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Even though I've been listening to Handsome Devil by The Smiths for 20 years I've only just properly listened to the words 🙂 - 'a boy in the bush is worth two in the hand' - genius...
Which reminds me Morrissey is IMO the best lyricist we've ever had. Ok his opinions voiced in public can be an acquired taste but he writes more honestly about the human condition than any other songwriter I've listened to.
Richard Hawley covers love and loneliness well but Morrissey has to go down as our best overall winner...
Opinions?
Ginger from the Wildhearts
Bruce Dickinson.
If you overlook the massive plagiarism from scripture Dylan has to be up there 😀
Billy Bragg
Ian Dury
next question?
Paul Simon - simply wonderful songwriter with simple, relatable, lyrics that are brought to life by the music that accompanies them.
"In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of ev'ry glove that layed him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
'I am leaving, I am leaving'
But the fighter still remains"
Eminem
All time you've got people like Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen who are poets, basically. Say what you want about their music (Cohen's is pretty ordinary IMHO) but their lyrical output is in a different league - very few singer songwriters can stand comparison.
Morrissey is in the pantheon, no doubt, but I don't think of him as a very honest songwriter like the OP says. He's more arch and clever - like a melancholy PG Wodehouse. Still one of the best of the last 30 years say.
Personal favourite is Will Oldham (Bonnie Prince Billy). Not listening to him as much these days but he's the modern songwriter I've liked best.
Binners,you have ruined my day.
Van Morrison.
Morrissey, I concur...
If I seem a little strange, well that's because I am. ...
Neil Young. " You are like a hurricane, there's calm in your eye"
Beck for me.
BIG, Tupac, Ian Brown, Beck, Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, Stamina MC, Bob Dylan - there's quite a few of excellent song writters past and pressant in my honest opinion.
BIG is my favourite though. No rapper can touch him tupac comes close though.
I reckon Elvis Costello.
Not a massive fan of his voice, but so many amazing lyrics.
Shane Mcgowan
- How anybody so ugly & wasted could create such beauty is beyond belief...
Steve Earle or Paul Simon
BIG is my favourite though. No rapper can touch him tupac comes close though.
Chuck D.
cant believe nobody has voted for Matt Goss (Bros!) yet.
Got to agree with loum about Shaun Ryder
[i]Son, I'm thirty
I only went with your mother cos she's dirty[/i]
... is the best opening lyric ever written. But Mozza is a genius songwriter! Even if nowadays he's a complete tool!
Axl Rose.
I like Nick Cave's lyrics. Tom Waits is good too.
Paul Simon +1
Dylan.
not those baggy trousered arm waving shouty blokes who come up with such inspired witticisms as this:
"Nobody better test me, cuz I don't wanna get messy
Especially when I step inside this bitch, dick freshly"
edlong - MemberGinger from the Wildhearts
Songwriter maybe. Definitely best rock songwriter of his generation I reckon. Lyricist I am not so sure. D D D Dayglo buffaloes...
Bob Dylan
Beck for me.
Really? His lyrics seem to me as though he's written a load of random words on pieces of paper, thrown them into the air and recorded them in the order they landed.
Sample:
In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey
Butane in my veins so I'm out to cut the junkie
With the plastic eyeballs, spray paint the vegetables
Dog food stalls with the beefcake pantyhose
Kill the headlights and put it in neutral
Stock car flamin' with a loser and the cruise control
Baby's in Reno with the vitamin D
Got a couple of couches sleep on the love seat
Someone keeps sayin I'm insane to complain
About a shotgun wedding and a stain on my shirt
Don't believe everything that you breathe
You get a parking violation and a maggot on your sleeve
(I'm a big fan, by the way)
[i]I saw a newspaper picture from the political campaign
A woman was kissing a child, who was obviously in pain
She spills with compassion, as that young child's face in her hands she grips
Can you imagine all that greed and avarice coming down on that child's lips
Well I hope I don't die too soon
I pray the Lord my soul to save
Oh I'll be a good boy, I'm trying so hard to behave
Because there's one thing I know, I'd like to live long enough to savour
That's when they finally put you in the ground
I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down
[/i]
Miles Hunt. He'll sing the song too, not bleat them out like a sheep. Like Dylan.
Just to throw in some of the opposite sex:
Joni Mitchell
Janis Ian
Tom Waits
Louden Waitwright 3
Jello Biafra - Dog bite & Nazi Punks,to name but two classics.....
nick cave. genius.
is BIGthe best opening lyric ever written
**** it; when I die I hope I go to hell
Chuck D.
Is a good shout but I think BIG is better.
My fave lyrics are..
Dress me up for battle
When all i want is peace
Those of us who pay the price
Come home with the least.
Loads and loads
Mos def, just because, y'know. Scrobious Pip is just a great poet, Justin vernon ( Bon Iver), is very cool, Karen Washington, sufjan Stevens, another fav is jewel by the Bombay bicycle club, such great lyrics " you control the game, without playing it right".... Ouch
Mos def
Scrobious Pip
Both great shouts
I forgot Roots Manuva - "as you can tell I'm from a basic stock I get vexed and want to beat the world with a pork chop"
[i]Scroobious Pip[/i] made me cry recently.
(Broken Promise)
😥
Scrobious Pip [s]is just a great poet[/s] writes terribly pretentious self-important drivel.
IMO, obviously
Well, compared to the cliché ridden pap of Steve Earl, it would sound pretentious.
IMO, obviously 😉
Weird Al.