Favourite lyricists

better leave Nigel Blackwell for Rotf, hence

1. Bod Dylan - obvious I know, but

"making everything form toy guns that spark to flesh coloured Christs that glow in the dark, it's easy to see without looking to far that not much is really sacred"

2. Phil Lynott. "The Boys are back in town get your knickers down - need I say more!"

3. Paul Simon: his use of assonance and alliteration is exquisite

4. Mick Hanly:

"We sleep in the same bed every night, we're not speaking
You're the outside left I'm outside right, the beds not creaking"


5. Mark E Smith: I'm sure to misquote so I won't even try



SJB

Male: Tom Waits

Female: Joni Mitchell

Not Mariah Carey then?:

You know you got me
So in love
You know you got me
Daydreamin' 'bout us
You know you got me
Starry eyed and elated
You know you got me
Whenever you want me baby
You know you got me
Hypnotized
You know you got me
With you on my mind
You know you got me
Feeling intoxicated
You know you got me
Whenever you want me baby
Baby, baby, ohhh
Baby, baby, ohh baby
Whenever you want me baby

Nick Cave
Natalie Merchant

Nigel Blackwell - nobody else comes close.

I woke up about eleven with hair like Brian May
I woke up about eleven (oooh) with hair like Brian May
I’m supposed to be the hardest man on the estate

I’m gonna go down to the river, the one that they call the Dee
I’m gonna go down to the river (oooh), that old snake they call the Dee
Lord you gotta let me drown so those ringlets they won’t see

Oh I need this situation about as much as I need
The Armory Show’s entire back catalogue

I haven’t got a balaclava, and my good girl, she got no snood
I haven’t got a balaclava, and my good girl’s got no snood
I take the 20.40 boxcar, the one that goes to Bude

I take my rope down to the crossroads to bring my poor heart ease
I hang my rope down at the crossroads to bring my poor heart ease
But the devil’s built a bypass, chopped down all of the trees

And hey I need a bypass about as much as I need
The Armory Show’s entire back catalogue

My second favourite is Nigel Blackwell again because nobody else comes close.

One way system - smooth and commendable
Go by bus - they’re highly dependable
The swings in the park for the kids have won awards
The clean streets acknowledged in the Lords
But what’s a park if you can’t see a linnet?
A timetable if your journey’s infinite?
My bag’s packed and I’m leaving in a minute
For what is Chatteris without you in it?

Car crime’s low, the gun crime’s lower
The town hall band CD, it’s a grower
You never hear of folk getting knocked on the bonce
Although there was a drive-by shouting once
But there’s a brass band everywhere
And I don’t drive, so I don’t care
And as a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square
What’s Chatteris if you’re not there?

OK - I also like W.S. Gilbert

There was an old man of St Bees
Who was horribly stung by a wasp.
When they said: “Does it hurt?”
He replied: “No, it doesn’t—
It’s a good job it wasn’t a hornet!”

Noel Coward

The Stately Homes of England,
How beautiful they stand,
To prove the upper classes
Have still the upper hand;
Though the fact that they have to be rebuilt
And frequently mortgaged to the hilt
Is inclined to take the gilt
Off the gingerbread,
And certainly damps the fun
Of the eldest son-
But still we won't be beaten,
We'll scrimp and scrape and save,
The playing fields of Eton
Have made us frightfully brave-
And though if the Van Dycks have to go
And we pawn the Bechstein Grand,
We'll stand
By the Stately Homes of England.

Tom Lehrer

Be prepared! that's the boy scouts' solemn creed,
Be prepared! and be clean in word and deed.
Don't solicit for your sister, that's not nice,
Unless you get a good percentage of her price.

and, of course, Raymond Douglas Davies

Robert owes half to Grenville
Who in turn gave half to Larry
Who adored my instrumentals
And so he gave half to a foreign publisher
She took half the money that was earned in some far distant land
Gave back half to Larry and I end up with half of goodness knows what
Oh can somebody explain why things go on this way
I thought they were my friends I can't believe it's me, I can't believe that I'm so green
Eyes down round and round let's all sit and watch the moneygoround
Everyone take a little bit here and a little bit there
Do they all deserve money from a song that they've never heard
They don't know the tune and they don't know the words
But they don't give a damn
There's no end to it I'm in a pit and I'm stuck in it
The money goes round and around and around
And it comes out here when they've all taken their share
I went to see a solicitor and my story was heard and the writs were served
On the verge of a nervous breakdown I decided to fight right to the end
But if I ever get my money I'll be too old and grey to spend it
Oh, but life goes on and on and no one ever wins
And time goes quickly by just like the moneygoround
I only hope that I'll survive

Have to agrre with Jamie's first entry - there is only one lyricist. Mr Hammill.

Bob Dylan
Nick Cave
Leonard Cohen
Paul Simon

Randy Newman & Jeffrey Foucault.
Two great songwriters/lyricists.
Try "Land of Dreams" and "Stripping Cane".


jim.....

Ian Anderson
Peter Gabriel
Roger Waters

Nobody has the mentioned the great Myles Peter Carpenter Rudge so I will. He died last year aged 81 and he came from Bristol and wrote some really great lyrics that I'm sure you all know and love.

Joni Mitchell
Leonard Cohen
Fagen/Becker
Joanna Newsom
Karen Peris

Roger Waters
Mark Knopfler

Lowell George
Van Dyke Parks
Michael Stipe in the 1980s
Robyn Hitchcock

well it's mostly singer/song writers that do their own in previous posts.
Dylan and Joni do it for me.

But in a previous time it would be Ira Gershwin and Cole Porter. Porter could sit at a piano at a party and do a parody, or alternative takes, of his own songs, spontaneously. That is amazing and genious.

Carol King is also a major talent even tho she was more pop music and wrote for others. Certainly not edgy.

Leonard Cohen is you're feeling depressed and alienated. Did he ever do a happy song?

quote:

Originally posted by Wolf2:


Leonard Cohen is you're feeling depressed and alienated. Did he ever do a happy song?

If you want a lover
Ill do anything you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
Ill wear a mask for you
If you want a partner
Take my hand
Or if you want to strike me down in anger
Here I stand
Im your man

If you want a boxer
I will step into the ring for you
And if you want a doctor
Ill examine every inch of you
If you want a driver
Climb inside
Or if you want to take me for a ride
You know you can
Im your man

Ah, the moons too bright
The chains too tight
The beast wont go to sleep
Ive been running through these promises to you
That I made and I could not keep
Ah but a man never got a woman back
Not by begging on his knees
Or Id crawl to you baby
And Id fall at your feet
And Id howl at your beauty
Like a dog in heat
And Id claw at your heart
And Id tear at your sheet
Id say please, please
Im your man

And if youve got to sleep
A moment on the road
I will steer for you
And if you want to work the street alone
Ill disappear for you
If you want a father for your child
Or only want to walk with me a while
Across the sand
Im your man


amongst others



SJB

One of my all time Favorites is BECK shear poetry.


Lazy Flies from Mutations


lazy flies all hovering above
the magistrate, he puts on his gloves
and he looks to the clouds
all pink and disheveled
there must be some blueprints,
some creed of the devil
inscribed in our minds
a hideous game
vanishes in thin air
the vanity of slaves
who wants to be there?
to sweep the debris
to harness dead-horses
to ride in the sun
a life of confessions
written in the dust
out in the mangroves
the mynah birds cry
in the shadows of sulphur
the trawlers drift by
they're chewing dried meat
house of disrepute
the dust of opiates
and syphilis patients
on brochure vacations
fear has a glare that traps you
like searchlights
the puritans stare
their souls are fluoresecent
the skin of a robot
vibrates with pleasure
matrons and gigolos
carouse in the parlor
their hand-grenade eyes
invalid and blind
vanishes in thin air
the vanity of slaves
who wants to be there?
to sweep the debris
to harness dead-horses
to ride in the sun
a life of confessions
written in the dust

Oh yeah! and this is sacrilege in this room don't see the fuss with a certain HMHB. I'll get me coat.



Dean..

Has to be Leonard Cohen - the thinking man's Bob Dylan...

I loved you in the morning
Our kisses deep and warm,
Your head upon the pillow
Like a sleepy golden strom.
Yes, many loved before us
I know that we are not new,
In city and in forest
They smiled like me and you,
But now it's come to distances
And both of us must try,
Your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

I'm not looking for another
As I wander in my time,
Walk me to the corner
Our steps will always rhyme,
You know my love goes with you
As your love stays with me,
It's just the way it changes
Like the shoreline and the sea,
But let's not talk of love or chains
And things we can't untie,
Your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

I loved you in the morning
Our kisses deep and warm,
Your head upon the pillow
Like a sleepy golden strom.
Yes, many loved before us
I know that we are not new,
In city and in forest
They smiled like me and you,
But let's not talk of love or chains
And things we can't untie,
Your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road

The screen door slams
Mary's dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside
darling you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me

...

Ian Dury Billericay Dickie

Had a love affair with Nina
In the back of my cortina
A seasoned-up hyena
Could not have been more obscener
She took me to the cleaners
And other misdemeanours
But I got right up between her
Rum and her Ribena

...

Undertones My perfect cousin

Now I've got a cousin called Kevin
He's sure to go to heaven
Always spotless clean and neat
The smoothest you can get them
He's got a fur lined sheepskin jacket
My ma said they cost a packet
She won't even let me explain
That me and Kevin were just not the same

...

Bob Dylan Sign Language
You speak to me
In sign language
As I'm eating a sandwich
In a small cafe
At a quarter to three

'Twas there by the bakery
Surrounded by fakery
...
I guess even the Bard had his off days.

Avoiding some of the more obvious....and not in order.

Cat Stevens
Roddy Frame
Elvis Costello
Robbie Roberston
Townes van Zandt

Cheers

Jim

I have to say one consistent one is Paul Simon. His solo career is just amazing, he worked with so many different groups and his session players were top notch. As is his quality of recordings.

The other night I played Cat Stevens, such a great performer back then. It was Tea for the Tillerman and Catch Bull at 4. put a smile on my face.

Yes, I agree. I return again and again to Tea for the Tillerman - it really is an exceptional album. He did the soundtrack for my favourite film too, Harold & Maude

For me the stories told by Springsteen affect me like no other.