Favourite Lyricist

[Nightwolf]

ya got me with that one Churcha friggin' Phil Collins???

Bernie Taupin was a genius, James Taylor has written some real deep ones too. Plant?? no comment...

[faintofheart]

Aw, not a fan of Plant's writing? I can't say he's the best ever, buuuut he's one of my favorites because whether he's deep/meaningful or not, his lyrics are great for Zeppelin's style IMO

[Churcha]

ya got me with that one Churcha friggin' Phil Collins???

Bernie Taupin was a genius, James Taylor has written some real deep ones too. Plant?? no comment...

lol. Nightwolf, speaking of genius', and totally off topic; Douglas Adams. Love the quote, loved the man. One of a kind, and sorely missed.

[Alistair]

Tom Waits.

End of.

[Steve]

Kate Rusby.

lol. Nightwolf, speaking of genius', and totally off topic; Douglas Adams. Love the quote, loved the man. One of a kind, and sorely missed.

I agree. He was a genius. And he is sorely missed.

[redriviera]

#1 Mark E Smith of The Fall

#2 Morrissey

#3 Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices)

[Rudi]

Tom Waits.

End of.

I love this...

Frank's Wild Years

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[Guest voclizr]

Still nobody for Keith Reid (after almost 2 years!!!!!?)

HUMMMMMM!!! :-/ HINT: He's the dude that wrote "A Whiter Shade Of Pale"

John B.

[TheSmilingGoat]

i think dez fafara would be my favrite others are, dave mustaine when he puts the effort in, burzum, weird al, who ever writes the lyrics for rhapsody, the guy from alice in chains (not good with names)

[Carnival]

IMO Tom Waits started losing the plot around the time of Swordfishtrombones. After that, to me , he became incoherent.

You use "incoherent" like it's a bad thing...

[Carnival]

I could name a hundred, then replace them with a hundred more. Same with favorite lyrics, favorite baseball players and favorite colors and flavors. Lots of good out there mixed in with the rest. If these haven't been mentioned...

Niel Young

John Prine

Lennon/McCartney

And enough country writers to start a football team.

[Peter]

I could - and do - agree with very many of the names put forward in this thread. Heading my list would be icons such as Dylan, Bowie, Lennon/McCartney (Lennon for his unashamed and frequent baring of his soul and McCartney for his remarkable talent to create stories with real characters (lets not dwell on Dance Tonight!)).

I just wanted to suggest a songwriter whose name hasn't appeared in this list so far..... Billy Joel. It's not that I'm a huge fan of his music but lyrics to songs such as 'Always a Woman' mark him out from the horde and IMO he merits a mention here.

[Lazz]

Billy Joel - yes !

And quite right, too.

How could we have left him off the list ?

The guy is a real pro and a consumate musician.

First time I saw him was when he was touring solo - a double bill with Tom Waits.

That may sound an unlikely pairing - but it worked perfectly.

Early days way back before either were much known.

They were both just great.

Still have a lot of time for Billy Joel and can't figure out why people choose to diss the guy.

To me his detractors can have no notion or appreciation of sheer craft.

[sub7th]

Nice, as I scrolled through this topic I kept thinking "Billy Joel, someone should mention Billy Joel"

Whether you like the guys music or not he had some good lyrics.

The first music video that ever gave me nightmares as a kid was "Pressure."

I still have to "test the waters" with shag throw rugs before I step on them.

But my favorite I would have to go with either Thom Yorke or Maynard James Keenan.

Though, Frank Zappa and Mike Patton sit pretty high on my list for wackyness.

Im getting into Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), he has some interesting thoughts.

[thelevellers]

At the moment I really love hearing clever and/or well written lyrics, and I've found them in the oddest places (such as some random rap song which I just loved, a story about running away from the police.. Can't remember any more than that!!). But the current top of the list looks like this:

Jesse Budd (of Flipron, if you haven't read a post of me going on about them already, google them and youtube them NOW! )

Charles Waller (of The Rumble Strips, Maybe not lyrical genius, but I keep finding new gems hidden in the depths... )

Alfie Jackson (of The Holloways, I bought 'So this is great britain' on impulse after hearing their 'generator' single, and was bowled over by the quality of lyrics! They had me reading through the lyrics with the songs to ensure i didnt miss a single line... )

That's all for now.. There's loads more, some have been mentioned, but I can't remember them all, and these are my current favs...

Rohan

[xXxMagicalYamBagxXx]

Ryan Ross.

Everything he writes is so discriptive and each song is a story.

But if you don't get the lyrics, you don't get the story.

I love that.

But I'm thinkin' Ville Valo comes real, real close.

[ramadhaniyanto]

Nightwolf, speaking of genius', and totally off topic; Douglas Adams. Love the quote, loved the man. One of a kind, and sorely missed.

cheers to douglas adams

well, to tell you the truth, most of the names i've read here i haven't even heard of before maybe because i'm not originally from the states

favorite lyricist would be:

chris carabba (of dashboard confessional), because of the originality of the words he chooses, and also the images he conjures when one listens to his lyrics, just simply emotional

and also dewi lestari, of which i'm sure nobody on this forum has ever heard before, but she is a very gifted lyricist/ novelist from where i come from

[skinnyarms]

Okay, so this is going to make me sound like a pansy...but I really like Bright Eye's Conner Oberst...

Here's a little snippet from one of my favorite songs "You Will" if you're interested

"Are you the love of my lifetime? 'Cause there have been times I have had my doubts.

We were just kids when I first kissed you in the attic of my parents house,

and I wish we were there now.

It took so long to figure out

what this book has been about.

Now I write when I'm away letters that you never read.

You said go to explore those other women,

the geography of their bodies

but there is just one map you'll need.

You are a boomerang. You'll see.

You will return to me."

[Carnival]

W.S. Gilbert, Johnny Burke, Johnny Mercer, Sammy Cahn, Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein, Betty Comden, Billy Strayhorn, Stephen Sondheim, Mike Stoller with Jerry Leiber, Gerry Goffin with Carole King, Smokey Robinson, Percy Mayfield, Tim Hardin, John Sebastian, Jimmy Webb, Jake Thackeray, Randy Newman, Van Dyke Parks, Oscar Brown Jr., Hal David, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Dave Frishberg, Andy Partridge, Walter Becker & Donald Fagen, Fran Landesman, Tom PhantomEngineer, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, Ron Sexsmith, Bob Rylett.

I like these guys because they are all incredibly smart and crafty with words and style.

There must be loads more.

Cheater

[Carnival]

I just re-read every single post. I am the only one who mentioned Neil Young. Makes me wonder what others think. I won't put him ABOVE some of the great ones listed, because they each have their style and merits.

Just wanted to know if anyome else here would rate him with the greats.