Good lyrics can make a song. I completely get that. But making a song is not the same as being the important part of a song. The thing I hate about all "music criticism" of pop/rock music is that it focuses on the lyrics. I get it. It's hard to write about the music part of music. But "Musician X used to write about farms and trees and now writes about love and milkshakes" doesn't actually tell me anything about whether I might like the... music?
A good lyric is good. A catchy lyric can make a person rich, when attached to the right melody. But setting Taylor Swift lyrics to music by Rush isn't going to convince fans of either.
