Is Neil Young in the Premier League of Lyricists?
Posted by: Sloop John B on 10 September 2015
I love a lot of Neil Young's music, I'm a fan, have seen him live so this is NOT an anti Neil Young post.
However is Neil up there with the best of them?
By the best of them I'm referring to Dylan, Simon, Morrison (V) and Cohen and others who I'm no doubt forgetting.
Got to thinking about this while listening to Zuma, one of my favourite Young albums.
"I saw you in Mercedes Benz
Practicing self-defense
You got it pretty good I guess
I couldn't see your eyes"
I might live a thousand years before I know what that means.
Although there are Young lyrics I love - the opening to "Powederfinger" - his lyrics for me never reach the pinnacle of the artists mentioned above.
I really don't want to be pompous and end this post with ........."Discuss" but what do you guys think?
Tricky one - NY is undoubtedly in the front rank of songwriters, and although some of his lyrics are great, he is maybe a bit too inconsistent. Just outside the very top five, maybe.
For me, the greatest lyricist in pop/rock is Chuck Berry, for his technical (eg scansion, rhyme), allusive and narrative skills. His economy is staggering - not a single word, syllable, or breath, is wasted; and his ability to evoke whole worlds and lives in under three minutes never fails to leave me aghast in admiration.
Then Dylan, for many of the same reasons, although Dylan's language is more elliptical, and his intent more literary. Ian Curtis is perhaps the closest England has ever come to Dylan in his brilliant use use of imagery, although his writing is less dense than Dylan's, and perhaps more direct.
Roger Waters is more direct still, but at his very best, his writing has real simplicity, acuity and emotional power, which is why his finest work (DSOTM, WYWH, Animals, ATD, some of the Wall, TPACOHH, TFC), resonates with listeners of all ages and backgrounds.
Lennon at his best, obviously (Macca could turn out brilliant lyrics, as per "Eleanor Rigby", "She's Leaving Home" etc, but could often be utterly facile - unlike Lennon, whose greatest sin as a wordsmith was sentimentality). And as a world-weary chronicler of British life and manners, Ray Davies has no equal.
There are others who are really really good, just outside the front rank - Paul Simon (although I don't like his music), Kate Bush, Chuck D of Public Enemy, Sly Stone, Bobbie Gentry ("it was the third of June, another sleepy dusty Delta day/I was out picking cotton and my brother was baling hay" - that's writing!), Howard Devoto, Mark E Smith (when you can hear him 
), Peter Gabriel (post Genesis, mostly), Jarvis Cocker, Lou Reed, Bowie (sometimes), Marvin Gaye, Scott Walker, Townes Van Zandt, Nick Cave, John Lydon, Momus, Joni Mitchell, Morrissey, Polly Harvey, Roy Harper... and Bernie Taupin's penned a few belters. Alex Turner is genius, even if he has never quite scaled the heights of that first AM album.
However, real genius lyricists are to be found in an earlier era - Cole Porter, Sammy Cahn, Alan J Lerner, Sondheim, Johnny Mercer, etc - these are virtuoso writers of dazzling technical ability and, most of all, sparkling, life-affirming wit, and to be honest I think only Dylan and Berry can stand with them.
Tricky one - NY is undoubtedly in the front rank of songwriters, and although some of his lyrics are great, he is maybe a bit too inconsistent. Just outside the very top five, maybe.
For me, the greatest lyricist in pop/rock is Chuck Berry, for his technical (eg scansion, rhyme), allusive and narrative skills. His economy is staggering - not a single word, syllable, or breath, is wasted; and his ability to evoke whole worlds and lives in under three minutes never fails to leave me aghast in admiration.
Then Dylan, for many of the same reasons, although Dylan's language is more elliptical, and his intent more literary. Ian Curtis is perhaps the closest England has ever come to Dylan in his brilliant use use of imagery, although his writing is less dense than Dylan's, and perhaps more direct.
Roger Waters is more direct still, but at his very best, his writing has real simplicity, acuity and emotional power, which is why his finest work (DSOTM, WYWH, Animals, ATD, some of the Wall, TPACOHH, TFC), resonates with listeners of all ages and backgrounds.
Lennon at his best, obviously (Macca could turn out brilliant lyrics, as per "Eleanor Rigby", "She's Leaving Home" etc, but could often be utterly facile - unlike Lennon, whose greatest sin as a wordsmith was sentimentality). And as a world-weary chronicler of British life and manners, Ray Davies has no equal.
There are others who are really really good, just outside the front rank - Paul Simon (although I don't like his music), Kate Bush, Chuck D of Public Enemy, Sly Stone, Bobbie Gentry ("it was the third of June, another sleepy dusty Delta day/I was out picking cotton and my brother was baling hay" - that's writing!), Howard Devoto, Mark E Smith (when you can hear him ), Peter Gabriel (post Genesis, mostly), Jarvis Cocker, Lou Reed, Bowie (sometimes), Marvin Gaye, Scott Walker, Townes Van Zandt, Nick Cave, John Lydon, Momus, Joni Mitchell, Morrissey, Polly Harvey, Roy Harper... and Bernie Taupin's penned a few belters. Alex Turner is genius, even if he has never quite scaled the heights of that first AM album.
However, real genius lyricists are to be found in an earlier era - Cole Porter, Sammy Cahn, Alan J Lerner, Sondheim, Johnny Mercer, etc - these are virtuoso writers of dazzling technical ability and, most of all, sparkling, life-affirming wit, and to be honest I think only Dylan and Berry can stand with them.
No mention of Cohen in that list????
Tricky one - NY is undoubtedly in the front rank of songwriters, and although some of his lyrics are great, he is maybe a bit too inconsistent. Just outside the very top five, maybe.
For me, the greatest lyricist in pop/rock is Chuck Berry, for his technical (eg scansion, rhyme), allusive and narrative skills. His economy is staggering - not a single word, syllable, or breath, is wasted; and his ability to evoke whole worlds and lives in under three minutes never fails to leave me aghast in admiration.
Then Dylan, for many of the same reasons, although Dylan's language is more elliptical, and his intent more literary. Ian Curtis is perhaps the closest England has ever come to Dylan in his brilliant use use of imagery, although his writing is less dense than Dylan's, and perhaps more direct.
Roger Waters is more direct still, but at his very best, his writing has real simplicity, acuity and emotional power, which is why his finest work (DSOTM, WYWH, Animals, ATD, some of the Wall, TPACOHH, TFC), resonates with listeners of all ages and backgrounds.
Lennon at his best, obviously (Macca could turn out brilliant lyrics, as per "Eleanor Rigby", "She's Leaving Home" etc, but could often be utterly facile - unlike Lennon, whose greatest sin as a wordsmith was sentimentality). And as a world-weary chronicler of British life and manners, Ray Davies has no equal.
There are others who are really really good, just outside the front rank - Paul Simon (although I don't like his music), Kate Bush, Chuck D of Public Enemy, Sly Stone, Bobbie Gentry ("it was the third of June, another sleepy dusty Delta day/I was out picking cotton and my brother was baling hay" - that's writing!), Howard Devoto, Mark E Smith (when you can hear him ), Peter Gabriel (post Genesis, mostly), Jarvis Cocker, Lou Reed, Bowie (sometimes), Marvin Gaye, Scott Walker, Townes Van Zandt, Nick Cave, John Lydon, Momus, Joni Mitchell, Morrissey, Polly Harvey, Roy Harper... and Bernie Taupin's penned a few belters. Alex Turner is genius, even if he has never quite scaled the heights of that first AM album.
However, real genius lyricists are to be found in an earlier era - Cole Porter, Sammy Cahn, Alan J Lerner, Sondheim, Johnny Mercer, etc - these are virtuoso writers of dazzling technical ability and, most of all, sparkling, life-affirming wit, and to be honest I think only Dylan and Berry can stand with them.
No mention of Cohen in that list????
Why not make a list of your own favourites, perhaps a few continental artists, Georges Brassens or Jacques Brel ??