Lyrics or sound - which is more important to you in music?

I want to say lyrics but the good lyrics need to be backed up by a good sound for me to even considering listening to a song twice. So it has to be both with lyrics on a slightly higher pedestal.

Not that I don't appreciate a well written song, but I'm actually perfectly okay with listening to a song that has crappy lyrics if the tune is catchy, so if I have to pick one, my vote goes to sound.

I prefer lyrics, if I just want to listen to sound I'll turn on some dubstep.

as long as it sounds good, I'm all up for it. good lyrics are like a bonus for me. but this only makes sense since most of the stuff I listen to these days is mostly anime osts and openings/endings. or video game osts. ;p

I use music to relax - and I find that a nice beat can go a long way towards the accomplishment of that goal. a soothing instrumental track can do as much as a calm and atmospheric song with amazing lyrics as long as it is good. for me, at least.

depends on the genre, if I'm at a party and they're playing rave music I don't really care what they have to say as long as the beat is phat and it sounds good. If I'm alone than yes I do care about the lyrics cause I got nothing to listen to

Nine times out of ten, it's lyrics for me. They just sorta stand out for me more and have more of a meaning to me, and that's what I tend to look for in songs, tbh. It's not to say that I won't like a song if it has good instrumentals/other sound based things, but I tend to listen more to the lyrics than the instrumentals.

Depends on the genre or the mood I'm in as to which I prefer more. Both lyrics and musicality are usually equally important to me: if a song has good lyrics, but sounds crap, I don't listen to it. If it has bad lyrics, but sounds great, I don't listen to it. Simple.

This is probably why I have a small selection of songs: My main playlist is generally songs where the lyrics and musicality appeal to me.

I love foreign music and can't understand a word of it; the sounds and the feelings it gives me are more important than words. Words are wind.

Sound is most important to me.

Good lyrics are nice and everything, but the sound of the vocals and the instruments are more important to me than the words.

while i love how music can have a wide range of vocals and instrumentals, and i love listening to all of them, lyrics are more important to me because when it comes to music, for me to like it, i have to connect to it. i can't connect to a song with lots of bass and feel good tones because the lyrics, if there are any, probably consist of partying or something along the lines which i cannot connect to. i think that is the reason why i listen to so many sad/angry songs because i connect to them the most, as morbid as that sounds.

The CD case the music comes in the the most important thing to me. Not the album art, the plastic case.

Sound for me, no doubt. My music style is dubstep, chillstep, glitch-hop, etc. They usually don't have any lyrics.
I listen to japanese music for the half of my life, so I didn't listen to the lyrics. So now, when I listen to a song, I don't even focus on the lyrics.
But sometime when I listen to a song and I understand the lyric, it got me..

Sound for me, no doubt. My music style is dubstep, chillstep, glitch-hop, etc. They usually don't have any lyrics.
I listen to japanese music for the half of my life, so I didn't listen to the lyrics. So now, when I listen to a song, I don't even focus on the lyrics.
But sometime when I listen to a song and I understand the lyric, it got me..

Sound, even if a song had the most meaningful lyrics and it was presented in a package I didn't like (i.e Rap, Jazz etc) I would just turn the song off.

Sound, but I won't like it as much if the lyrics are ****.

I don't usually listen to songs with lyrics but when they do have them I still value the song over the lyric. I think the only times I care a lot about the lyrics are when they're just so bad or so forced, or so offensive that you can't help but notice them.

it really just depends for me. There are some songs that I really like which have perfect lyrics but the sound isn't the best, or it might just be an a capella song with little instrumentation so all you hear is the voice and the lyrics. Then there are songs that have decent to bad lyrics but there's a part of the song that has the most beautiful violin or whatever it is that makes it stand out in terms of instrumentation or beats and that's what keeps me listening to it.
I listen to many different genres so I can't exactly pinpoint if I like sound more than lyrics, because they're both important for a good song.

Sound, most of the time lyrics are an added bonus that makes me like a song more. There are two types of good lyrics, ones that have a lot of meaning behind them, and ones that make you remember the song, and want to listen to it again. Catchy lyrics are good for a time, and then they just become annoying. I'm Looking at you, Am I Wrong. :[

I think songs used to be all about the lyrics, but today they arem ore focused on the instrumentals. Both are ideal ofc, but I prefer a song with strong instrumentation and vocals more than the lyrics.

I'm *all* about sound. Instrumentation and vocals/vocal styles are more important to me than anything else in music.

However, I won't pretend that I don't listen for lyrics, but it always comes after I come to like a song's sound. I just always get emotion from the sound. It's fun to listen to the lyrics sometimes, though. Especially in British/Traditional Folk songs (they're generally dark and depressing though lol).

Some of the songs I have on iTunes aren't even in English, and I don't really care to find out what the lyrics are in English. So yeah, I'm going to have to jump on the sound bandwagon. Lyrics are kind of an extra bonus and I have some that I really like that make a song better in my opinion, but I don't really pay much attention to lyrics unless they're awful or just annoying.