Generally, I'm like jpfeifer, I can hear a song a zillion times and have no idea what the lyrics are about.
Occassionally though there'll be a cd where I actually listen to and enjoy the lyrics (although its rare). Really been getting into the lyrics on Hank Williams III "Straight to Hell" lately...
On the flipside, trite lyrics can ruin a song for me particularly when they're pushed to the front of the mix and you can't help but notice them. I love Joe Bonamassa's playing, but there's an acoustic ballad on one of his cds which he wrote with some lyrics which are just horrible IMO...ruins the whole song for me (...but then again on his fan message boards, a lot of people love it...so go figure).
And Superswede, I agree with you about Bowie, he's brilliant!
Electrics: Epiphone Les Paul Standard (w/S.D. pups - JB-4/bridge, SH-'59 neck), Fender Fat Strat (Mexican), Squier Fat Tele, Squier '51, Agile Valkyrie III, Ibanez Artcore AF75, Washburn OS OE30 Delta King, Dean Vendetta XM (w/ Dimarzios, D-Sonic/bridge, Air Norton/neck), Silvertone archtop (late 60s/early 70s), Titan EG-1 strat, Gibson G-3 bass, Fullerton strat
Acoustics: Sigma DM-5 (Japanese), Silvertone archtop (early 50s), Yamaha FG-110 (Korean), Alvarez RD20 12 string, Silvertone (60s)
Amps: Alamo Capri (early 60s tube), Alamo Challenger (late 60s tube) Epiphone Valve Jr. Head (w/Peavey 1x10 cab & Realistic 2x6 cab), Fender Yale Reverb, Vox Pathfinder 15R, Marshall Lead 12, Behringer G110 V-Tone, Marshall MG15CD, Vox DA-5, Pignose 7-100, Marshall Bass 12