A lot of music— especially metal— is known for having lyrics that sound cool and evoke a specific feeling but that don't actually have any coherence. Creek Mary's Tears tells a specific message; but for the most part Nightwish's lyrics don't.

I feel like it's wasted potential. After listening to Two for Tragedy over and over today, I feel like this song could have been way better if it actually told a story instead of just sounded nice. I understand the principle that having vague lyrics can leave songs open to interpretation, but I feel like a lot of these— like Nightwish— don't really have the right words to provide a lot of room for meaningful interpretation.

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[–] orphiebaby@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Good point, but the Beatles specifically said in interview that they wrote "I Am the Walrus" to make no sense at all, in a mocking response to classrooms being asked to interpret The Beatles' lyrics. It means nothing, just like most of Nightwish.

[–] WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 years ago

I was curious after reading your comment since the article I had seen earlier had identified the metaphor about aging, and I ran across a pretty in depth exploration of the song that paints a more complex picture. Looks like we’re both sort of right.

https://archive.ph/lqLoQ

Part of the song was designed to be nonsensical, but there are parts that are inspired by the death of a friend, two acid trips with John and Yoko, and John said some of the lyrics that originally didn’t make sense took on a new meaning when sewn into the final song.

I could look for another example of a song without controversial messaging, but I think we both got the point that each other was getting at. Thanks for being an awesome person to discuss music with today!