Top 5 lryicists

chooch · February 2007

Other than Eddie (who, in my humble opinion, is good, but not great. His lyrics are great, but more from emotion and phrasing than brilliance. Don't get me wrong, he is the man). I am talking strictly lyrics here....

In no order:
Tom Waits
Donald Fagen
Bob Dylan
Neil Finn (thanks Ed)
Pete Townshend

Honorable: Jeff Tweedy (the king of the opening line) I love Wilco

Too many more to mention

Pearl Jam and toast · February 2007

At the moment..

Nick Cave
Ed Vedder
Billy Corgan
Neil Young
Thom Yorke

Dylan is probably the best lyricist of all time, but he's not fitting my mood right now.

chooch · February 2007

ahhhhh.....Uncle Neil....."Tonights the Night" and "American Stars and Bars" alone are enough for top five.

Brez · February 2007

Could you guys post some examples of why you think they're one of the greatest lyricists? Because I always love good lyrics, and I wanna see if I might get into some people that I've never heard that are mentioned.

Thanks

VEDHEAD27 · February 2007

Off the top of my head....

Eddie Vedder
Stone Gossard
Chris Cornell
John Lennon
Thom Yorke
Dave Matthews
Neil Finn
Fiona Apple
Layne Staley
Jerry Cantrell
Maynard James Keenan
Ben Harper
Elliott Smith

Stopping at 5 of anything is way too hard.

VEDHEAD27 · February 2007

Doh! I can't not mention Joni Mitchell!

Dog Loyal · February 2007

Morrissey
Robert Smith
Eddie Vedder
Pete Townshend
David Bowie

lucylespian · February 2007

Can't have a thread like this without mentioning Roger Waters.
He might be a crap singer but a visionary lyricist.

..................through the fish-eyed lens of tear stained eye
I can barely percieve,
the shape of this moment in time........

from the final cut

gleemonex · February 2007

Right Now:

5. Jim Morrison
4. Eddie Vedder
3. Ad-Rock
2. Mike D
1. MCA

FinsburyParkCarrots · February 2007

1 Kevin Coyne
2 Bob Dylan
3 John Lennon
4 Paul McCartney (Whether you care for him or not, these days - and I do - his lyrics are often still exemplary)
5 Bob Martin (singer-songwriter from Lowell MA):

http://riversong.com/

Pearl Jam and toast · February 2007

lucylespian wrote:

Can't have a thread like this without mentioning Roger Waters.
He might be a crap singer but a visionary lyricist.

..................through the fish-eyed lens of tear stained eye
I can barely percieve,
the shape of this moment in time........

from the final cut

fuck yeah.

lucylespian · February 2007

or..................

Time
(Mason, Waters, Wright, Gilmour) 7:06

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.

Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say.

...................these are teh lyrics that set teh course of my life, so I always bring em up.

chooch · February 2007

FinsburyParkCarrots wrote:

1 Kevin Coyne
2 Bob Dylan
3 John Lennon
4 Paul McCartney (Whether you care for him or not, these days - and I do - his lyrics are often still exemplary)
5 Bob Martin (singer-songwriter from Lowell MA):

http://riversong.com/

McCartney is very easy to bash, but, like his music or not (I think we all hate wings) he is a musical and lyrical master. I actually think he is/was much more creative than Lennon. Chaos........(2004?) has some really great writing on it. I teach in Methuen/live in No. Hampton NH. Who is Bob Martin.

FinsburyParkCarrots · February 2007

Yep, Macca did write Yesterday, For No One, Penny Lane, and Maybe I'm Amazed. Those songs alone give him the cred to be in anyone's top five.

Bob Martin is a very obscure country-folk singer-songwriter. His album Midwest Farm Disaster has some of the best lyrics I've heard in popular music.

Here's a CD Baby page on his album The River Turns The Wheel:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/martin

moho · February 2007

1. Bob Dylan
2. Josh Ritter ( if it wasn't for the sheer wealth of Bob Dylan stuff this guywould be number 1)
3. John Lennon
4. Paul McCartney
5. Ed Vedder