Who's the greatest ever Lyricist?

[silverlining]

Chuck D

Ian Curtis

Black Francis

[odris]

I don't know who's the best, but starting a thread like this without mentioning Dylan is a negworthy offence in my book.

 

Count yourself lucky I'm not in gold, Lurtz.

 

Lee mentioned it in post #4.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

I dunno about best ever, but Connor Oberst is one of my favourites.

 

Yeah, I like Oberst.

 

From '.

 

"Towards a sunrise or a sunset,

a scribble or a sonnet; they are really just the same.

 

To the sunrise or the sunset,

the master and his servant, have exactly the same fate.

 

It’s a sunrise and a sunset,

from a cradle to a casket,

there is no way to escape."

 

From :

 

"When everything is lonely I can be my own best friend

I'll get a coffee and the paper, have my own conversations

with the sidewalk and the pigeons and my window reflection

The mask I polish in the evening by the morning looks like shit

 

And I know you have a heavy heart, I can feel it when we kiss

So many men stronger than me have thrown their backs out trying to lift it

But me I'm not a gamble, you can count on me to split

The love I sell you in the evening by the morning won't exist"

 

A few assorted lines from :

 

"While the Mexican children kick rocks into the street

and they laugh in a language I don't understand."

 

"And they are sad, in their suburbs, robots water the lawn,

and everything they touch gets dusted spotless.

So they start to believe that they've not touched anything at all.

And the cars in the driveway only multiply.

Well, They are lost in their houses."

 

"Well, I have locked my actions in the grooves of routine.

So I may never be free of this apathy."

 

"But I wait for a letter that is coming to me, she sends me pictures of the ocean in an envelope. So there still is hope; Yes, I can be healed; There is someone looking for what I concealed, in my secret drawer, in my pockets deep, you will find the reasons that I can't sleep, and you will still want me."

 

"Well, I say come for the week.

You can sleep in my bed.

And then pass through my life like a dream through my head.

It will, it will be easy. I will make it easy.

But all I have for the moment is a song to pass the time."

 

Lines from :

 

"Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe

There's people always dying trying to keep them alive"

 

"The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qur'an's mute:

If you burned them all together you'd get close to the truth.

Still, they're pouring over Sanskrit on the Ivy League moons, while shadows lengthen in the sun.

 

Cast all the school and meditation built to soften the times

And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds.

It's knocking over fences crossing property lines

Four Winds, cry until it comes"

[Mathewbet1]

Leonard Cohen, hands down

[Section_31]

Girls Aloud

 

Biology:

 

 

"I got one Alabama return,that'll take me far away from you"

 

"So I got my cappuchino to go and I’m heading for the hills again"

 

Sensational

[TurkishDelight]

1/ Tom Waits.

 

2/ Marc Bolan.

 

Thats about it really outside of "proper" poetry.

[TurkishDelight]

1/ Tom Waits.

 

2/ Marc Bolan.

 

Thats about it really outside of "proper" poetry.

 

Oh and errr yeh Cohen isn't half bad either.

[chauncey]

great mentions so far. Totally agree with Dylan, Ian Curtis, Morrissey, Ray Davies, Nigel Blackwell, Conor Oberst and Leonard Cohen.

 

Love Radiohead but Thom Yorke's lyrics since OK Computer have been pretentious tosh masked by (mostly) excellent music. Alex Turner is another 'genius' I don't get.

 

some better wordsmiths than those two charlatans: Richey Edwards, Jake Thackray, Mike Skinner (not keen on the music), Muttley McLad and Gil Scott Heron

 

if i had to pick one from that lot it'd probably be Morrissey

[Mathewbet1]

Brian Wilson of the beachboys?

[Sparky]

Of more contemporary artists, I like Guy Garvey's lyrics a lot and Bon Iver's (Justin Vernon's) lyrics on For Emma were very good, although they've gone a bit overly oblique on the new album.

[chauncey]

Brian Wilson of the beachboys?

 

Hmmm. Didn't Tony Asher write a lot of the words?

[stringvest]

Dylan, Costello, Newman, Cohen.

 

All the other pretenders may have had the odd half dozen truly great lyrics, but these people are peerless in the volume of high quality work.

 

I put Waits, Morrissey, Ray Davies, McGowan, Alex Turner, Jarvis, Chris Difford, Lennon and McCartney, Polly Harvey, Ron Sexsmith, Aimee Mann, Billy Bragg (and others) a tier below. Produced plenty of memorable lyrics but nowhere near the sheer quality and consistency of those mentioned above. The Beatles produced the best pop songs ever, but neither were truly great lyricists.

 

Good call by Chauncey earlier. Jake Thackray - great shout. Brilliant in his way, just like Jacques Brel (and Nigel Blackwell), but very much of their idiom.

 

Thom Yorke has turned into Jon Anderson.

[firemarshall]

some boss shouts here, Thackaray as a lyricist takes some beating in my opinion but you just cannot deny the genius of a number of those mentioned here, lennon, mccartney,ray davies, bragg,morrissey, deffo shane mcgowan, loads of them, I`d add phil ochs to the list too.

[AquiMan]

My daddy left home when I was three

And he didn't leave much to ma and me

Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze.

Now, I don't blame him cause he run and hid

But the meanest thing that he ever did

Was before he left, he went and named me "Sue."

 

 

 

Now I was originally going to just post an extract from this as well but I'm posting the whole thing,

A young cowboy named Billy Joe grew restless on the farm

A boy filled with wonderlust who really meant no harm

He changed his clothes and shined his boots

And combed his dark hair down

And his mother cried as he walked out

 

[Chorus]

Don't take your guns to town son

Leave your guns at home Bill

Don't take your guns to town

 

He laughed and kissed his mom

And said your Billy Joe's a man

I can shoot as quick and straight as anybody can

But I wouldn't shoot without a cause

I'd gun nobody down

But she cried again as he rode away

 

[Chorus]

Don't take your guns to town son

Leave your guns at home Bill

Don't take your guns to town

 

He sang a song as on he rode

His guns hung at his hips

He rode into a cattle town

A smile upon his lips

He stopped and walked into a bar

And laid his money down

But his mother's words echoed again

 

[Chorus]

Don't take your guns to town son

Leave your guns at home Bill

Don't take your guns to town

 

He drank his first strong liquor then to calm his shaking hand

And tried to tell himself he had become a man

A dusty cowpoke at his side began to laugh him down

And he heard again his mothers words

 

[Chorus]

Don't take your guns to town son

Leave your guns at home Bill

Don't take your guns to town

 

Filled with rage then

Billy Joe reached for his gun to draw

But the stranger drew his gun and fired

Before he even saw

As Billy Joe fell to the floor

The crowd all gathered 'round

And wondered at his final words

 

[Chorus]

Don't take your guns to town son

Leave your guns at home Bill

Don't take your guns to town

 

 

 

 

Hurt

what have I become?

my sweetest friend

everyone I know

goes away in the end

and you could have it all

my empire of dirt

 

I will let you down

I will make you hurt

 

Johnny Cash ladies and gentleman, the man could tell a story

[robbiefowler9]

My daddy left home when I was three

And he didn't leave much to ma and me

Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze.

Now, I don't blame him cause he run and hid

But the meanest thing that he ever did

Was before he left, he went and named me "Sue."

 

 

 

Now I was originally going to just post an extract from this as well but I'm posting the whole thing,

A young cowboy named Billy Joe grew restless on the farm

A boy filled with wonderlust who really meant no harm

He changed his clothes and shined his boots

And combed his dark hair down

And his mother cried as he walked out

 

[Chorus]

Don't take your guns to town son

Leave your guns at home Bill

Don't take your guns to town

 

He laughed and kissed his mom

And said your Billy Joe's a man

I can shoot as quick and straight as anybody can

But I wouldn't shoot without a cause

I'd gun nobody down

But she cried again as he rode away

 

[Chorus]

Don't take your guns to town son

Leave your guns at home Bill

Don't take your guns to town

 

He sang a song as on he rode

His guns hung at his hips

He rode into a cattle town

A smile upon his lips

He stopped and walked into a bar

And laid his money down

But his mother's words echoed again

 

[Chorus]

Don't take your guns to town son

Leave your guns at home Bill

Don't take your guns to town

 

He drank his first strong liquor then to calm his shaking hand

And tried to tell himself he had become a man

A dusty cowpoke at his side began to laugh him down

And he heard again his mothers words

 

[Chorus]

Don't take your guns to town son

Leave your guns at home Bill

Don't take your guns to town

 

Filled with rage then

Billy Joe reached for his gun to draw

But the stranger drew his gun and fired

Before he even saw

As Billy Joe fell to the floor

The crowd all gathered 'round

And wondered at his final words

 

[Chorus]

Don't take your guns to town son

Leave your guns at home Bill

Don't take your guns to town

 

 

 

 

Hurt

what have I become?

my sweetest friend

everyone I know

goes away in the end

and you could have it all

my empire of dirt

 

I will let you down

I will make you hurt

 

Johnny Cash ladies and gentleman, the man could tell a story

 

Hurt was written by Trent Reznor, no?

[Lee909]

Jim Morrison

[moof]

Jim Morrison

 

shout

[razor]

Bob Dylan.

Morrissey.

(I love Kris Kristofferson too)

 

But an honourable mention to Matt Johnson.

 

[Jim MM]

Hurt was written by Trent Reznor, no?

 

And A Boy Named Sue was written by Shel Silverstein, no?

 

Still a good shout, mind.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Lots of shouts for many of my favourites already; Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Shane MacGowan, Neil Young, Chuck D (great shout that btw, Silverlining)...but here's another great, great lyricist...Jello Biafra.

[Sugar Ape]

Bruce Springsteen anyone?

Edit : Prince as well maybe.

[PestiRed]

Loads of great shouts on here.

 

I'd say that Lennon is actually under-rated as a lyricist, he was witty as fuck at times.

 

I find Morrison over-rated - he was trying too hard to be clever & arty

 

Can't believe that Ian Dury hasn't been mentioned - he was a genius

 

My possibly controversial additions would be John Lydon & Shaun Ryder

[Uncle_Meat]

I'm in the rare position of agreeing with Hermes about Ray Davies.

 

You can add Roy Harper to that list as well.

[Tommy Lawrence]

Bob Dylan.

 

Close second,Paul Simon.

[cochcaer]

Have to go with Ray Davies too.

 

Jerry Dammers and Joe Strummer would make my list.