Lyrics are important because they put a face on the song. There is a personality involved, i.e. the vocalist, rather than a bunch of instrumentalists. Almost no one, other than other players, cares about those instrumentalists but there are loads of listeners out there wanting to connect with a charismatic vocalist. This, I think, is why so little instrumental music makes it onto the pop charts. Practically none these days.

Do the words actually have to be all that good or even make sense? Probably not! But I'm personally enough of a perfectionist to want them to stand as, well, art. Which has little or nothing to do with commercial success, I know, but that's no reason not to make an effort.