lyricist...Yes, Its hard to find a better voice in rock today. Now Chris Cornell would be a close second, but he's just not as good a lyricist. Just my opinion and its a very subjective question.
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
BTW. If U ask...
I know U don't know this man, and probably even if U check the links below, U will not understand it, but for me the best songwriter and singer is Jacek Kaczmarski.
I couldn't find the best lyrics translated to english, but i have some samples:
And this one:
I run through the strange forests
My heart tugs my throat
Not because of fear- because of rage, despair.
The tracks of wolves' packs are mossy now,
Survivors live like dogs.
No furry snout will come out from the bushes
In their eyes - madness, fear, greed or treason.
The pawprints disappeared long time ago.
Wolf knows what "extermination" means!
I hear it again and again and I can't believe it
But everything proves that:
You're animals and you live like them
But you're not wolves anymore...
Brother thinks he's safe in forest
But not God but human chases him.
Propellers above, bullets and yell
That's pulling out our eyes.
Drunk hunters' faces above their guns
Burning rain of shots
It's not a hunt anymore
It's destroying of our kind.
From hands in uniforms, from helicopters,
Automatic shots black bullets
In our heads
And there's a yell:
You're not wolves anymore!
Who hadn't become mad
Or hadn't been shot
Still runs searching for his burrows
But there is no shelter he knew once
The dogs will sniff him everywhere.
Imagine, that once he treated them as a prey
Which is not worth wolf's fangs.
Today they will drag their brother to their masters feet
Or kill tear him apart at the command.
Who is running will die when he runs
And who's standing will fall where he stood
In panic we're writing our blood on the snow,
We're not wolves - just meat to shoot.
This shot one whines
This one is loudly yelps.
But I'm alone
I can do nothing.
Let's happen what have to be
When I meet a bullet on my way
It rips my old wound on my back
But as long wolf bleeds the wolf is alive.
So it's not death yet
Death has sharper fangs
It's not my triumph,
But it's not their victory either.
I won't whine or complain
As long as blood runs in my veins
I will be first who rips brother's throat
If he says - we are not wolves anymore
Believe me these are the worse... Unfortunately, his lyrics are pure poetry, rich of knowledge (not only historical) and meanings. When You listen it You feel like being there - he was great storytellers. And... One thing more - he had an unique style of playing guitar - he played left hand holding a guitar like right-handed man (not changing the order of strings - so he had to create his own chord...).
Ach, and he had great diction, no matter how fast he sang: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdzJ4hyZRic http://gottwald.wrzuta.pl/audio/hWwXfNtPb0/jacek_kaczmarski_-_pompeje
(press play)
(i can't keep up with him)
He was my best history's teacher
Sorry, if I bore You, but i wanted to share this with You:)
Not 10c member? Have sth to say? write to me - I'll put it on the forum
halszka123@op.pl
If you take the generation , 20 years, back to 1988, Ed would certainly be in a class with some excellent songwriters : Frank Black, Kurt Cobain, Michael Stipe, Bono, Conor Oberst, Ani DiFranco. Of these, Ed is MY favorite of those who come to mind , but I'm not sure how you qualify best. It's such a subjective question. Heck, Mia Zapata is one of my alltime top five songwriters. I simply love her lyrics. Re: songwriters, is a songwriter great because of best earthy lyrics? best commercial success? best because the lyrics make you think? best because you identify with the story the lyrics are weaving?
"Buy the ticket,take the ride"
Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
"If I wanted you to understand, I would have explained it better"
Johan Cruijff
Ed is great...but in my country we have a guy called Gordon Downie that we think can write and sing some really incredible music. so my answer is no. sorry eddie.
angels dance on a pin head, just to make room for you and i....
I think Bono deserves credit, but he definately started earlier then Vedder. If we narrow this down to the 90's (which I think this discussion should be), then I'd say the following are near the top in my mind:
Frontman:
Eddie
Thom Yorke
Maynard Keenan
Chris Cornell
Scott Wieland
Now hear me out on the last two, Cornell and Wieland AREN'T always consistent lyrics wise, but they're great frontmen with good stage pressence, and look at how many solid HITS these two have written. Sure they aren't always good, but they've written some GREAT songs.
I think Ed, Thom, and Maynard are on a close level too. All 3 are fantastic frontmen and but on AMAZING shows. All 3 have written excellent, powerful, and meaningful songs that lots of people connect with. All 3 have consistently pushed the envelope with their music and evolved their sound.
Now, as someone else said, none of these guys are solo artists and truely "songwriters". In purely that cattegory, I'd say:
Beck
Conor Oberst
I think it's really hard to even compare ANYONE to Beck's style of writing and skill. I look at Sea Change, and I wish he would do another "normal" album like that again. It's one of my favorite albums, and I get the fucking chills listening to it. He's our generation's Bob Dylan if he would spend more time writting songs like "End of the Day" instead of "Devil's Haircut".
Oberst is an excellent songwriter too. As other's have said, the sheer volume of his songs vs. his age is phenominal and the quality of his music is great too. I think at times though, he gets too experimental. Making songs sound like they were recorded in a car, being intentionally lo-fi, etc. I think Digital Ash was promoted WAY too highly as a "Postal Service" like album, and it wasn't. Oberst "tried" to introduce an electronica element into that album, and it just didn't work. "Light Pollution" is about the only song on that album that I listen to with any regularity. Regardless though, Oberst is definately a very talented singer and writer, and I look forward to see what he puts out in the future.
I won't change direction, and I won't change my mind - E.V.
____________________________
99 Tibetan Freedom Concert, 00 Detroit, 03 Alpine Valley, 04 Grand Rapids
06 Chicago I, 06 Chicago II, 06 Grand Rapids, 07 Lollapalloza, 08 DC, 08 MSG I, 08 MSG II, 08 EV Solo Milwaukee, Chicago I & II 09, Portland 09, Nobelsville 10, Cleveland 10, PJ20 I & II, Wrigley 13, Brooklyn I & II '13, St. Paul 14, Moline 14, Milwaukee 14
well his voice is the one that has captivated my attention since the 1st time i saw the evenflow video way back, i knew that this guy was the one to follow and i followed my instinc to this day ........no other artist has done that to me .....
The question you ask seeks an opinion. What opinion do you think you are going to get on this board? You can never say who or what is best in art because art is totally subjective. Ed, like all artists, is a work in progress. Certainly from his beginnings to where he is now with his Into The Wild work he certainly has to be on the list. But I think that Ed is just beginning to evolve into that upper echelon of rock music.
Anyone who got the chance to see Ed on his tour will have to observe that his guitar work has gotten 1000 times better than it was in, say, 1993. He is doing a great job of really morphing into Pete Townshend, and that ain't a bad thing.
Conner O, Ryan Adams, Reznor, and Vedder are ALL amazing, as well as many others!
But hey, that's why music is beautiful, it's not a competition!
Believe me, when I was growin up, I thought the worst thing you could turn out to be was normal, So I say freaks in the most complementary way. Here's a song by a fellow freak - E.V
Ed is great...but in my country we have a guy called Gordon Downie that we think can write and sing some really incredible music. so my answer is no. sorry eddie.
wow. yes. you are right. i totally agree with you.
angels dance on a pin head, just to make room for you and i....
Absolutely. I tend to think of him as the John Lennon/Bob Dylan of this day. Of course, there's not THAT much competition out there compared to Lennon/Dylan's time, but that doesn't take away from his greatness.
Camden I '06, Camden II '06, Bonnaroo '08, Camden I '08, Camden II '08, Philly Spectrum II/III/IV '09, MSG I '10, MSG II '10, Made In America '12, Wrigley '13, Brooklyn II '13, Philly I '13, Philly II '13, ...
thats cause your narrow minded. yea bono is a piece of shit, he writes simply lyrics. few other names to throw out. neil young, bruce springteen, ryan adams
I'm narrow minded? Having never heard of someone does not make you narrow minded.
Definitely. And he's probably already released as many songs as anyone else mentioned in this thread. He's got just a shit load of music out there. Cassadaga is one of my favs for sure.
Conor Oberst for me too, Best song writer since Dylan
Ed Ved is the greatest singer/song writer of our time... and for me that's decades! he has the voice, the grace, the beauty, the tallent, the imagination, the ability to paint a picture,and a great vocabulary
03 bristow,04 reading,05 toronto,05 phillie,06 camden,06 dc,07 chicago,08 dc,08 camden,09 philliex2,10 bristow
eddie solo 08 dc,09 balt, 11 phillie
Comments
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
I know U don't know this man, and probably even if U check the links below, U will not understand it, but for me the best songwriter and singer is Jacek Kaczmarski.
I couldn't find the best lyrics translated to english, but i have some samples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d11PkbPobcA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mury_%28song%29
And this one:
I run through the strange forests
My heart tugs my throat
Not because of fear- because of rage, despair.
The tracks of wolves' packs are mossy now,
Survivors live like dogs.
No furry snout will come out from the bushes
In their eyes - madness, fear, greed or treason.
The pawprints disappeared long time ago.
Wolf knows what "extermination" means!
I hear it again and again and I can't believe it
But everything proves that:
You're animals and you live like them
But you're not wolves anymore...
Brother thinks he's safe in forest
But not God but human chases him.
Propellers above, bullets and yell
That's pulling out our eyes.
Drunk hunters' faces above their guns
Burning rain of shots
It's not a hunt anymore
It's destroying of our kind.
From hands in uniforms, from helicopters,
Automatic shots black bullets
In our heads
And there's a yell:
You're not wolves anymore!
Who hadn't become mad
Or hadn't been shot
Still runs searching for his burrows
But there is no shelter he knew once
The dogs will sniff him everywhere.
Imagine, that once he treated them as a prey
Which is not worth wolf's fangs.
Today they will drag their brother to their masters feet
Or kill tear him apart at the command.
Who is running will die when he runs
And who's standing will fall where he stood
In panic we're writing our blood on the snow,
We're not wolves - just meat to shoot.
This shot one whines
This one is loudly yelps.
But I'm alone
I can do nothing.
Let's happen what have to be
When I meet a bullet on my way
It rips my old wound on my back
But as long wolf bleeds the wolf is alive.
So it's not death yet
Death has sharper fangs
It's not my triumph,
But it's not their victory either.
I won't whine or complain
As long as blood runs in my veins
I will be first who rips brother's throat
If he says - we are not wolves anymore
...is here...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAybf5yo9YY
Believe me these are the worse... Unfortunately, his lyrics are pure poetry, rich of knowledge (not only historical) and meanings. When You listen it You feel like being there - he was great storytellers. And... One thing more - he had an unique style of playing guitar - he played left hand holding a guitar like right-handed man (not changing the order of strings - so he had to create his own chord...).
Ach, and he had great diction, no matter how fast he sang:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdzJ4hyZRic
http://gottwald.wrzuta.pl/audio/hWwXfNtPb0/jacek_kaczmarski_-_pompeje
(press play)
(i can't keep up with him)
He was my best history's teacher
Sorry, if I bore You, but i wanted to share this with You:)
halszka123@op.pl
Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
"If I wanted you to understand, I would have explained it better"
Johan Cruijff
"Forgive every being,
the bad feelings
it's just me"
Frontman:
Eddie
Thom Yorke
Maynard Keenan
Chris Cornell
Scott Wieland
Now hear me out on the last two, Cornell and Wieland AREN'T always consistent lyrics wise, but they're great frontmen with good stage pressence, and look at how many solid HITS these two have written. Sure they aren't always good, but they've written some GREAT songs.
I think Ed, Thom, and Maynard are on a close level too. All 3 are fantastic frontmen and but on AMAZING shows. All 3 have written excellent, powerful, and meaningful songs that lots of people connect with. All 3 have consistently pushed the envelope with their music and evolved their sound.
Now, as someone else said, none of these guys are solo artists and truely "songwriters". In purely that cattegory, I'd say:
Beck
Conor Oberst
I think it's really hard to even compare ANYONE to Beck's style of writing and skill. I look at Sea Change, and I wish he would do another "normal" album like that again. It's one of my favorite albums, and I get the fucking chills listening to it. He's our generation's Bob Dylan if he would spend more time writting songs like "End of the Day" instead of "Devil's Haircut".
Oberst is an excellent songwriter too. As other's have said, the sheer volume of his songs vs. his age is phenominal and the quality of his music is great too. I think at times though, he gets too experimental. Making songs sound like they were recorded in a car, being intentionally lo-fi, etc. I think Digital Ash was promoted WAY too highly as a "Postal Service" like album, and it wasn't. Oberst "tried" to introduce an electronica element into that album, and it just didn't work. "Light Pollution" is about the only song on that album that I listen to with any regularity. Regardless though, Oberst is definately a very talented singer and writer, and I look forward to see what he puts out in the future.
____________________________
99 Tibetan Freedom Concert, 00 Detroit, 03 Alpine Valley, 04 Grand Rapids
06 Chicago I, 06 Chicago II, 06 Grand Rapids, 07 Lollapalloza, 08 DC, 08 MSG I, 08 MSG II, 08 EV Solo Milwaukee, Chicago I & II 09, Portland 09, Nobelsville 10, Cleveland 10, PJ20 I & II, Wrigley 13, Brooklyn I & II '13, St. Paul 14, Moline 14, Milwaukee 14
so in my mind, ed's the best by a mile
2008: MSG 1, Hartford, Mansfield 2, Ed Solo NYC 1
2009: London (O2), Philly 1, 2, 3, & 4
2010: Hartford, Boston, MSG 1 & 2
2011: Ed Solo Hartford
2012: Philly (MIA Fest)
2013: Worcester 2, Brooklyn 1 & 2, Hartford
Sorry. But you are wrong. The correct answer was 'yes'. You are def wrong. So defly wrong.
Actually, the thread's pretty much split down the middle. No one's wrong. Except you, for being rude about it.
Don't you mean 'defly' rude? He's the best. Bottom line.
Nah, it's defly subjective.
Jeff Tweedy
Ryan Adams
Issac Brock
I think Beck maybe interesting to include in the discussion because of his uniquness. I'd consider vedder too.
I do think that Conor O'berst (bright eyes guy) is good but overated in my mind.
Charlotte 03
Asheville 04
Atlanta 12
Greenville 16, Columbia 16
Seattle 18
Nashville 22
I think you need to hook me up with your dealer.
Anyone who got the chance to see Ed on his tour will have to observe that his guitar work has gotten 1000 times better than it was in, say, 1993. He is doing a great job of really morphing into Pete Townshend, and that ain't a bad thing.
Conner O, Ryan Adams, Reznor, and Vedder are ALL amazing, as well as many others!
But hey, that's why music is beautiful, it's not a competition!
wow. yes. you are right. i totally agree with you.
I'm narrow minded? Having never heard of someone does not make you narrow minded.
8/7/08, 6/9/09
Conor Oberst for me too, Best song writer since Dylan
It doesnt make you narrowed minded, but it does mean you need to check out Bright Eyes
eddie solo 08 dc,09 balt, 11 phillie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IbPGxYWS_k