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Top 5 lryicists

choochchooch Posts: 38
edited February 2007 in Other Music
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
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments

  • Pearl Jam and toastPearl Jam and toast Posts: 4,475
    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.
    Come on pilgrim you know he loves you..

    http://www.wishlistfoundation.org

    Oh my, they dropped the leash.



    Morgan Freeman/Clint Eastwood 08' for President!

    "Make our day"
  • choochchooch Posts: 38
    ahhhhh.....Uncle Neil....."Tonights the Night" and "American Stars and Bars" alone are enough for top five.
  • BrezBrez Posts: 570
    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 :D
    And before his first step... He's off again...
  • VEDHEAD27VEDHEAD27 Posts: 3,091
    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.
    :p
    ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤

    "Lo√e, you know the word
    ...YOU invented it!" ~ E√

    ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤
    ...::STONE--YOU--OWN!::...
    ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
  • VEDHEAD27VEDHEAD27 Posts: 3,091
    Doh! I can't not mention Joni Mitchell!
    ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤

    "Lo√e, you know the word
    ...YOU invented it!" ~ E√

    ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤
    ...::STONE--YOU--OWN!::...
    ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
  • Dog LoyalDog Loyal Posts: 336
    Morrissey
    Robert Smith
    Eddie Vedder
    Pete Townshend
    David Bowie
    The kids of today should defend themselves against the Seventies Nineties.
  • lucylespianlucylespian Posts: 2,403
    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
    Music is not a competetion.
  • gleemonexgleemonex Posts: 848
    Right Now:

    5. Jim Morrison
    4. Eddie Vedder
    3. Ad-Rock
    2. Mike D
    1. MCA
    “Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’” - Kurt Vonnegut
  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Seattle, WA Posts: 12,223
    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 toastPearl Jam and toast Posts: 4,475
    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.
    Come on pilgrim you know he loves you..

    http://www.wishlistfoundation.org

    Oh my, they dropped the leash.



    Morgan Freeman/Clint Eastwood 08' for President!

    "Make our day"
  • lucylespianlucylespian Posts: 2,403
    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.
    Music is not a competetion.
  • choochchooch Posts: 38
    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.
  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Seattle, WA Posts: 12,223
    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
  • mohomoho Posts: 541
    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
    JUST PLAY THE F***ING NOTE!!!
  • A Surprise LeftA Surprise Left Posts: 743
    Bob Dylan
    Maynard James Keenan
    Nick Cave
    Roger Waters
    Jeff Buckley
    The wind is blowing cold
    Have we lost our way tonight?
    Have we lost our hope to sorrow?

    Feels like were all alone
    Running further from what’s right
    And there are no more heroes to follow

    So what are we becoming?
    Where did we go wrong?
  • BetterManningNYGBetterManningNYG Posts: 777
    Bob Dylan
    Chris Cornell
    Roger Waters
    Maynard James Keenan
    Jim Morrison
  • gnr+pj=2bestevergnr+pj=2bestever Posts: 358
    steven tyler/joe perry...pre 1990
    Axl Rose
    Ed Vedder
    Billy Coregan..however you spell it
    Ozzy Osbourne...in his early Black Sabbath days
    Jerry Garcia
    Whats got the whole world faking?
  • gnr+pj=2bestevergnr+pj=2bestever Posts: 358
    Oh, and someone mentioned Stone Gossard.....are you kidding me?!
    Whats got the whole world faking?
  • JellyrollsJellyrolls Posts: 523
    Bob Dylan
    Tupac Shakur
    Brandon Boyd
    Jerry Cantrell
    Noel Gallagher
  • soulsingingsoulsinging Posts: 13,202
    elliott smith
    the guy from hold steady
    shannon hoon
    whoever does the writing in tv on the radio
    sigur ros ;)
  • BrainofdzBrainofdz Posts: 1,617
    Dylan
    Eddie
    Doug Martsch (Built to Spill)
    Morrisey
    Lennon/Mcartney

    honorable mention to Difford/Tillbrook (Squeeze)
    "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.
  • Tek MoneyTek Money Posts: 642
    Colin Meloy
    Matthew Good
    Neko Case
    Daniel Johnston
    Bob Dylan

    This was hard for me. Because it's hard to narrow it down for me.
    Cock Fight.
  • Todd76Todd76 Posts: 1,469
    Wayne Coyne
    Sarah Harmer
    Colin Meloy
    Hayden Desser
    Martin Tielli
    Gord Downie
    In my world everyone is a pony,
    and they all eat rainbows and pooh butterflies!
  • chris01chris01 Posts: 559
    Although i dont listen to either, Dylan and Lennon/McCartney are prob in my top five.
    Kurt Cobain
    Brandon Boyd
    Tom Yorke
  • Coathanger HalosCoathanger Halos Posts: 137
    Leonard Cohen
    Vincent Cavanagh (Anathema)
    Ed Vedder
    Chris Cornell
    Layne Staley & Jerry Cantrell
    I'll cut you in.
  • intodeepintodeep Posts: 7,228
    i'm going to name my favorite not the best:

    neil young
    jeff tweedy
    ed vedder ( yeah i know you said not to but i did :) )
    issac brock
    bob dylan

    again my favs not the best
    Charlotte 00
    Charlotte 03
    Asheville 04
    Atlanta 12
    Greenville 16, Columbia 16
    Seattle 18 
    Nashville 22
  • intodeepintodeep Posts: 7,228
    Brainofdz wrote:
    Doug Martsch (Built to Spill)

    very interesting. I love BTS never thought of doug as a great lyricist. By any stretch of the means he is not bad.

    Glad to see some love for him!
    Charlotte 00
    Charlotte 03
    Asheville 04
    Atlanta 12
    Greenville 16, Columbia 16
    Seattle 18 
    Nashville 22
  • Jeremy1012Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    1) Bob Dylan
    2) Tom Waits
    3) Eddie Vedder
    4) Maynard James Keenan
    5) Morrissey
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • Jeremy1012Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    Jellyrolls wrote:
    Bob Dylan
    Tupac Shakur
    Brandon Boyd
    Jerry Cantrell
    Noel Gallagher
    good call on tupac. I hate it when people say he wasn't a good rapper. who gives a fuck? his lyrics were brilliant (even when he was being "gangsta") so what the hell does his technique have to do with anything? do people say dylan is shit because he can't sing?

    "Perhaps I was addicted to the dark side.
    Some where inside my childhood I witnessed my heart die
    And even though we both came from the same places,
    The money and the fame made us all change places
    How could it be through the misery that came to pass,
    The hard times can make a true friend afraid to ask
    For currency, but you could run to me when you need me
    I'll never leave honestly, someone to believe in"
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • chris01chris01 Posts: 559
    Yeah, special mention to Tupac (and Dr Dre when Tupac was around).

    When 50 Cent first came out (not in that way) he was being compared to Tupac..... i dont see how.
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