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SODDI · Post by **SODDI** » Sun Apr 16, 2017 11:47 pm

I'm a big fan of Stan Ridgway (Wall of Voodoo). I'd say he was an American realist, along the lines of novelists like Nelson Algren. Realists are a neglected but brilliant bunch. He occasionally veers off into satire of American kookery sometimes. He's funny.

And he's got a plain way of singing so you can here every word.

Down the Coast Highway

"He took a drive down the coast highway
Blowin' where the air was fresh and clean
He had a plan that said I'll do it my way
Rollin' from the desert to the sea

Hit twenty-one years old up in prison
Just a little night job with a stolen key
Two years liftin' weights and pumpin' iron there in his cell
He came out lookin' just like Mohammed Ali

He drove around tailgating trucks and busses
Whistling some new Michael Jackson tune
He thought back on his momma and what she told him long ago
Do it right son, please, don't do it wrong

He's goin' home
Gonna buy some stuff down at the pier
He's all alone
He's got a radio, a gun, and some japanese beer
And on the highway he saw the big cars in line
And he thought, behind every fortune... there's got to be a crime

He took a drive down the coast highway
Blowin' where the air was fresh and clean
He had a plan that said I'll do it my way
But he could not plan for what he couldn't see

He's goin' home
All alone
And he stopped at a couple of markets and drug stores along the way
He'd just walk up and down the aisle and smile––funny that way

The last place he drove into had to be my place
They said he'd run out of gas anyway
And as he walked up to the counter with a blue steel gun in his hand
I took out my long rifle and I blew him away
I blew him away."

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Sun Apr 16, 2017 11:52 pm

+1 for Stan Ridgway, one of my favourites like:

Driving out of Vegas in their automobile
She was in the backseat while he was at the wheel
With the windows wide open
All the money from the store they'd gambled away

I just don't get why Ridgway/WoV didn't do some project with David Lynch in the 80's. That would have been a dream match up!

It is also why I have found recent liking for Kris Kristofferson I believe, as his lyrics are also very good, like:

Well, the old man was a stranger, but I'd heard his song before,
Back when failure had me locked out on the wrong side of the door.
When no-one stood behind me but my shadow on the floor,
And lonesome was more than a state of mind.

SODDI · Post by **SODDI** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 12:03 am

Numanoid wrote:+1 for Stan Ridgway, one of my favourites like:

Driving out of Vegas in their automobile
She was in the backseat while he was at the wheel
With the windows wide open
All the money from the store they'd gambled away

I just don't get why Ridgway/WoV didn't do some project with David Lynch in the 80's. That would have been a dream match up!

That is a sweet little song.

Ridgway formed Drywall to do soundtrack work, I guess he couldn't get anyone interested, and he always veers. But there are little instrumental bits hidden on all his albums that could be soundtracks. His wife, Pietra, is his keyboardist, just for info, but I believe Stan still claws at the keys.

xoxos · Post by **xoxos** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 12:28 am

big ball's in cow town
we'll all go down
big ball's in cow town
we'll dance around
pref. bob wills version
penetrating

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 12:43 am

I don't have time to pull quotes right now, but I'd list Tom Waits and Dan Fogelberg.

SODDI · Post by **SODDI** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 1:36 am

deastman wrote:I don't have time to pull quotes right now, but I'd list Tom Waits and Dan Fogelberg.

Yeah, Waits' persona is pure Algren, but his lyrics... "Downtown Train" is just heartbreaking, man.

"Outside another yellow moon
Has punched a hole in the nighttime, yes
I climb through the window and down the street
I'm shining like a new dime
The downtown trains are full
With all those Brooklyn girls
They try so hard to break out of their little worlds

Well, you wave your hand and they scatter like crows
They have nothing that will ever capture your heart
They're just thorns without the rose
Be careful of them in the dark
Oh if I was the one
You chose to be your only one
Oh baby can't you hear me now, can't you hear me now?

Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
Every night it's just the same
You leave me lonely, now

I know your window and I know it's late
I know your stairs and your doorway
I walk down your street and past your gate
I stand by the light at the four-way
You watch them as the fall
Oh baby, they all have heart attacks
They stay at the carnival
But they'll never win you back

Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
Every night it's just the same
Oh, baby

Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
All of my dreams just fall like rain
Oh, baby, on a downtown train

Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
Every night, every night it's just the same
Oh, baby

Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
All of my dreams just fall like rain
Well, on a downtown train

Well, on a downtown train
Well, on a downtown train
Well, on a downtown train
On a downtown train"

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 2:32 am

Frank Reader (Trashcan Sinatras). If you know who he is, then you probably know why. He's a brilliant lyricist IMO.

mcnelson · Post by **mcnelson** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 5:39 am

So much Morrissey to choose from:

So I broke into the Palace
With a sponge and a rusty spanner
She said: "Eh, I know you, and you cannot sing"
I said: "that's nothing - you should hear me play piano"

Michael L · Post by **Michael L** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 6:19 am

Joni Mitchell, because they are personal with sophisticated rhyming:

Just before our love got lost you said
"I am as constant as a northern star"
And I said, "Constantly in the darkness
Where's that at?
If you want me I'll be in the bar"

...or...

He was playing on the sidewalk
For passing change
When something strange happened
Glory train passed through him
So he buried the coins he made
In People's Park
And went looking for a woman
To court and spark

donkey tugger · Post by **donkey tugger** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 6:39 am

mcnelson wrote:So much Morrissey to choose from:
So I broke into the Palace
With a sponge and a rusty spanner
She said: "Eh, I know you, and you cannot sing"
I said: "that's nothing - you should hear me play piano"

Excellent, one of my faves ever.

donkey tugger · Post by **donkey tugger** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 6:43 am

Numanoid wrote:+1 for Stan Ridgway

+2. I saw him in Manchestoh in the late 80s, a marvellous gig.

I do also love Downtown Train by Tom Waits. It's even survived the experience of hearing the abomination that is Rod Stewart's version.

ariston · Post by **ariston** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 7:11 am

Just a few off the top of my head:

Tom Waits - because, well, obvious, innit? His lyrics cover the entire human comedy: the brutality, the tenderness, the comic and the tragic. And the absurd ("What's he building in there?")

Peter Gabriel - especially taking his development into account, from art school over-the-top fantasy twee (which I still love... I mean "Giant Hogweed"? "Slippermen"? What's not to love?) to hugely personal and directly emotional lyric writing.

Townes Van Zandt - Ach, heartbreaking.

Eddie Vedder - because he can channel anger into something astute, erudite and gripping. Almost never succumbs to simplistic black-and-white views either... except where certain US presidents are concerned.

Suzanne Vega - smart.

Tom Petty - can paint a complex picture with just a few simple words. Deceptively simple.

Herbert Grönemeyer - German can be a tough language for songs. Herbert has mastered it.

Nick Cave - not an easy or obvious inclusion. His lyrics are really well constructed, but... it's obvious that they're constructed. You can tell that he spends a lot of time on them, which sometimes robs them of flow and spontaneity. Still great.

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 7:13 am

cryophonik wrote:Frank Reader (Trashcan Sinatras). If you know who he is, then you probably know why. He's a brilliant lyricist IMO.

+1. And Weightlifting was just a incredibly brilliant album.

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 10:01 am

XTC wrote some great lyrics, whether by Andy Partridge or Colin Moulding.

Peter Gabriel and Suzanne Vega have already been mentioned here, as has my favourite lyricist - Joni Mitchell. The imagery in "Amelia" is beyond spectacular, but the lyrics of the "Hejira" album as a whole will never be beaten imho.

do_androids_dream · Post by **do_androids_dream** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 10:13 am

Morrissey - astounding how many great songs he's written so far. Always uncomfortably revealing the human condition. I know people who hate Morrissey and I think it's because he lays bare things that folks really don't like to even acknowledge let alone admit to.

Bowie (later works - 90's onwards) - when he 'grew up' he wrote some great songs - Black Tie White Noise/Earthling/Heathen/Blackstar

Prince - He went through periods of inspired lyrics

What lyricists do you like and why?