Words vs. music

Chris Rowbury takes on an age-old argument in From the front of the choir and takes a stand in favor of the primacy of music:

I believe that every song has its own unique feel which cuts across cultures. I believe that as long as you stay true to the music of the song, then you can't go far wrong. The sound of the lyrics (even if you don't understand them), the melody and the harmonies all go to make up a whole which suggests a mood or feeling, regardless of what the song means (if it's a well-written song!).

He's mainly talking about foreign-language folksongs, which often have lyrics with limited meanings, but of course this is often true in English too: I Bought Me a Cat, Aiken Drum, I've Been Working of the Railroad, Drunken Sailor, and Scarborough Fair hardly offer deep lyrics. Madrigals, too, sometimes have pretty silly or meaningless lyrics. In short, its silly to take sides; each piece has to be evaluated independently.