Best lyricist?

2

Comments

  • -Jeremy-
    -Jeremy- Posts: 6
    Three guys, my all time favourites:
    1. Eddie Vedder is the first, ofcourse, no doubt;). You all know it and agree with me, nothing to add here.
    2. Chris Cornell. One common thing between wine and CC: both get better when they get older. My god, the lyrics on Revelations album are just so great! Wide awake, Until we fall and Nothing left to say but goodbye have to be mentioned here.
    3. Last but not the least: Billy Corgan. Masterpieces like Ava Adore and Disarm, simply godly.
    King Jeremy the wicked
  • Gill
    Gill Posts: 56
    Don't get me wrong, Eddie is amazing at writing, but look at George Harrison (my favourite of the beatles), or for that matter Lennon and McCartney...then you have Jeff Buckley and Grant Nicolas from Feeder....in my opinion...

    But then again, something like this is opinion. To me, 'Comfort in Sound' by feeder is like velvet to my ears, but to someone else it might be crap, just because we all look for something else in songs...if that makes any sense WHATSOEVER
  • smarchee
    smarchee Windsor, Ontario Posts: 14,539
    Shannon Hood from Blind Melon wrote some incredible lyrics. He is really underappreciated as a writer.

    From Change, "Find myself signing the same songs everyday, one's that make me feel good when things behind the smile ain't ok". Brilliant!

    Also, St. Andrew's Fall is amazing.

    Elliot Smith is my favourite lyricist, that guy writes the most haunting, depressing, bleak songs that I have ever heard, but it is absolutly incredible.
    1998 ~ Barrie
    2003 ~ Toronto
    2005 ~ London, Toronto
    2006 ~ Toronto
    2008 ~ Hartford, Mansfied I,
    2009 ~ Toronto, Chicago I, Chicago II
    2010 ~ Cleveland, Buffalo
    2011 ~ Toronto I, Toronto II, Ottawa, Hamilton
    2013 - London, Pittsburgh, Buffalo
    2014 - Detroit
    2019 - Chicago X 2
  • searchlightsoul
    searchlightsoul Posts: 583
    I agree with Chris Cornell. The lyrics are incredible on their own:


    SEARCHING WITH MY GOOD EYE CLOSED

    Painted blue across my eyes
    And tie the linen on
    And I'm on my way
    Looking for the paradigm
    So I can pass it off
    Is it on my side

    Is it to the sky
    Looking to the sky and down
    Searching for a ground
    With my good eye closed

    If I took you for a ride
    Would you take it wrong
    Or would you make it right
    Looking for a pedestal
    That I can put you on
    And be on my way

    Is it to the sky
    Looking to the sky and down
    Searching for a ground
    With my good eye closed

    Stop you're trying to bruise my mind
    I can do it on my own
    Stop you're trying to kill my time
    It's been my death since I was born
    I don't remember half the time
    If I'm hiding or I'm lost
    But I'm on my way
  • DiRtyFranK38
    DiRtyFranK38 Posts: 3,131
    eddie is the best =]

    then chris cornell close second...
    2006: Hartford
    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
  • dissident31
    dissident31 Posts: 92
    Kind of surprised no one on this thread has mentioned Bruce. He's easily one of the best lyricists of all time and Eddie has definitely been influenced by him a bit. Just listen to anything on Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town or even the Rising and you can see the range of stories and emotions he's able to describe almost effortlessly. When I first heard Worldwide Suicide I thought it was the type of song you could see Bruce writing, it brilliantly tells one person's experience with a much larger message and meaning.

    A lot Pearl Jam's lyrics and themes are similar to Bruce's too: small towns, getting away, being trapped, kept down, and then breaking free, etc. Eddie even mentioned on Storytellers that they've got a ways to go on catching up to Bruce on songs about driving and leaving town before they played "Gone."

    Eddie will definitely go down as was one the best song writers of his time, don't see how he wouldn't. He's been so prolific, too.
    Change don't come at once, it's a wave, building before it breaks.
  • dissident31
    dissident31 Posts: 92
    I like Soundgarden but you can't put Cornell up there, he's kind of inconsistent. Some of his stuff is solid (Day I Tried to Live, Outshined, Rusty Cage), but Black Hole Sun? I think that's the worst and most overrated song of the 90s. My ears bleed when I hear that one. Spoonman is another crappy one. Also, some of Audioslave's lyrics are ridicoulously simple:
    "I like studying faces in a parking lot
    Cause it doesn't remind me of anything
    I like driving backwards in the fog
    Cause it doesn't remind me of anything"
    It's a great sounding song, but those lyrics are pretty stupid, come on.

    This one is the dumbest though:

    "To be yourself is all that you can do
    To be yourself is all that you can do
    To be yourself is all that you can do
    To be yourself is all that you can do..."

    What is this Sesame Street or Romper Room? Another great sounding song, ruined by horribly simple and trite lyrics.
    Change don't come at once, it's a wave, building before it breaks.
  • TrixieCat
    TrixieCat Posts: 5,756
    Red Ledbetter wrote:
    Michael Stipe of R.E.M. has to be the best. His lyrics has so many levels, and they suits me as a person much more than anything else I've ever known.

    Eddie is up there, along with Neil Young, Stuart Adamson (of Big Country, one of my favorite bands in music history) and Bruce Springsteen.
    Bruce is out-of-his-mind amazing. No one summed up the tragedy of 9-11 like he did.
    Love Michael Stipe too!!!
    Ed is also pretty damn good.
    Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
    And I don't feel right when you're gone away
  • phatucini
    phatucini Posts: 399
    There are so many great songwriters that beautifully enhanced our lives for years now and it would take an enormous list to really honour everyone... I would just like to bring a new songwriter into the picture: Sparta's Jim Ward has crafted some outstanding beautiful lyrics on their last record 'Threes'.
  • Tom K
    Tom K Posts: 842
    I'll add Joe Strummer and Pete Townsend to the list..
    I'm gone ..Long gone..This time I'm letting go of it all...So long...Cause this time I'm gone
  • dissident31
    dissident31 Posts: 92
    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.
  • YourBuddy
    YourBuddy Posts: 59
    ummmmm.... Jim Morrison by a long shot
  • Pearl Jam and toast
    Pearl Jam and toast Posts: 4,475
    jordn6971 wrote:
    I don't know how you could prove someone wrong but I'd say Bob Dylan is up there.
    Dylan is the king. No question.

    But I'd put Eddie REAAAAAAAAAALLY freaking high up on the list. After Dylan I don't really have an order.
    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"
  • Manimal
    Manimal Posts: 152
    Nick Cave. Love he's stuff

    Del that Funkee Homosapien and Saul Williams are two of my favs too
    DVD: http://db.etree.org/Manimal
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  • Pearl Jam and toast
    Pearl Jam and toast Posts: 4,475
    Manimal wrote:
    Nick Cave. Love he's stuff

    Del that Funkee Homosapien and Saul Williams are two of my favs too
    Oh man, Nick Cave is one of the most original writers ever.

    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.
    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"
  • righteousbabe
    righteousbabe Posts: 662
    garypower wrote:
    Is eddie the best lyriscist of all time or can someone prove me wrong!!!

    I can't prove you wrong. He is the best.
  • bacchanal
    bacchanal Posts: 149
    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!!!!
  • Lifted
    Lifted Posts: 1,836
    markymark550 wrote:
    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.
  • sebaarg88
    sebaarg88 Posts: 1,277
    He's my favorite for sure. Mick Jagger has some great lyrics too (Wild horses, Dead flowers, Sympathy for the devil, etc.)
    only love can break your heart
    but only love can brake your fall
  • electronblue
    electronblue WPB, Florida Posts: 3,504
    some 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"


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