If lyrics don't matter, neither does the bassline. I could make the same (wrong) argument. Look at all these rock basslines that are all pounding 8th notes = bass doesn't matter. There is no reason to play above the 5th fret, all that sort of useful folk-music advice that nonetheless
can bind one to stagnation.
The nonsensical side of lyrics is no different than the medieval "down derry down" and "fa la la la la"'s. Lyrics
have objectively become less complex in recent times, but the sillyness is ancient and does not mean lyrics aren't
important even when they are "baby baby baby oh yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" - (perhaps the most important lyric let's face it..)
As bassists we know that rhythmic cadence is part and parcel of what we do - so it is with melody writing, which is almost always tied to the lyrics. You know how that one ghost note can make your bassline bump? Same thing happens in lyrics. Melody = pitch + rhythm, not pitch alone, and tied to lyrics. This is also my argument for Hip-Hop being Music - rapping does equal (rhythmic) melody.
I was 20 years into writing songs when I finally started taking workshops on writing songs.
Reading books, and soforth. The best I ever read , after taking several workshops with the author was this:
https://www.amazon.com/Songcrafters-Coloring-Book-Successful-Songwriting/dp/1453835660
This I find groundbreaking because he adds the concept of broad personality type as a WHY some lyrics "work" better than others, on the metaphorical level. Because 80% of the population is Extrovert-type, they will process the information of metaphors that link together as you would expect. But a large proportion of Creative types are I-types, and will write more "poetic" and metaphorically mixed lyrics that only make sense to them and certain special freaks. There is nothing wrong with this, but I found it an important hypothesis as to why some songs "work".
But even if you don't buy into the personality stuff, the importance of RHYTHMIC cadence is lyrics alone should cause us as bassists to take note - yes the lyrics are important, even if they are nonsense, and there are good arguments that strongly tied metaphors tend to get the majority of an audience listening better.
In summation, every part of a song's creation is important. Don't be lazy. Every note matters, every syllable, and IF our goal is to write accessible songs to the largest amount of people, other considerations come into play.
