Favorite Lyricist

[Soror_YZBL]

Carole King, Ani Difranco, Leonard Cohen and Greg Dulli

[Runesmith]

The two Johns from They Might Be Giants.

[neoREgen]

Geoff Rickly (Thursday). I haven't really listened to their music much recently, but I used to close my eyes and imagine everything he said... and most of the time I wouldn't understand what a song was about until really thinking through the visuals he describes.

James Mercer (The Shins) and Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie) are a couple of my favorites as well. Gibbard has a way with visuals and is pretty easily accessible. Mercer has a lot of personality in the words he uses and nearly all of their songs have grown on me in terms of sheer meaning/understanding.

I love Radiohead, but can't say that I find most of Thom's lyrics too provocative. They seem especially dry to just read. He has a knack for keeping things brief and often a bit too vague for me to really understand, but now and then I find myself impressed. He's my favorite vocalist, but not lyricist I think.

And last but not least- Cedric Bixler-Zavala (The Mars Volta)... If you want to have a vocabulary lesson, just try interpreting some of their lyrics. I'm under the impression that overall there isn't too much thought put in as far as meaning or moral lessons are concerned. There are bits here and there that can be deciphered (especially on Deloused) but overall I find them to mean almost nothing to me while somehow simultaneously being some of the most dense and unique lyrics I've ever read/heard.

[hcats]

No Roger Waters yet? Shaaaaaaame!

[norters]

Its a close call because I think there are so many but at the end of the day I can't seperate Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. Maybe, just maybe the boss edges it because Thunder Road makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up every time I hear it.

[MronoC]

John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats, ever since hearing "No Children" the first time:

I hope that our few remaining friends
Give up on trying to save us
I hope we come up with a failsafe plot
To piss off the dumb few that forgave us
I hope the fences we mended
Fall down beneath their own weight
And I hope we hang on past the last exit
I hope it's already too late
And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here
Someday burns down
And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away
And I never come back to this town again
In my life
I hope I lie
And tell everyone you were a good wife
And I hope you die
I hope we both die

I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow
I hope it bleeds all day long
Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises
We're pretty sure they're all wrong
I hope it stays dark forever
I hope the worst isn't over
And I hope you blink before I do
Yeah I hope I never get sober
And I hope when you think of me years down the line
You can't find one good thing to say
And I'd hope that if I found the strength to walk out
You'd stay the hell out of my way
I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand in unlovable hand
And I hope you die
I hope we both die

[Lolicat]

No Roger Waters yet? Shaaaaaaame!

'My daddy died in the war *repeat into infinity*'

[DasKonstruct]

Ogre from Skinny Puppy, the man takes free flowing thought and turns it into lyrics to convey concepts and atmosphere. Its really trippy how well it works.

here falls now undone
looks beyond the credits sum
livid fractures less of fate
the whisper winds blow the seed of hate
disturbed society dogs my turn with no values intend to raise ability tried and tested pointless view
gods got security
hands like snakes sow the seeds
raise all negative force-fed
traces poisons all impure

profane the haunted heaven jeering leapt into the pit of calamity
a mean condition no wealth dents provisions for a time unknown
thelemic gestures all planned and hatched in seasons of dissolute pain

cried afflicted and infected
oblige the systems perfect dream
distorted my words assume all that is programmed before and somewhat left
unsaid behind shutters
dirt before desire dusted
crap ingested comes

stealing life that you are not visited warped torpedo night crawls through
the distant and irrelevant a good life's experiment fused
I'm laying violent hands upon a dead card calling cattle the playthings are so abused the derelict dial phone clock pusher
delved in reliving the future too

I'm sticking pins and needles in this stinging rotten fleshlike substitute
pieces of half cooked meat that are walking on this earth abort desire irrelevance ticks in front in view

a candle rhyme to realign burnt out candles on the wall seize the moment...
reach

[Lolicat]

I prefer how Patti Smith does it, without the need for dissonance, etc, but I do like the spontaneity. Beat poetry <3

[VoD]

Tegan and Sara, imho.

Living Room, Where Does The Good Go, The Con.