Wednesday, November 19, 2014

The math of lyrics

I ran the top ten CCLI music selections and the top ten "Hymnal" music selections through a word counter. I hoped to find more interesting data than I did, but I'd be interested if you see anything here worth noting. 

 

The Facts

Out of 1720 words in the top ten selections since 1923 (composition date of Great Is Thy Faithfulness):
The average word is 5.45 letters in length.
The most used words are:
50 (6%)thou 
26 (3%)lord 
26 (3%)thee 
26 (3%)praise 
23 (3%)great 
22 (3%)art 
20 (2%)god 
20 (2%)thy 
19 (2%)holy 
18 (2%)soul

Out of 1376 words in the top ten current CCLI selections (all written within the last 15 years):
The average word is 4.78 letters in length. 
21 (4%)god 
14 (3%)king 
13 (3%)lord 
13 (3%)love 
12 (2%)worthy 
10 (2%)holy 
10 (2%)grace 
9 (2%)great 
9 (2%)need 
8 (2%)sing

Thoughts

Five of the words in the first list a pronouns or names referring to God. Three of the same in the second list.
In the first list two words describe God as great and holy. In the second list four words describe God as worthy, holy, gracious, and great. From my own observance, I'd assume love is flexible in its use of "I love" or "God loves."
In the first list one word (soul), debateably two words (praise) refer to me. In the second list, 
There appears to be a wider vocabulary in the second list. In the first list, six words make up 21 percent of the lyrics. In the second list six words make up only 17 percent of the lyrics.

A bit deeper

Ancient selections Including common words: 

69 (4%)and 
66 (4%)my 
 61 (4%)the 
50 (3%)thou 
38 (2%)of 
33 (2%)to 
28 (2%)in 
26 (2%)lord 
26 (2%)thee 
26 (2%)praise

New selections including common words: 

72 (5%)the 
63 (5%)and 
47 (4%)my 
41 (3%)is 
37 (3%)you 
26 (2%)your 
25 (2%)in 
21 (2%)god 
20 (2%)of 
19 (1%)who
 

 Thoughts

Of the first list, the top six words make up 19 percent of the vocabulary. Of the second list, the top six words make up 22 percent of the vocabulary.
Of the first list, two uncommon words still make the list (Lord and praise). Of the second list, one uncommon word still makes the list (God).