For those of us who still hold out for physical cd's

[agent713]

How important are lyrics in the liner notes? Do you think they should be included, or not? Why?

[Rainbow]

I get pissed if they're not. As I'm not English, I sometimes struggle to understand some of the "twangiest" words, or mumbl-y singers like LeAnn Rimes.

[Drew]

I'm not one who uses physical CDs, but I think they definitely should include lyrics, or at least put lyrics on their website. I think it's important for artists to let their audience know what all the words are... since with some phrases on some songs it can be hard to hear exactly what they're saying, and I'd rather have the artists themselves make that clear instead of it being left up to interpretation by lyrics websites.

[PaulaW]

i love physical cd's. the more liner notes the better. lyrics, writers, musicians - i want it all.

[indulgedcountrymusic]

I love the lyric packets in the CD... because they allow for more pictures of the artist and what-not, than just the front and back of the jewel case

And I, of course, ALWAYS buy the physical CD - no digital

[Occasional Hope]

I definitely appreciate having the lyrics.

[Matt B]

It's always great to have a complete liner note with lyrics, players, singers, thank-you's etc. It's also cool when an artist decides to put 'song-by-song' notes in the pages. Joey+Rory did that, Chesney does that and Melonie Cannon did both lyrics ANd comments on her new album.

[indulgedcountrymusic]

I love looking through those little booklets; they're very eye-catching with great photos and designs...

I really loved the design elements used in Kellie Pickler's new self-titled album, the lyric booklet was stunning

[Sam G]

I definitely like having lyrics included. Unfortunately, with a lot of people I like switching to smaller packaging, the CD booklets are starting to go away. All the song information, personnel and thank-yous end up getting crammed onto a small square of cardboard that's very difficult to read.

[JR Journey]

Yeah, I prefer the liner notes to include the lyrics too. But for songs I download and don't get the lyrics, I just use the cowboylyircs.com site - they usually are very up to date with country lyrics and the site doesn't have 25 pop-ups per second like so many lyric sites.

[Matt B]

Yeah, I prefer the liner notes to include the lyrics too. But for songs I download and don't get the lyrics, I just use the cowboylyircs.com site - they usually are very up to date with country lyrics and the site doesn't have 25 pop-ups per second like so many lyric sites.

You could always use the cowpie part of Roughstock too (shameless self-promotion).

[agent713]

It's always great to have a complete liner note with lyrics, players, singers, thank-you's etc. It's also cool when an artist decides to put 'song-by-song' notes in the pages. Joey+Rory did that, Chesney does that and Melonie Cannon did both lyrics ANd comments on her new album.

Yes, comments are nice but it drives me nuts when they don't have lyrics or at least song credits.

I'm glad to hear that most people agree with me!

[TenPoundHammer]

How important are lyrics in the liner notes? Do you think they should be included, or not? Why?

Absolutely. Some lyric sites get half the words wrong, and some words are hard to interpret, especially when people use unusual emphasis or clip their words.

[Occasional Hope]

it drives me nuts when they don't have lyrics or at least song credits

Having the lyrics is good, but not actually crediting the writers at all is utterly disrespectful of them.

[TenPoundHammer]

it drives me nuts when they don't have lyrics or at least song credits

Having the lyrics is good, but not actually crediting the writers at all is utterly disrespectful of them.

I've never seen an album that didn't credit the writers in the liner notes, save for Sawyer Brown's debut, which doesn't even credit the freaking PRODUCER or band members, and yet the liners (at least on the cassette) give four whole paragraphs on the new method Capitol used to make a cleaner sounding tape or whatever. Judging from the lack of writers' credits on Allmusic for their other 1980s albums, I'm guessing the rest of their 1980s Capitol releases were the same way. (Or maybe the genius that came up with "Betty's bein' bad, bad bad bad, Betty's bein' bad, bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad" just didn't want to show his face.)

[JR Journey]

You could always use the cowpie part of Roughstock too (shameless self-promotion).

I did not know that ... Thanks for the info. I will head on over there next time I need a lyric.

[Matt B]

Billy Yates' self-released "That's Why I Run" CD doesn't have the writer notes in it (it has everything else besides lyrics and writers) but I think that was just an oversight on his part and since he's a writer on all of the songs, it's just to see who his co-writers are.

[Occasional Hope]

Mark Chesnutt's current CD, Rollin' With The Flow, doesn't have writer credits. It has a booklet with eight pages of liner notes, photos etc (including the cover) but not a single writer's name. I would have expected better from Mark.

I like copyright dates as well. It's interesting to see which songs seem to have been on the shelf for a while, and also clues you in to less familiar covers.

[Matt B]

Mark Chesnutt's current CD, Rollin' With The Flow, doesn't have writer credits. It has a booklet with eight pages of liner notes, photos etc (including the cover) but not a single writer's name. I would have expected better from Mark.

I like copyright dates as well. It's interesting to see which songs seem to have been on the shelf for a while, and also clues you in to less familiar covers.

If they gave bad design awards, that album would be a contender.

[pwdennis]

The CD liner notes should at least have the songwriter credits, musicians and producer listed. Lyrics are nice but hardly essential.

In the days of the vinyl LP (still the best medium for music reproduction), songwriter credits often were on the record label. When issued (or reissued) on cassette there wasn't room for the songwriter credits so they got left off. I've noticed that Curb often leaves off the songwriter credits on their CD reissues if they originally were on the record's label

I have yet to obtain an MP3 or I-pod and really don't see myself doing so