influence on my life. Concept albums are a risky business in the music industry due to lack of understanding by the public. For example, the first song on the record, entitled “Little Green Men,” is not about some vast alien invasion. The song is about a boy playing with little green Army action figures.  In an interview, Schwab stated the album was “about me and my own inner struggle with fame.” That quote was hard to pull from him, due to his secrecy concerning the meaning of the album. Schwab wants his listeners to decide for themselves the meaning of his lyrics.

Christopher Martin

Christopher Martin stated once that he never wrote a song in which he emotionally involved, until he met one man, Johnny Cash, who told the talented lyricist that it was impossible to write a truly great song without being emotionally involved in the lyrics. The truth is, this kind of thing happens all the time. Many of today’s popular artists either have someone else write the songs or poorly throw words together and call it a song. The art of writing great music is a dying art. There are many reasons for this, but the main reason is the music industry itself is a difficult place to break into. Musicians today use many fluff lyrics that have no meaning at all, because that sales albums. Bono once stated at an award ceremony, “If we started our band today, we would not make it due to the present nature of the music industry.”

Tim Mcilrath

Political lyrics are often polarizing to listeners and, in some instances, can break up a band. Rage Against the Machine is a great example. Even though this band’s success was worldwide, the success wasn’t enough to hold the band together. Rise Against is another example of a band that has politically savvy lyrics. Leader singer and song writer Tim Mcilrath once stated, “We all have a moral obligation to leave this world a better place than the world that we've found." This feeling bleeds through their lyrics across every album they have created.

 Song lyrics can cut to the core of anyone’s soul if they are open to the meaning. They have the ability to make us cry, get angry, motivated and turn our brain on. I implore listeners to sit down and read the lyrics of some of their favorite songs, think about the meanings and what the lyrics mean.