They are pretty atrocious, usually. So much so, that actually GOOD lyrics are downright memorable. Not that I can think of any, at the moment.

My favorite are lyrics translated by Shakira from Spanish into English.

I really love quite a lot of what the guys from "Die toten Hosen" have written - in German! I do like some English lyrics quite a lot, but I must say that since the end of my studies I have almost never found the time to dive into the lyrics of whatever records I bought or ripped. On a different note, I do like quite a few French chansons, and I do think it is almost impossible to like them unless you understand the words. Generally, that means apart from French chansons and maybe Bob Dylan songs, I support the easier-to-ignore approach.

Taking a peek at your music collection (nice taste, by the way), you've got some great songwriters and lyricists in there. To point out a few: The Smiths, The Beatles, Talking Heads, XTC, Dylan, Belle & Sebastian, Leonard Cohen.

For these bands, and many others, I find myself drawn in by and actively listening to the lyrics. Sometimes, I even enjoy reading them as poetry. I was doing that with Ryan Adams's Love Is Hell (parts 1 & 2) just last night. It certainly isn't a case of English lyrics being easier to ignore.

Perhaps it has more to do with the size of the industry. Great lyricists often find themselves outside the mainstream. You have to get past a lot of mainstream fluff in order to find the good stuff. Is the German-language music industry large or active enough to allow music intended for a less mainstream audience to survive on the sidelines? Do you find German-language local bands with good lyrics? Expanding the scope of the question a little, do you enjoy German poetry? Is it effective when read aloud?

You can ignore it more easily