I think that lyrics are good when you get the point without having to dig into it...

the song touches you the way that the author penned it..

A buddy of mine is in an originals band and he asked me to give an honest critique of them - they were VERY tight and they are good musicians but the lyrics were so 80's touchy feely that the thing that comes across was that they had no message, or point to the song and were working too hard for metaphors and such... can't stand that..

say what you mean and mean what you say - makes it better for everyone involved.. especially the audience...