Songs in Question - only happy when it rains (garbage), so rich so pretty (mickey avalon), the new workout plan (kanye west)

I only recently discovered Gill Scott Heron myself:
my favorite song of his.

I'm not sure why, but I have a hard time comprehending lyrics as they are sung. For some reason the music dominates the input section of my brain, and only after reading the lyrics I find out what a song is about. Irony is usually lost on me for me (at least the first few times a hear a song). This song still cheers me up though I'm not sure it should:
Mr. E's beautiful blues.

charles, I think you'd find that's not uncommon, interestingly: people listening mostly to the music. Of course with a lot of songs the production itself minimizes the lyrics or makes them a bit confusing due to the song's arrangement (sometimes I really have to get into a mindset to actually hear songs carefully enough.. letting them loop a few times helps.)

I think I have my own answer when it comes to what I was talking about earlier regarding irony. Basically, not all satire is like Don Quixote, setting the character up with a foil or otherwise ridiculing him from the start. Empathy is a big component of successfully exploring a mindset so artists go and sink into a world even if they're not portraying it positively. So just because something is satirical doesn't mean it's explicitly tongue in cheek in its tone.