What lyricists do you like and why?

[Mister Natural]

^ good call on Sufjan Stevens - so brilliant

I'll see that and call : Beck
"Woke up this morning, found a love light in the storm
Looked up this morning, saw the roses full of thorns
Guns are falling, they don't have nowhere to go
Oceans of diamonds always shine, smooth out below

Can we start it all over again this morning?
I lost all my defenses this morning
Won't you show me the way it used to be?

I've gone all around 'til there's nothing left to say
Wrote it all down into something that couldn't be said
I tore it all down and buried me underneath the wave

Can we start it all over again this morning?
I let down my defenses this morning
It was just you and me this morning
I fought all my guesses this morning
Won't you show me the way it could've been? "

[xoxos]

swim to be, let me enfold you

it's cloud illusions i recall

dead world
visionary
fight back fight back
that's all there is

[GaryG]

I like Grant Harts (formerly of Husker Du) lyrics a lot.

He can do small scale and suggest a whole setting in a few words:

"I put down the money and I picked up the keys,
we had to keep the stove on all night long so the mice wouldn't freeze"
-2541

Then he can go and write crazy rock operas based on Paradise Lost or the ruin of Pompeii (via a time travelling Werner Von Braun...) and it still makes sense and, y'know, scan and sound cool, not gibberish.

[dscoyne]

Here's one more country song with emotional impact and written in very commercial verse/chorus structure:

I Loved Her First
Songwriters: Walt Aldridge and Elliott Park
Recorded by Heartland

Look at the two of you dancing that way
Lost in the moment and each other's face
So much in love you're alone in this place
Like there's nobody else in the world
I was enough for her not long ago.

I was her number one she told me so
And she still means the world to me just so you know
So be careful when you hold my girl
Time changes everything life must go on
And I'm not gonna stand in your way.

I loved her first
I held her first
And a place in my heart
Will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But it's still hard to give her away
I loved her first

How could that beautiful woman with you
Be the same freckle faced kid that I knew
The one that I read all those fairy tales to
And tucked into bed all those nights
And I knew the first time I saw her with you
It was only a matter of time.

I loved her first
I held her first
And a place in my heart
Will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But it's still hard to give her away
I loved her first.

From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
Someday you might know what I'm going through
When a miracle smiles up at you
I loved her first.


Don Coyne
http://www.broadjam.com/doncoyne

[rp314]

Violeta Parra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbtX0ExiUow

[sjm]

I'll see that and call : Beck

I like Beck's lyrics a lot. My personal fave is Satan Gave me a Taco which is both zany und funny (like a fair amount of his stuff). Not sure if it's going to rank that highly on other people's list of great song lyrics though.

Dunno if Billy Bragg has been mentioned but he writes some great songs and also can be quite funny.

[SODDI]

John Cale

The Style It Takes (from "Songs for Drella")

"You've got the money, I've got the time
You want your freedom, make your freedom mine
'Cause I've got the style it takes
And money is all that it takes

You've got connexions and I've got the art
You like my attention and I like your looks
And I have the style it takes and you know the people it takes

Why don't you sit right over there, we'll do a movie portrait
I'll turn the camera on and I won't even be there
A portrait that moves, you look great I think
I'll put the Empire State Building on your wall
For 24 hours glowing on your wall
Watch the sun rise above it in your room
Wallpaper art, a great view

I've got a Brillo box and I say it's art
It's the same one you can buy at any supermarket
'Cause I've got the style it takes
And you've got the people it takes

This is a rock group called The Velvet Underground
I show movies on them
Do you like their sound
'Cause they have a style that grates and I have art to make

Let's do a movie here next week
We don't have sound but you're so great
You don't have to speak
You've got the style it takes (kiss)
You've got the style it takes (eat)
I've got the style it takes (couch)
We've got the style it takes (kiss)"

[mevla]

Christian Vander - composer, drummer, singer of Magma

Because it's an invented language. The words do not get in the way since we do not know what it means. What's left ? The music and the human voice. And Magma is at it now for 47 years.

/ë wïlëhnd/ë
Do wï sün
Wïlëhnd/ë

Rëwï lëh wï soï rëwï lëh wï soï
Rëwï lëh wï soï rëwï lëh wï düh
Ëwïlëh wï lëhnsoï

Ü malawalawala wëh sï wëhlï wëlohndaï
Döwï wëhlï wëhssaï
Ü malawalawala wëh sï wëhlï wëlohndaï
Döwï wëhlï wëhnsaï
Ëwëlëh d/ë wëhlï wëh sï lëhnsaï
Ëwëlëh wëh d/ë wëhlï wëh sï lëhnsaï
Ëwëlëh d/ë wëhlï wëh sï lëhnsaï
Ëwëlëh wëh d/ë wëhlï wëh sï lëhnsaï

Since this is not known much, here is a link for the curious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlJKKtgreqw

[aMUSEd]

Paul Simon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zLfCnGVeL4

[stratum]

Paul Simon

+1

[xoxos]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTKORcr1jhY

posted for jan

adam ant was alright some of the time.

[incubus]

I dislike almost everything. Why? Because most of it isn't real. I guess that is art, but fake lyrics that supposedly induce a mood of some sort just don't work for me.

Many Pink Floyd lyrics from Dark Side of the Moon are fantastic imo, most Beach Boys are rubbish.

Remember, "Scrambled eggs" was the basic for a Beatles song. To me that is lame. Be real or be gone.

I also don't care for the blatant plagiarism that is rap. It's bubble-gum with filthy lyrics and usually doesn't make any sense.

[cron]

I tend to avoid music with lyrics as I find them distracting, but Pulp's Jarvis Cocker is probably my favourite. The juxtaposition of the band's jaunty pop tunes against his often incendiary lyrics made for some cracking moments. Common People sounds like it could be played at a fairground, but on listening in turns out to be one of the angriest songs around. http://www.songtexte.com/songtext/pulp/ ... 69fc5.html

[deastman]

I tend to avoid music with lyrics as I find them distracting, but Pulp's Jarvis Cocker is probably my favourite. The juxtaposition of the band's jaunty pop tunes against his often incendiary lyrics made for some cracking moments. Common People sounds like it could be played at a fairground, but on listening in turns out to be one of the angriest songs around. http://www.songtexte.com/songtext/pulp/ ... 69fc5.html

Yeah, Jarvis is brilliant. I love his kitchen sink dramas.

[Mister Natural]

I like Grant Harts (formerly of Husker Du) lyrics a lot.
...we had to keep the stove on all night long so the mice wouldn't freeze"
-2541

I love this one as sung by Marshall Crenshaw :

Jenny gave us a number
Jenny gave us a place to stay
Billy got hold of a van
And then we moved the very next day
To twenty-five forty-one, big windows to lay in the sun
Twenty-five forty-one, big windows to lay in the sun
We put down the money
Then we picked up the keys
We had to keep the stove on all night long so the mice wouldn't freeze
I put our names on the mailbox
And I put everything else in the past
It was the first place we'd ever had to ourselves
I didn't know it would be the last
Twenty-five forty-one, big windows to lay in the sun
Twenty-five forty-one, big windows to lay in the sun
Now everything is over
Everything is done
Everything's in boxes now
At twenty-five forty-one
Things are so much different now
You could say the situation's reversed
And it will not be the last time I'll have to be out by the first
Twenty-five forty-one, big windows to lay in the sun
Twenty-five forty-one, big windows to lay in the sun
Twenty-five forty-one...

great fricking song !