Best lyricist

Stipe.

Even his 'mumbling period' is great.

I guess you hear the bits that matter?

John.

Tim Buckley ! Listen to 'monterey' and dispute it if you dare

Keith Reid, from Procol Harum. Literate and allusive, his lyrics were vague enough (enigmatic?) to not date like many other 60's/70's lyrics have. He always insisted on calling them "words", feeling that "lyrics" was too pretentious for what is sung in a pop song.

I'm also rather fond of John Lennon.

Randy Newman.

How can you beat the Political Science?

Honourable mention:
Harry Nilsson & Alex Chilton

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:

What about Carol King {The album Tapestry has some fine lyrics}, Melanie (Safka) {The Good Book elpee is her at her best lyrically} or Mary-Chapin Carpenter {This Shirt has great words and all of C'mon C'mon is impressive); if not then perhaps Polly Jane (PJ) Harvey.

ROTF,

Carol King's lyrics and voice sound honest, to me.
I am particularly fond of 'Rhyme and Reason', 'music' and 'Fantasy'.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by kuma:
Honourable mention:
Alex Chilton
___________________________________________________
Aah yes, how could we forget. Ballad of El Goodo, September Gurls, Kangaroo.

quote:

Kuma says
Honourable mention:
Harry Nilsson & Alex Chilton

Kuma - I'll have to check out Alex Chilton - any recommendations?

I have a complete set of Harry Nilsson records (up to Son of Schmilsson) and agree he's another great lyricist - Pandemonium Shadow Show is my favourite Nilsson album.

I'm just gobsmacked no one's mentioned the great Gibby Haynes. Anyone who can start with Nurses injection skills, skip to barium enemas then enter into a discourse on the futility of war before appearing to himself get totally disorientated all in the space of one song can drink from my canteen any day: X-Ray

And if you feel too many lyricists see songs as the opportunity to work out their personal psychological problems at your expense here's Gibby making a celebration of his: Lady Sniff

More songs here

More Gibby

And then there's hip-hop which seems to have degenerated into what Sarah Jones called the 'empty pursuit of props and ego'
(set to music by Ninja Tunes' DJ Vadim) but before it did we had Gil Scott-Heron who sadly gave it conkers far too soon.

Keith Elam's later stuff as 'Guru' is shockingly poor compared to his Gang Starr era. Only when your dad, who's a judge, tells you not to be a rap star but you go ahead then spend the rest of your life seeking his approval do you write stuff like this - a full clip of weirdly moral lyrical bullets. There's a retrospective double CD Full Clip and that's probably as much Gang Starr as you'll ever need. Triva, Keithy was the voice of 8-Ball in GTA III.

C

ROTF, Alex Chilton really deserves a thread of his own. 'Big Star' only ever made three albums, No. 1 Record, Radio City and Sister Lovers. You need them all, every one is a classic, as is Chris Bell's solo 'I Am The Cosmos'. Hugely influential on the likes of Teenage Fanclub, Jeff Buckley and REM. Chilton's solo stuff is notoriously patchy so tread with care.

Just a few I can think of -

Babyface
John Mayer
Joni Mitchell
Young MC

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:

quote:

Kuma says
Honourable mention:
Harry Nilsson & Alex Chilton

Kuma - I'll have to check out Alex Chilton - any recommendations?

ROTF,

Try his SET
He's a sort of forgotten artist. Tremendous body of work, tho.
It's not his original lyrics, nonetheless '"You've Got a Booger Bear Under There" & "The Oogum Boogum Song?" are hoot to listen to.

At any rate, in general, I don't care for a song or lyrics with heavy *message*. ( as LBM said, the messages are for the Western Union )

Kuma - Thanks, I'll give it go - always interested to try something different - Rotf

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sicey:
"Just a few I can think of -

John Mayer" [QUOTE]

You are a brave soul - I happen to agree he is very good, so I would put him as a favorite also but not necesserily in the "all-time" catagory. He gets little attention on this forum. Thankfully, most people ignore me when I mention him, rather than beratting me mercilessly I am greatly looking forward to Sept 8th when I see him live with Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino. I think he has showed continued maturity and improvement through each of his albums - lord, he is only what, 27 yoa?

Some other favorites, I have mentioned many times before - Bill Deasy, Tori Amos, Jerry Joseph, and Laura Veirs.

Jeff A

Bob Dylan.

I am greatly looking forward to Sept 8th when I see him live with Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino. I think he has showed continued maturity and improvement through each of his albums - lord, he is only what, 27 yoa?

Hi Jeff,

I would love to see him live, he was apparently supporting Sting last year which would have made an excellent concert, I saw Sting anyway in Germany and was secretly hoping John would pop along but alass no.
Didn't matter anyhow as Sting was excellent
Its funny that Mr Mayer gets overlooked, Elton John was quoted as saying that he is one of the best songwriters of the current era which I think is quite a good compliment towards his talent

Regards,

John

Dylan, Richard Thompson, Joni, Lennon

Some that you missed, in no particular order:

• Warren Zevon
• Frank Zappa
• Bernie Taupin(sometimes)
• Rod Stewart(sometimes, a long time ago)
• Chuck Berry(for a little while)
• Jacques Brel
• Serge Gainsbourg

Hi Peter,
for the place of French best lyricist, my vote goes for Georges Brassens... head and shoulders

Jean-Christophe

Lou Reed, Tom Waits, Mark E. Smith?

Of the ones that have already been mentioned I second Bob Dylan and Patti Smith.

Willem

I'd go along with many mentioned, but one I feel has been missed:

David Byrne - of Talking Heads

SJH

Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Pete Townshend. The lyrics to some of the Who's early stuff like Tattoo, Happy Jack, Pictures of Lily, I'm a Boy etc are aften hilarious and touching at the same time.

Whether they are the best or not I don´t think I´m that competent to judge. But Lou Reed, Bowie and Townshends lyrics has to be up there for me, among many others. Also some of Iggy Pops lyrics are superb IMHO.

quote:

Originally posted by Jean-Christophe:
Hi Peter,
for the place of French best lyricist, my vote goes for Georges Brassens... head and shoulders

Jean-Christophe

Yes, I forgot him didn't I, I was pondering that after I posted.

Ray Davies, the greatest chronicler of the Sixties.

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:
Bjorne - you don't like Joni then (not even Ladies of the Canyon).

What about Carol King {The album Tapestry has some fine lyrics}, Melanie (Safka) {The Good Book elpee is her at her best lyrically} or Mary-Chapin Carpenter {This Shirt has great words and all of C'mon C'mon is impressive); if not then perhaps Polly Jane (PJ) Harvey.

Rotf

I do like some of her albums but I'm not a big fan. PJ Harvey I like . My favourite female artist is Patti Smith.