You have to throw in Mick Jagger, too. Sympathy for the Devil has some amazing lyrics and there was really nothing else like it at the time. Other great lyrics from him and Keith: Gimme Shelter, Monkey Man, Tumblin' Dice, Wild Horses, Time Waits for No One, etc.
Change don't come at once, it's a wave, building before it breaks.
john lennon has always been one of my favorites...and kurdt kobain was amazing...but #1 in my book is EV baby....he plays so well with meanings of words.....MASTERFUL!!!!
The problem with this is that judging poetry and lyrics is subjective. What suits my tastes doesn't necessarily suit your tastes...it's all opinions. There is no objective way to tell who is the best lyricist.
In my view, Eddie is definitely up there in the best lyricist category.
well said. i'd have to say eddie is my favorite because i can relate to his lyrics more than any other lyricist. however bob dylan is another one of my favorites.
eddie
robert smith
david bowie
jim morrison
neil young
chris cornell
stone gossard
john lennon
marilyn manson
kurt cobain
bruce springsteen
bob dylan...~
******************************** "Forgive every being, the bad feelings it's just me"
come on, man, what's more beautiful than his "castles made of sand" ...
Yeah. His lyrics kinda got lost behind the music though. No lyrics could ever stand up beside music like that. I know I don't hear his lyrics much when I listen to him. I just get swept away by the guitar.
From a somewhat different genre, Kelly Joe Phelps writes some amazing stuff. The imagery is fantastic:
"Makes as much sense as a frog on a chain,
A leper knocking trees down with his fists. . . "
It doesn't matter if you're male, female, or confused; black, white, brown, red, green, yellow; gay, lesbian; redneck cop, stoned; ugly; military style, doggy style; fat, rich or poor; vegetarian or cannibal; bum, hippie, virgin; famous or drunk-you're either an asshole or you're not!
Well all I got is my tongue, and esophagus and two lungs.
Skeletal system plus muscle tissue and I’m done.
I’m through. I’m finished feedin’ frivolous thoughts
To my overtaxed central nervous system stretched taught.
Tighter than a tiger’s tooth tucked into a pale face
Hunter from a foreign land strapped with just case after case
Of ammunnition and litigational research.
Search again, but friend I just can’t be hurt.
You can wreck my spirit and kill my soul,
But then I’ll check my spirit and spill my soul.
And when I pick it up you’d better go go go.
Cuz you never know when you’re gonna come in contact
With a rapper, who can’t afford to keep the crapper
Stocked with white paper.
And I’m not talkin’ about that yellow pepper, red pepper, green pepper.
It’s all the same pepper people put your fuckin’ brain in the midst.
Just askin’ for about five minutes
To hit you with that beat box shit.
Cuz I’m only flesh and blood and bones and balls
And skin and hair and white cell waterfalls.
Yeah this invader’s a nuisance.
Dermato Fibro Sarcoma Protruberance.
Man fuck it. I’m payin’ this dude to cut it.
And I hope he cuts deep cuz I got fat scars to reach.
Just a needle in the back then it’s back to business.
Nine to five serve as sacrifice witness this.
Witness that. An MC who’s not afraid to spit fact.
Witness this.
Witness that. An MC who lays it down man just like that.
Well I’ve been waiting a long time just to get this off my mind.
Rhyme stuck in my throat like deep throat in 7-9.
Find numerous ways to intertwine,
And bind my body with the best lines cut from the script of Good Times.
Take it as a sign like The Artist, times change,
Now the softest MC’s hardest. Oh me?
Da AHP be down regardless.
Flower-filled fields fuel flows that be flawless.
Say that, bitch, after your blow then you’ll switch
Professions, be in your confession with your priest like
Shit, there’s no way I can compete with this,
Or even see this, try to be this.
Well stop tryin’.
Twenty Hail Maries and a splash of holy water
Won’t save you from the Eastlake stalkin’ fire stater.
I know it’s hard to admit the way I flow just bothers ya.
It lodges in ya, try to grab it but it dodges ya.
You rappers fill your flows with hodge podge, then spice it up with sewage.
Rhymes so old, you need embalming fluids.
Who is, the dude who do this?
The dude who deliver dialed-in diatribes,
Duckin’ mile-hile piles of MCs committing suicides.
A bunch of illiterate, illegitimate, significantly inferiority-filled fools
Who just fail to witnnes this.
I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
I've thought alot about this and I think Eddie is the best. His lyrics are consistently amazing. It makes you wonder what he hasn't revealed to the world.
People mentioned alot of other greats that I agree with, especially Dylan, Young, Reed, and Van Morrison.
Others I did'nt notice, but love were Doug Marstch of Built to Spill, Robbie Robertson/ Levon Helm of The Band, and Morrisey of The Smiths/solo
"Stunned by my own reflection, It's looking back, sees me too clearly and I swore I'd never go there again, Not unlike a friend that politely drags you down,down,down"
When you see me on the street, yell out "FAVO!!!"
I've been to alot of Pearl Jam shows;So fucking what.
you tell me that isnt how the song is meant to be viewed
Listened since day one when "Ten" was released in 1991...and haven't stopped....
www.mymobileupload.com
Cleveland 94
Cleveland 06'
The Vic in Chicago 07'
okay, eddie is amazing. he has a lot of talent and keen sense of style to the way he writes and expresses himself. but, if you have never heard of a man named jeff buckley i highly recommend you look into his stuff. his album "grace" has to be one of the bes records ever conceived and recorded in the past 50 years. His voice is unreal, and his songs are so original. He died of a drowning accident in 1997 and the world of music really lost so much of it's potential, jeff deserved to be around to make a lot more music to charm us with, but unfortunately we will never know what else he could have produced.
we miss you jeff!!!
7/2/06 - Denver, CO
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
Comments
But I'd put Eddie REAAAAAAAAAALLY freaking high up on the list. After Dylan I don't really have an order.
http://www.wishlistfoundation.org
Oh my, they dropped the leash.
Morgan Freeman/Clint Eastwood 08' for President!
"Make our day"
Del that Funkee Homosapien and Saul Williams are two of my favs too
Posters: www.expressobeans.com/trader.php?id=Manimal&view=4
It's so weird that he can go from a song like "Stagger Lee" to "Henry Lee" (for example) so gracefully.
Make you feel sick and then write the most depressing beautiful song you've ever heard.
http://www.wishlistfoundation.org
Oh my, they dropped the leash.
Morgan Freeman/Clint Eastwood 08' for President!
"Make our day"
I can't prove you wrong. He is the best.
well said. i'd have to say eddie is my favorite because i can relate to his lyrics more than any other lyricist. however bob dylan is another one of my favorites.
but only love can brake your fall
eddie
robert smith
david bowie
jim morrison
neil young
chris cornell
stone gossard
john lennon
marilyn manson
kurt cobain
bruce springsteen
bob dylan...~
"Forgive every being,
the bad feelings
it's just me"
Shannon Hoon
Michael Stipe
David Gilmour / Syd Barrett / Roger Waters
DANNY CAVANAGH- inquire to who he is
these are all pretty close if not level
oh CORNELL...hes probaly better than all of them.
dylan
e (from the eels)
adam durizt
No his mind is not for rent
To any god or government
Always hopeful, yet discontent
But He knows changes aren't permanent
But change is.
Where I'm not ugly and you're lookin' at me
http://www.wishlistfoundation.org
Oh my, they dropped the leash.
Morgan Freeman/Clint Eastwood 08' for President!
"Make our day"
Yeah. His lyrics kinda got lost behind the music though. No lyrics could ever stand up beside music like that. I know I don't hear his lyrics much when I listen to him. I just get swept away by the guitar.
From a somewhat different genre, Kelly Joe Phelps writes some amazing stuff. The imagery is fantastic:
"Makes as much sense as a frog on a chain,
A leper knocking trees down with his fists. . . "
-C Addison
May this Be Love?
Little Wing
So so many others..
I have a feeling I've already mentioned it, but Nick Cave is a fucking genious.
http://www.wishlistfoundation.org
Oh my, they dropped the leash.
Morgan Freeman/Clint Eastwood 08' for President!
"Make our day"
Well all I got is my tongue, and esophagus and two lungs.
Skeletal system plus muscle tissue and I’m done.
I’m through. I’m finished feedin’ frivolous thoughts
To my overtaxed central nervous system stretched taught.
Tighter than a tiger’s tooth tucked into a pale face
Hunter from a foreign land strapped with just case after case
Of ammunnition and litigational research.
Search again, but friend I just can’t be hurt.
You can wreck my spirit and kill my soul,
But then I’ll check my spirit and spill my soul.
And when I pick it up you’d better go go go.
Cuz you never know when you’re gonna come in contact
With a rapper, who can’t afford to keep the crapper
Stocked with white paper.
And I’m not talkin’ about that yellow pepper, red pepper, green pepper.
It’s all the same pepper people put your fuckin’ brain in the midst.
Just askin’ for about five minutes
To hit you with that beat box shit.
Cuz I’m only flesh and blood and bones and balls
And skin and hair and white cell waterfalls.
Yeah this invader’s a nuisance.
Dermato Fibro Sarcoma Protruberance.
Man fuck it. I’m payin’ this dude to cut it.
And I hope he cuts deep cuz I got fat scars to reach.
Just a needle in the back then it’s back to business.
Nine to five serve as sacrifice witness this.
Witness that. An MC who’s not afraid to spit fact.
Witness this.
Witness that. An MC who lays it down man just like that.
Well I’ve been waiting a long time just to get this off my mind.
Rhyme stuck in my throat like deep throat in 7-9.
Find numerous ways to intertwine,
And bind my body with the best lines cut from the script of Good Times.
Take it as a sign like The Artist, times change,
Now the softest MC’s hardest. Oh me?
Da AHP be down regardless.
Flower-filled fields fuel flows that be flawless.
Say that, bitch, after your blow then you’ll switch
Professions, be in your confession with your priest like
Shit, there’s no way I can compete with this,
Or even see this, try to be this.
Well stop tryin’.
Twenty Hail Maries and a splash of holy water
Won’t save you from the Eastlake stalkin’ fire stater.
I know it’s hard to admit the way I flow just bothers ya.
It lodges in ya, try to grab it but it dodges ya.
You rappers fill your flows with hodge podge, then spice it up with sewage.
Rhymes so old, you need embalming fluids.
Who is, the dude who do this?
The dude who deliver dialed-in diatribes,
Duckin’ mile-hile piles of MCs committing suicides.
A bunch of illiterate, illegitimate, significantly inferiority-filled fools
Who just fail to witnnes this.
Witness that. An MC who’s not afraid to spit fact.
Witness this.
Witness that. An MC who lays it down man just like that.
http://www.optimusrhyme.com/musicplayer/01_Optimus_Rhyme_Dermato_Fibro_Sarcoma_Protuberance.mp3
People mentioned alot of other greats that I agree with, especially Dylan, Young, Reed, and Van Morrison.
Others I did'nt notice, but love were Doug Marstch of Built to Spill, Robbie Robertson/ Levon Helm of The Band, and Morrisey of The Smiths/solo
When you see me on the street, yell out "FAVO!!!"
I've been to alot of Pearl Jam shows;So fucking what.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oVERzLsej9Q
you tell me that isnt how the song is meant to be viewed
www.mymobileupload.com
Cleveland 94
Cleveland 06'
The Vic in Chicago 07'
we miss you jeff!!!
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
-Eddie Vedder
6/24/06 Cincinatti, Ohio
6/14/08 Manchester, Tennessee
el oscuro me mantiene
cuando yo te vi
en la lluvia me prometiste tu sangre
Estrella de la mañana
Samael te persigo a ti
y si me quedo sin alas
ademas me muero por ti
old music: http://www.myspace.com/slowloader
Nope, I pretty much agree.
He is damn good.
There was this guy named Bob Dylan that was pretty good. John Lennon wasn't too shabby either.
the other foot in the gutter
sweet smell that they adore
I think I'd rather smother
-The Replacements-