[Dead-Air]

Originally Posted by Savage Clone

Generally speaking, I'm not that much of a "words guy" with music, but there are some who blow me away.


Legendary Pink Dots
Current 93
Bevis Frond
Stone Breath et al
In Gowan Ring
Echo and the Bunnymen
Joy Division
The Church
Death In June
PiL

Looks like you're a "word goth".

I'm amazed I forgot LPD, but then lyrics like "I'm so horny/I'm so horny" do tend to take away from Ka-spel's overall brilliance.

[Savage Clone]

When you're that ridiculously prolific, you're bound to have a couple of dogs in there somewhere.

[Rob Instigator]

Originally Posted by Glice

Those are, to my mind, equally as asinine and irritating as Steve 'genuinely shit lyricist' Milk-mouse's interminably 'zany' rhyming couplets of shitness. See also Brian Molko. Bob Dylan can eat a massive tub of 'shut the fuck up you over-rated wank residue' as well.

blind date with the chancer
we had oysters and dry Lancer's
and the check when it arrived
we went dutch dutch dutch
a redder shade of neck
on a whiter shade of trash
and this emery board is giving me a rash
I'm flat out
you're so beautiful to look at when you cry
freeze, don't move
you've been chosen as an extra in the movie
adaptation of the sequel to your life


this is pure unadulterated lyrical GOLD baby, and infinitely better than even the very best that interpol can come up with

[Dead-Air]

Originally Posted by Savage Clone

When you're that ridiculously prolific, you're bound to have a couple of dogs in there somewhere.

Sure, I listed the Fall, which is the same issue.

Morrisey's lyrics don't mean anything to me anymore, no matter how good or bad. Lou Reed is mainly a crap lyricist, no matter how much I like some of his music. Bob Dylan can fuck off and Johnny Rotten's lyrics are way better in PIL than the Sex Pistols. I'm finding it hard to come up with a good lyricist. I like the Fela Kuti school of broken english or the way Shonen Knife deliver English in a song, though.

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

blind date with the chancer
we had oysters and dry Lancer's
and the check when it arrived
we went dutch dutch dutch
a redder shade of neck
on a whiter shade of trash
and this emery board is giving me a rash
I'm flat out
you're so beautiful to look at when you cry
freeze, don't move
you've been chosen as an extra in the movie
adaptation of the sequel to your life


this is pure unadulterated lyrical GOLD baby, and infinitely better than even the very best that interpol can come up with

That's awful, Rob. At their best good lyrics make you smell the air and subvert your imagination, but that's a turd.

[HaydenAsche]

Oooh. Joanna Newsom is another great one.

And all that I want, and all that I need
and all that I've got is scattered like seed.
And all that I knew is moving away from me.
(and all that I know is blowing
like tumbleweed)

Strangled cats are generally not able to express themselves with the written word. Yeah?

[Glice]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

blind date with the chancer
we had oysters and dry Lancer's
and the check when it arrived
we went dutch dutch dutch
a redder shade of neck
on a whiter shade of trash
and this emery board is giving me a rash
I'm flat out
you're so beautiful to look at when you cry
freeze, don't move
you've been chosen as an extra in the movie
adaptation of the sequel to your life


this is pure unadulterated lyrical GOLD baby, and infinitely better than even the very best that interpol can come up with

Funnily enough, that is precisely the song I was thinking of. 'This emery board is giving me a rash' is as forced a rhyme as Interpol's (having only paid attention to their lyrics in that article). 'You've been chosen as an extra...' is in the same league as the contrived 'pithy' miserablist horseshit that that Corgan cunt would pipe out.

Now, I suppose it's only fair I contribute herewith:

The Fall; Hank Williams; Dolly Parton (pre-80s); Low; Leonard Cohen... I have difficulties after that - a lot of my favourite lyricists lately have been in languages I don't speak - Datblygu have a gorgeous scansion, or phonemics, but I've no idea if I'd think the same if I spoke Welsh. Haino, Diamanda, Brel, Piaf etc.

I'm more interested in how people use words (I concur with Marras' recent post) for sonic affect - someone like Converge or Napalm Death make great lyricists for me because they alienate me from a language I speak. I'm very picky about writers and poets, and that translates into a blanket disdain for the majority of lyricists.

[Glice]

Originally Posted by sarramkrop

I like the Fela Kuti school of broken english or the way Shonen Knife deliver English in a song, though.

On that tip I think that's part of the appeal of a lot of dancehall for me as well - with that it's very much a 'street' vernacular of English, there's loads of absurd neologisms/ slang being created every year.

Originally Posted by Glice

On that tip I think that's part of the appeal of a lot of dancehall for me as well - with that it's very much a 'street' vernacular of English, there's loads of absurd neologisms/ slang being created every year.

English being my second language, I get to hear a lot of stuff and sayings from other cultures trying to be translated into it. It's a joy to hear what comes up, sometimes. Jamaican slang slays, by the way.

[batreleaser]

david berman is a great writer, but i havnt liked any silver jews records since their first, he should stick to poetry i think.

i actually think sonic youth is often overlooked for the brilliance of their lyrics, all three, kim, lee, and thurston, are accomplished poets, but its probably because their contribution to the guitar is far more substantial.

hendrix also had this problem, his lyrics were beautiful at times, but his guitar playing far overshadowed his lyrics.

[Danny Himself]

I will eschew a simple list and in favour provide examples with my top lyricists, in some vain hope that somebody will enjoy a certain lyric and subsequently discover a new favourite band.

1. Conor Oberst / Bright Eyes

This band appeals to the religious element of my soul as well as the part of me that is a big fucking baby. Conor often has too much to say in his songs and maybe doesn't know when to stop, but his hits are far more frequent than his misses:

You turn on a spindle.
You are so much looser now
But you’re not explaining how
You gained such new repose.
I touch the clasp of your locket
With its picture held,
Some secret you wouldn’t tell
But let it choke your neck.

and also

All across electric wire, it's a baited line
Yeah, the hook's in deep, boys, there's no more time!
So you can struggle in the water
Be too stubborn to die
Or you can just let go
And be lifted to the sky.

I couldn't possibly put all of his/their songs in here but nearly each song has some genius in it.


2. Beck

Beck is a lot more miss than hit as far as lyrics go, some of them are nonsense and are just listed imagery and copped phrases. The hits are hits, though:

I just found me a bottle of blues, some strange comfort for a soul to soothe
Ain't it hard, ain't it hard to want somebody who doesn't want you?
And I've been waiting for a year or a day,
Some strange weather must be blowing my way
'Cause I got no mind to go or to stay or be left behind
Holding hands with an impotent dream in a brothel of fake energy
Put a nickel in a graveyard machine, I get higher and lower
I get higher and lower like a tired soldier with nothing to shoot
And nowhere to lose this bottle of blues..


3. Willy Mason

This guy blew me away when I first heard 'Oxygen'. His first album is great, though I regrettably have not heard the follow up.

I wanna be better than oxygen
So you can breathe when you're drowning and weak in the knees
I wanna speak louder than Ritalin
For all the children who think that they've got a disease
I wanna be cooler than t.v.
For all the kids that are wondering what they are going to be
We can be stronger than bombs
If you're singing along and you know that you really believe
We can be richer than industry
As long as we know that there's things that we don't really need
We can speak louder than ignorance
Cause we speak in silence every time our eyes meet.


4. The Minutemen

You all know why.

As I look over this beautiful land,
I can't help but realize that I am alone.
Why am I able to waste my energy?
To notice life being so beautiful?
What of the people who don't have what I ain't got?
Are they victims of my leisure?
To fail is to be a victim,
To be a victim of my choice.
Maybe partying will help.


5. M. Ward

No wonder Zooey Deschanel favours this poetic motherfucker over me.

I sailed a wild, wild sea
climbed up a tall, tall mountain
I met a old, old man
beneath a weeping willow tree
He said now if you got some questions
go and lay them at my feet
but my time here is brief
so you'll have to pick just three
And I said
What do you do with the pieces of a broken heart
and how can a man like me remain in the light
and if life is really as short as they say
then why is the night so long
and then the sun went down
and he sang for me this song.

Honourable Mentions:
Belle and Sebastian
My Morning Jacket
Brian Wilson
Johnny Cash
Daniel Johnston

[Rob Instigator]

I forgot

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS have awsome fucking lyrics

[jimbrim]

smog hasn't been mentioned yet, bill callahan's lyric's are wonderful.

Originally Posted by jimbrim

smog hasn't been mentioned yet, bill callahan's lyric's are wonderful.

Good call.

[Norma J]

Originally Posted by Norma J

Lyrics are very important to me. Bad lyrics can ruin even the greatest of music.

Nick Cave and any outfit he's in or been in.
Bob Dylan (the greatest lyricist).
Jamie Hutchings from Bluebottle Kiss.
Bright Eyes.
Nation of Ulysses/ Make-Up.
These Arms are Snakes.

...

These Arms are Snakes:


Your company rolled you over, Angela.
The penguin ate it's fish.
When you had your kids, you get to buy one get one free.
And when you found their father, you know that you've got a limited warranty.
A working woman's muse, you've got the single mother's blues.
You're starting a new work week, and with the kids at home, it's going to result in a real lack of sleep.
Take me down to where you pick up your check.
I want to see the building that you used to work in.
I want to watch you toss in your sleep.
She said to me, "in my years of working, I've learned a few things. And it's that the fastest way to make money is to steal it, plus it is tax-free. You shouldn't place your trust in your boss, and above all, fuck all loyalty. Because if it's your job or his, well then you're off to the pigs. What can i say except believe you me."
Words to live by.
"And when I eat it's with my kids, and if I dance, it's when they're asleep. When I shop, it's not for me and neither is when I breathe."
Take me down to where you pick up your check.
I want to see the bulding that you used to work in.
I want to watch you toss in your sleep.
I want to be there when your next chap walks out on you.
Some ain't got no luck.

[Onani Nic]

Originally Posted by Onani Nic

Off the top of my head...

The Replacements
Whitehouse
Royal Trux (mostly later stuff like Thank You eg: "I knew right then that I would always love her, even when her breasts were rotted with cancer")
Big Star
Descendents
Andrew WK
Turbonegro

and early 90's RAP.

SHIT. Forgot:
Flipper
Leonard Cohen
Kinks

and

THE LAST TWO DARKTHRONE ALBUM!!! GRAVEYARD SLUT = GENIUS!!!

[pbradley]

I've always liked Kristin Hersh's lyrics. Sure the rarely make a lick of sense but I enjoy the imagery.

[Cantankerous]

Originally Posted by jimbrim

smog hasn't been mentioned yet, bill callahan's lyric's are wonderful.

yes they are