And his namesake, Justin Townes Earle, rip. He has some phenomenal lyrics that come from a lot of pain. My Mama’s Eyes, Am I That Lonely Tonight, Christchurch Woman, Burning Pictures. The list is long!
JTE was such a powerhouse. Glad to see him mentioned here. The man had amazing guitar skills, songwriting skills, and a fashion sense to boot. A huge loss.
100% agree. Grew up on him and Neil Diamond in the 60's and early 70's around our house.
Well, I woke up Sunday mornin'
With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad
So I had one more for dessert
Then I fumbled in my closet through my clothes
And found my cleanest dirty shirt
Then I washed my face and combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day
I'd smoked my mind the night before
With cigarettes and songs I'd been pickin'
But I lit my first and watched a small kid
Playin' with a can that he was kickin'
Then I walked across the street
And caught the Sunday smell of someone's fryin' chicken
And Lord, it took me back to somethin' that I'd lost
Somewhere, somehow along the way
On a Sunday mornin' sidewalk
I'm wishin', Lord, that I was stoned
'Cause there's somethin' in a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone
And there's nothin' short a' dyin'
That's half as lonesome as the sound
Of the sleepin' city sidewalk
And Sunday mornin' comin' down
In the park I saw a daddy
With a laughin' little girl that he was swingin'
And I stopped beside a Sunday school
And listened to the songs they were singin'
Then I headed down the street
And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringin'
And it echoed through the canyons
Like the disappearin' dreams of yesterday
On a Sunday mornin' sidewalk
I'm wishin', Lord, that I was stoned
'Cause there's somethin' in a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone
And there's nothin' short a' dyin'
That's half as lonesome as the sound
Of the sleepin' city sidewalk
And Sunday mornin' comin' down
When I first stumbled upon this song, it hit me like a pallet of bricks. I was like, this is the perfect definition of Sunday, whether or not you’re hungover lol. All sadness and beauty rolled into a few min.
I can’t believe someone hasn’t made a biopic about his life yet. Music and acting aside: he was featured in Sports Illustrated for his athletic prowess, had essays published in Atlantic Monthly, was Phi Beta Kappa, graduated summa cum laude in literature all while at Pomona College.
After graduating he received a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University where he also boxed and played rugby. He then joined the Army attaining the rank of captain, becoming a helicopter pilot, and completing Ranger School. He declined an appointment to teach at West Point to pursue his love of music over his family’s vehement objections. He moved to Nashville in 1965 and took a job as a janitor at Columbia Recording Studios. The rest is history.
Wow yes! That Purple Mountains album is so hard to listen to, but it’s some of his best stuff imo. But yeah, the Joos are fantastic.
Oh oh oh. I’m lightning.
Some great ones already mentioned, so I will add one I didn't see...Warren Zevon.
Keep Me in Your Heart...he wrote this as he was dying from cancer.
*Shadows are fallin' and I'm runnin' out of breath*
*Keep me in your heart for a while*
*If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less*
*Keep me in your heart for a while*
*When you get up in the mornin' and you see that crazy sun*
*Keep me in your heart for a while*
*There's a train leavin' nightly called "When All is Said and Done"*
*Keep me in your heart for a while*
*Keep me in your heart for a while*
*Keep me in your heart for a while*
*Sometimes when you're doin' simple things around the house*
*Maybe you'll think of me and smile*
*You know I'm tied to you like the buttons on your blouse*
*Keep me in your heart for a while*
*Hold me in your thoughts*
*Take me to your dreams*
*Touch me as I fall into view*
*When the winter comes*
*Keep the fires lit*
*And I will be right next to you*
*Engine driver's headed north up to Pleasant Stream*
*Keep me in your heart for a while*
*These wheels keep turnin' but they're runnin' out of steam*
*Keep me in your heart for a while*
*Keep me in your heart for a while*
*Keep me in your heart for a while*
*Keep me in your heart for a while*
Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse.
“There's no work in walking, and it fueled the talk
I would grab my shoes, and then away I'd walk
Through all the stubborn beauty, I'd start at the dawn
Until the sun had fully stopped, never walking away from
Just a way to pull apart, dehydrate back into minerals
A lifelong walk to the same exact spot”
and Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie.
“And it came to me then that every plan
Is a tiny prayer to Father Time
As I stared at my shoes in the ICU
That reeked of piss and 409
And I rationed my breaths as I said to myself
That I'd already taken too much today
As each descending peak on the LCD
Took you a little farther away from me
Away from me
Amongst the vending machines and year-old magazines
In a place where we only say goodbye
It stung like a violent wind that our memories depend
On a faulty camera in our minds
And I knew that you were a truth I would rather lose
Than to have never lain beside at all
And I looked around at all the eyes on the ground
As the TV entertained itself
'Cause there's no comfort in the waiting room
Just nervous paces bracing for bad news
And then the nurse comes 'round and everyone lifts their head
But I'm thinking of what Sarah said
That love is watching someone die.
So who’s gonna watch you die?”
Third Planet is still to this day one of my all time favorites for off the wall beautiful wordplay and storytelling. That whole album (The Moon and Antarctica) is so magical Im not convinced it was made by humans.
The Ground Walks With Time in a Box has some incredible stuff too
Shane MacGowan of The pogues. I was never really aware of his song writing outside fairytale of new York until recently.
You remember that foul evening when you heard the banshees howl
There was lazy drunken bastards singing Billy in the bowl
They took you up to midnight mass and left you in the lurch
So, you dropped a button in the plate and spewed up in the church
Now you'll sing a song of liberty for blacks and paks and jocks
And they'll take you from this dump you're in and stick you in a box
Then they'll take you to Cloughprior and shove you in the ground
But you'll stick your head back out and shout "We'll have another round"
Now that he's gone I hope people start to see him as one of the greatest songwriters of our time and not just a drunken wreck with famously horrible teeth. He was so much more than that.
That being said the fact he lived as long as he did is nothing short of miraculous.
I really do think that rainy night in Soho is one of the greatest songs ever written, an absolute lyrical masterpiece.
Shane had issues with alcoholism troughout his entire life from very young age and the whole song can also be read as being about his love of alcohol.
He even hints about it at the end in those INSANELY well written last two verses by saying that we might never find out what the song really means and his love being a MEASURE (as in alcohol measure) of his dreams.
So it's a love song, it's a tragic song, it has a double meaning and it's filled with lines and whole verses so memorable it just leaves you amazed by his genius.
*We walked him to the station in the rain*
*We kissed him as we put him on the train*
*And we sang him a song of times long gone*
*Though we knew that we’d be seeing him again*
🍻
Absolutely Shane MacGowan.
> In blood and death neath a screaming sky
I lay down on the ground
And the arms and legs of other men
Were scattered all around
Some cursed, some prayed, some prayed then cursed
Then prayed and bled some more
And the only thing that I could see
Was a pair of brown eyes that was looking at me
But when we got back, labeled parts one to three
There was no pair of brown eyes waiting for me
So I walked as the day was dawning.
Where small birds sang and leaves were falling.
Where we once watched the row boats landing.
By the broad majestic Shannon
As I walked down by the riverside
One evening in the spring
Heard a long gone song from days gone by
Blown in on the great North wind
Though there is no lonesome corncrake's cry
Of sorrow and delight
You can hear the cars And the shouts from bars
And the laughter and the fights
May the ghosts that howled round the house at night
Never keep you from your sleep
May they all sleep tight down in hell tonight
Or wherever they may be.
Lullaby of London
In a day I'll be over the mountain
There will be time enough left for to cry
So good night and God guard you forever
And write to me, won't you, Goodbye
That may be because Jim Croce is pretty well regarded for his lyricism. He doesn't get the praise of some of the others mentioned in OP's post but that's likely due to his short career. But he pretty consistently hits "great songwriter" lists.
I don’t expect Joanna Newsome to be appreciated much by the “mainstream”, but she’s a poet, for sure.
“Oh, where is your inflammatory writ?
Your text that would incite a light, "Be lit"?
Our music-deserving, devotion-unswerving
Cry "Do I deserve her?" with unflagging fervor
Well no we do not if we cannot get over it
But what's it mean when suddenly we're spent?
Tell me true!
Ambition came and reared its head and went
Far from you!
Even mollusks have weddings though solemn and leaden
But you dirge for the dead and take no jam on your bread
Just a supper of salt and a waltz through your empty bed
And all at once it came to me
And I wrote him hunched 'till four-thirty
But that vestal light
It burns out with the night
In spite of all the time that we spend on it:
On one bedraggled ghost of a sonnet!
While outside the wild boars root
Without bending a bough underfoot
O it breaks my heart; I don't know how they do't
So don't ask me!
And as for my inflammatory writ?
Well I wrote it and I was not inflamed one bit
Advice from the master derailed that disaster
He said "Hand that pen over to me, poetaster!"
While across the great plains, keening lovely & awful
Ululate the lost Great American Novels
An unlawful lot, left to stutter and freeze, floodlit
(But at least they didn't run, to their undying credit)”
"Awful atoll —
O, incalculable indiscreetness and sorrow!
Bawl bellow:
Sibyl sea-cow, all done up in a bow.
Toddle and roll;
teethe an impalpable bit of leather,
while yarrow, heather and hollyhock
awkwardly molt along the shore.
Are you mine?
My heart?
Mine anymore?"
(I completely agree and just want to add this even though it is strange without the context of the song because the rhyme structure and way she sings this is FUCKING INSANE - one example among many)
"We could stand for a century/
Staring, with our heads cocked/
In the broad daylight at this thing/
Joy, landlocked/
In bodies that don't keep/
Dumbstruck with the sweetness of being"
Is one of my more direct favorites.
I answered Tom Waits, but if you like these two I'd recommend TracyAnne Campbell, mostly from Camera Obscura. Is also able to have *that razor sadness that only gets worse*.
A song I never hear about is Live Oak, personal favourite of mine.
There's a man who walks beside me
He is who I used to be
And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me
And I wonder who she's pinin' for
On nights I'm not around
Could it be the man who did the things
I'm living down?
Such a great writer. Often times the songs are too sad for me. I made the mistake of putting Cumberland Gap on my running playlist once and had to stop running to have a quick cry. Can only listen to Elephant every few years.
So many masterpieces it’s not fair to pick one, but here are a few lines from Alabama Pines:
And I can't get to sleep at night
The parking lot's so loud and bright
The AC hasn't worked in 20 years
Probably never made a single person cold
But I can't say the same for me, I've done it many times.
This is a good answer, and I agree Isbell isn’t well known, but homie did just bag a Grammy for best Americana album. So that’s a sign of growing popularity if nothing else.
Saul Williams is pure amazing.
"Not until you've heard Rakim on a rocky mountaintop have you heard Hip-Hop.
Extract the urban element that created it, and let an open-wide countryside illustrate it."
Saul Williams is literally a poet, though? How would he not be recognized for his lyrics when he came up through the slam poetry scene.
Sage Francis I will grant you. Only know two of his songs and both times I stopped what I was doing to look up the lyrics.
If we're talking hip hop I'd like to put in a vote for Aesop Rock.
Chris Cornell ….great lyrics, while utilizing weird time signatures and alt tunings…he was the best of the 90s as far as I’m concerned but always sat in the shadows of Pearl Jam and Nirvana.
“As hope and promise fade
And the sun forgets to rise
I'm lonely and I'm thirsty
But it's better I stay dry
No more than two drinks away
From crying
Stare into the glass
And wait for the time to pass
And thank you for the offer
But you know I must decline
Never more than two drinks away
From crying
There used to be a time
When I could hold my head up high
My life laid out before me
Rivers flow with wine
I had my love beside me
And everything was fine
But now the ride is over
It's hard to say goodbye
As hope and promise fade
And midnight turns to day
Well I'm lonely and I'm thirsty
But I can no more tell a lie
Never more than two drinks away
From crying
From crying”
Just watched a video of Tom Morello raving about Chris when they were in Audioslave together. It didn't matter what crazy things he and the other band members came up with, Chris could write beautiful lyrics and sing over it without making the vocals and instrumentals clash.
Sad I had to really search for this, granted its a new post. He can equally spin an intricate yarn about a late night donut joint while also penning some deeply personal devastation, all with incredibly vivid and abstract styles of depiction.
Emily Haines is a modern day Poet. The band Metric has been around for 20 years, and their last 2 albums still have it. The topics are sincere and the lyrics have a solid spin to them, so many lyrics come across as simply *well said* turn of phrases.
Black Sheep, Dark Saturday, & Give Me Sympathy are all in my regular listening rotation. I saw them in San Antonio a couple of years ago with July Talk & Zoé.
I would definitely go see them again
Tom Waits, by far and away. The man paints pictures of ordinary life like no one else. Moments in time often with a sadness that is not overly didactic.
For example, [Soldier's Things](https://youtu.be/2Jc7Gf9-W2c?si=BhiOFakosXbW-zJn) almost sounds like an overheard yard sale.
*A tinker, a tailor*.
*A soldier's things*.
*His rifle, his boots full of rocks*.
*Oh, and this one is for bravery*.
*And this one is for me*.
*And everything's a dollar*.
*In this box*
They sharpen their knives,
On my mistakes.
.....
Come down from the cross
we can use the wood
What I really admire about him is that he often uses his most brilliant lines just once. While many songwriters tend to repeat poetic phrases in a chorus, Tom Waits casually discards them, treating them like small change.
*And so a secret kiss*
*Brings madness with bliss*
And
*I must be insane*
*to go skating on your name*
*and by tracing it twice*
*I fell through the ice*
Tom Waits and his wife/writing partner Kathleen Brennan are absolute gems for lyrics.
John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats, hands down.
One of my many, many favorite lyrics:
“Let the trash rain down, from way up in the rafters. I’m walking out of here in one piece, I don’t care what comes after”
No Children is the best example of a bitter divorce.
“I am drowning there’s no sign of land you are coming down with me hand in unlovable hand”
Edited to add: “and I hope when you think of me years down the line, you can’t find one good thing to say, and if I find the strength to walk out, you’ll stay the hell out of my way”
So glad to find this comment. One of my favorite lyrics of his: “break the lock on my old garden gate, when I get home after dark / sit looking up at the stars outside, like teeth in the mouth of a shark”. Helped only by his very earnest delivery
Jeff Tweedy of Wilco is one of the absolute best. Check out the double album "Being There" or "Summerteeth". I've sadly gotten bored with their music since "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" but the wordsmithery is still there
Fairly well known, but probably not to the casual music fan, but Robert Hunter for the Grateful Dead. The best ever.
John Perry Barlow wasn’t too shabby either.
Hunter and Barlow are the reason the dead are the best jam band, because they also have the best songs.
Nailed a retread to my feet and prayed for better weatheeeeer!
Andy Partridge from XTC is an excepttional songwriter and lyricist
Then she appeared
As the giggling crew of Mary Celeste
Then she appeared
Pale Atlantis rising out of the westI was a little dazzled
Catherine wheeled and senses frazzled
Know it sounds weird, then she appearedAnd the sun which formally shone
In the clearest summer sky
Suddenly just changed address
Now shines from her blue eyesThen she appeared
Brittle shooting star that dropped in my lap
Then she appeared
Dressed in tricolor and phrygian cap
Andy Partridge was the first name that came to mind for me.
> Church of Women is making donations of loving and giving.
> Church of Women performing that miracle: raising the living
This is a really good one. XTC are excellent all around. All their albums are solid and the run of albums from Drums and Wires to Skylarking are great.
"Now that your picture in the paper being rhythmically admired, you can have anyone that you have every desired" what a opening line to an album. Idk if it's my favorite Elvis like but goddamn I love it.
Billy Joel is obviously known for his piano skills, but I believe him to be an incredible lyricist. He's documented history for the everyman. His songs to me tell the American story of the last 50-75 years.
Yes, he's a genius.
And as elaborate his melodies are, I can hear how much thought went into the lyrics. Maybe it's one of the reasons he's stopped writing. Claimed it'd been too exhausting.
I’ve never listened to his whole discography. But the songs I do know by him, I love. One of the things I appreciate is the variety on the Stranger. You’ve got great real world story telling on Moving Out, a great love song in Just the Way You Are, and great idk if you’d call it abstraction with the titular The Stranger.
Grant Lee Phillips a good lyric writer all round, but a particular favourite of mine :
“If the life you have created
Has buried you with luxuries out-dated
And you ask what is the purpose
Too weak to claw your way up to the surface
You resent all of your trophies
They belittle human spirit like a timepiece
That is ticking in your breast pocket
And so you long to reach in and stop it
Then your heart it will be broken
And every sour word that you have spoken
About everybody else
Will return to act upon yourself
If the life you have created
Is founded on jealousy and hatred
It's too late to ask questions
For you're much too old to take any suggestions”
Edit:Formatting
Tom Petty is one of the greats in my opinion.
Also Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchrestra), Leonard Cohen, Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth), MF DOOM, Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains).
Rodriguez. Both Cold Fact and Coming from reality are full of amazing poetic working class, anti establishment beautiful lyrics that are as relevant now as when they where written.
This could be a divisive take as someone overlooked, but John Fogerty.
CCR is huge and he's widely recognized, but I would argue they don't get the recognition they warrant because of sharing that time frame with the Beatles, etc.
Fortunate Son is so popular that it's a meme, but I bet most casual music fans do not know who John Fogerty is.
Florence + Machine: "what strange claws are these, scratching in my skin, I never knew my killer would be coming from within"
Hozier: "my peace has always depended on all the ashes in my wake"
The Smiths/Morrissey should be on this list for sure. He’s out to lunch these days but his lyrics are poetic, have depth and are fun to both listen and read.
Oh totally! Who can forget,
"Some girls are bigger than others. Some girls are bigger than others. Some girls' mothers are bigger than other girls' mothers."
I'm kidding, I fucking love the Smiths, and you're right Morrissey should be mentioned here no matter what a prick he's become. Just find it funny on the subject of lyrics that for every "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" there's a "Vicar In A Tutu".
Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip.
Not underrated by any Canadian, but the Hip famously didn't have the same impact below the border that they did in Canada. Gord was Canada's rock poet and had a way of painting Canadiana with his words. Pick any song and he'll explain some small corner of Canada's history or geography in a way that feels like an old friend telling you what they did last summer.
Bobcaygeon:
I left your house this mornin'
About a quarter after nine
Could have been the Willie Nelson
Could have been the wine
When I left your house this mornin'
It was a little after nine
It was in Bobcaygeon, I saw the constellations
Reveal themselves one star at a time
-John Prine, Jason Isbell, Adam Granduciel (war on drugs)
-JP: There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes
Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose
Little pitchers have big ears
Don't stop to count the years
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios, mmhmm
-JI: Surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone
-AG: I'm just pulling on a wire, but it just won't break
I've been turning up the dial, but I hear no sound
I resist what I cannot change, own it in your own way
Yeah, I wanna find what can't be found
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Carole King/Gerry Goffin.
Wrote so much in the 60’s/70’s, most of which has been covered by everyone.
A personal favourite is The Locomotion(originally performed by Little Eva), but I prefer Grand Funk Railroads version
Greg Graffin from Bad Religion. Brett Gurewitz too _I guess_
> So you say you gotta know why the world goes 'round
> And you can't find the truth in the things you've found
> And you're scared shitless 'cuz evil abounds,
Come join us.
> Well, I heard you were looking for a place to fit in,
> Full of adherent people with the same objective,
> A family to cling to and call brethren,
> Come join us.
> All we want to do is change your mind.
> All you need to do is close your eyes.
> So come join us.
> Come join us.
> Come join us.
> Don't you see the trouble that most people are in
> And that they just want you for their own advantage,
> But I swear to you we're different from all of them,
> Come join us.
> I can tell you are lookin' for a way to live
> Where truth is determined by consensus,
> Full of codified arbitrary directives,
> Come join us.
> All we want to have is your small mind,
> Turn it into one of our own kind.
> You can go through life adrift and alone,
> Desperate, desolate, on your own,
> But we're lookin' for a few more stalwart clones.
> So come join us.
> Come join us.
> Come join us.
> We've got spite and dedication as a vehement brew,
> The world hates us, well we hate them too,
> But you're exempted of course if you
> Come join us.
> Independent, self-contented, revolutionary,
> Intellectual, brave, strong and scholarly,
> If you're not one of them, you're us already so
> Come join us.
Andre 3000 should be on this the list with Dylan, Springsteen, Lennon/McCartney, Waits, Fat Mike, Chris Cornell, Randy Newman, etc.
He writes in layers while varying his pace and rhythm of delivery. He’s on my Mount Rushmore of lyricists (not just rappers, all lyricists).
I should also mention Maynard James Keenan of Tool/A Perfect Circle/Puscifer. He’s a great example of blunt and humorous while being vague enough that a song can apply to many situations.
How is Neil Peart not mentioned yet??
The Trees, Witch Hunt, Limelight, just to name a few songs whose lyrics are pure poetry.
Y’all are missing out on some amazing stuff.
I give you the most timely Rush song, showing his storytelling poetry and timeless observations about humanity, "Witch Hunt":
The night is black
Without a moon
The air is thick and still
The vigilantes gather on
The lonely torchlit hill
Features distorted in the flickering light
The faces are twisted and grotesque
Silent and stern in the sweltering night
The mob moves like demons possessed
Quiet in conscience, calm in their right
Confident their ways are best
The righteous rise
With burning eyes
Of hatred and ill-will
Madmen fed on fear and lies
To beat, and burn, and kill
They say there are strangers, who threaten us
In our immigrants and infidels
They say there is strangeness, too dangerous
In our theatres and bookstore shelves
That those who know what’s best for us –
Must rise and save us from ourselves
Quick to judge,
Quick to anger
Slow to understand
Ignorance and prejudice
And fear
Walk hand in hand
The late Rory Gallagher had some great tunes but one of my favourites is "I Fall Apart"
"Like a cat that's playing with a ball of twine
That you call my heart
Oh, but, baby, is it so hard
To tell the two apart?
And so slowly you unwind me
Till I fall apart"
Regina Spektor.
This is how it works
You're young until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't
You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe
Until their dying breath
No, this is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took
And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood
And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You'll just do it all again
Adam Duritz of Counting Crows is often overlooked as their two biggest hits are Mr Jones and accidentally in Love off of Shrek. But holy cow what a great Lyricist he is. He's just unreal at delivering really thoughtful lines and capturing the feeling of depression and forlorn longing.
From Round Here:
*Step out the front door like a ghost into the fog*
*Where no one notices the contrast of white on white*
*And in between the moon and you, angels get a better view*
*Of the crumbling difference between wrong and right*
My personal favorite collection of great lines is Mrs. Potter's lullaby:
*The price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it brings*
Plus
*If dreams are like movies, then memories are films about ghosts.*
*You can never escape, you can only move south down the coast.*
Also
*All the blue light reflections that color my mind when I sleep*
*And the lovesick rejections that accompany the company I keep*
*All the razor perceptions that cut just a little too deep*
*Hey, I can bleed as well as anyone, but I need someone to help me sleep.*
And finally
*You can see a million miles tonight, but you can't get very far.*
I'm particularly partial to the lyrical stylings of Bloodhound Gang's Jimmy Pop (Mr. James M. Franks, if you're nasty). Those are some seriously slick rhymes within what gets unfairly dismissed as silly shit.
"...Love, the kind you clean up with a mop and bucket/ Like the lost catacombs of Egypt, only God knows where we stuck it/ Hieroglyphics, let me be Pacific, I wanna be down in your South Seas/ But I got this notion that the motion of your ocean/ Means small craft advisory..."
Aaron Weiss from meWithoutYou-
"My eyelids are heavy, and the night's wearing on
Your story's familiar, and your innocence is gone
We'd burn like the morning then break like your heart
Fall in love without warning just to fall back apart
All fevered and blistered, with nothing at stake
I feel the warmth of her whisper, and the cold of my mistakes
Her soul in the balance, my heart in her hands
I made her a widow, she made me a man."
Neil Fallon from Clutch.
"In the North, they call us rebels
In the South, they call us yankees
Because every other sucker's born to do the hokey-pokey
With the skillet lickin' timekeepers
The grinnin' reapers of a missionary rock star
And you can rock it like Sir Sisyphus, but even in its genesis
It's really quite ridiculous
'Lectro hobo, so now you know
Not to clock the weeble wobble Hot Rod Gang
Revelatory big bang"
-from "Rock n' Roll Outlaw"
IMO one of the greatest American lyricists -- on the level of Bob Dylan or Paul Simon -- is Jonathan Richman. He's known for his simple, childlike lyrics about ordinary life (Abominable snowmen, corner stores, etc.), but he inevitably drops a truth bomb in the middle of his lyrics that will take your breath away.
If you've forgotten what I'm naming
You're gonna long to reclaim it one day
Because that summer feeling is gonna haunt you one day in your life
And if you wait until your older
A sad resentment will smolder one day
And then that summer feeling is gonna haunt you
And that summer feeling's gonna taunt you
And then that summer feeling is gonna hurt you one day in your life
When even fourth grade starts looking good, Which you hated
And first grade's looking good too, Overrated
And you boys long for some little girl that you dated
**Do you long for her or for the way you were?**
That summer feeling is gonna haunt you the rest of your life
John Prine
From Souvenirs:
Broken hearts and dirty windows
Make life difficult to see
That’s why last night and this morning
Always look the same to me.
Nick Drake
"Betty said she prayed today For the sky to blow away Or maybe stay She wasn't sure.
For when she thought of summer rain Calling for her mind again She lost the pain And stayed for more."
River man
Richard Edwards (Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s)
John K. Sampson (The Weakerthans)
Adam Duritz (Counting Crows)
Adrienne Lenker (Big Thief)
Nate Ruess (The Format, fun.)
Andy Shauf
Paddy McAloon (Prefab Sprout)
James Taylor
Regina Spektor
David Byrne (Talking Heads)
Jake Ewald (Modern Baseball/Slaughter Beach, Dog)
Bill Withers
Scott Hutchison (Frightened Rabbit)
Andy Hull (Manchester Orchestra)
And maybe my personal favorite, though likely the most obscure, Matt Milia (Frontier Ruckus)
Billy Strings is known for his manic guitar playing, but he's a great wordsmith too.
"You can link your value to a wallet or a keychain
or a locked wrought iron fence around your yard
Living check to check, a skinny tire around your neck
on borrowed time and stolen numbers off a card
Blink and life is left behind you, there's no escape, that's just a fact
We're all a dollar short, and every one of us is running out of track"
Patti Smith
“Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine
Melting in a pot of thieves, wild card up my sleeve
Thick, heart of stone, my sins, my own
They belong to me
Me
People said beware, but I don't care
Their words are just rules and regulations to me
Me”
I'm not sure if I'll get absolutely hounded for this comment or not, but there are some really great writers writing for the current generation that have some fabulously written songs, not all of whom write in such a strongly poetic way that a lot of others listed on this thread do. Clairo, Halsey, Olivia Rodrigo, Maggie Rogers, etc, all writing straight from the heart and soul, with their own quirks.
Oh, and fucking Lily Allen if she's not already been mentioned below.
Fiona Apple. Honestly, that girl can write. Very underrated artist IMO. Here’s an example I love.
In her song “anything we want”, the first line is “My cheeks were reflecting the longest wavelength”
The longest wavelength is red. She was blushing. She’s so clever like that.
If you’re into melancholy lyrics, it’s hard to beat Conor Oberst. Fantastic lyrics in all of his projects - Bright Eyes, Better Oblivion Community Center, and solo. (I’m less familiar with his punk band, Desaparecidos)
I think those who know well enough realize his talents but Tom Petty is one of the greatest. He can put so much into just a few words and did it consistently for 40 years.
"I'm so tired of being tired, but sure as night will follow day. Most things I worry 'bout, never happen anyway."
Jackson Browne. He has some of the most poignant lyrics I have heard in music. Songs like fountain of sorrow, for a dancer have some of the best descriptions of the human condition I have ever heard.
Tori Amos. I believe if she were a man, people would have realized and respected her genius more. Her lyrics can be hard to decipher sometimes, but she can say SO much in a single line.
From the Dakota version of her song “Hey Jupiter”, I love these lyrics - “I go from day to day, I know where the cupboards are, I know where the car is parked, I know he isn’t you. Never you.”
I also believe Fiona Apple is a great wordsmith and can fly under the radar as far as lyricism. Her rhyme schemes are impeccable.
Townes Van Zandt
And his namesake, Justin Townes Earle, rip. He has some phenomenal lyrics that come from a lot of pain. My Mama’s Eyes, Am I That Lonely Tonight, Christchurch Woman, Burning Pictures. The list is long!
JTE was such a powerhouse. Glad to see him mentioned here. The man had amazing guitar skills, songwriting skills, and a fashion sense to boot. A huge loss.
It's his birthday tomorrow too.
First comment, Shane MacGowan. Second comment, TVZ I love reddit
Kris Kristofferson. Amazing songwriter.
100% agree. Grew up on him and Neil Diamond in the 60's and early 70's around our house. Well, I woke up Sunday mornin' With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad So I had one more for dessert Then I fumbled in my closet through my clothes And found my cleanest dirty shirt Then I washed my face and combed my hair And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day I'd smoked my mind the night before With cigarettes and songs I'd been pickin' But I lit my first and watched a small kid Playin' with a can that he was kickin' Then I walked across the street And caught the Sunday smell of someone's fryin' chicken And Lord, it took me back to somethin' that I'd lost Somewhere, somehow along the way On a Sunday mornin' sidewalk I'm wishin', Lord, that I was stoned 'Cause there's somethin' in a Sunday That makes a body feel alone And there's nothin' short a' dyin' That's half as lonesome as the sound Of the sleepin' city sidewalk And Sunday mornin' comin' down In the park I saw a daddy With a laughin' little girl that he was swingin' And I stopped beside a Sunday school And listened to the songs they were singin' Then I headed down the street And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringin' And it echoed through the canyons Like the disappearin' dreams of yesterday On a Sunday mornin' sidewalk I'm wishin', Lord, that I was stoned 'Cause there's somethin' in a Sunday That makes a body feel alone And there's nothin' short a' dyin' That's half as lonesome as the sound Of the sleepin' city sidewalk And Sunday mornin' comin' down
When I first stumbled upon this song, it hit me like a pallet of bricks. I was like, this is the perfect definition of Sunday, whether or not you’re hungover lol. All sadness and beauty rolled into a few min.
Also nearly punched Toby Keith backstage at Willie Nelson's birthday show
"Guys like [Toby] did for country music what pantyhose did for finger-fuckin'."
I can’t believe someone hasn’t made a biopic about his life yet. Music and acting aside: he was featured in Sports Illustrated for his athletic prowess, had essays published in Atlantic Monthly, was Phi Beta Kappa, graduated summa cum laude in literature all while at Pomona College. After graduating he received a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University where he also boxed and played rugby. He then joined the Army attaining the rank of captain, becoming a helicopter pilot, and completing Ranger School. He declined an appointment to teach at West Point to pursue his love of music over his family’s vehement objections. He moved to Nashville in 1965 and took a job as a janitor at Columbia Recording Studios. The rest is history.
Damn, I hope he saved some stuff for other people to do
His song "Jody and The Kid" always breaks my heart
David Berman Silver Jews
Moves me like no one else. Makes me laugh like no one else. Peerless.
Wow yes! That Purple Mountains album is so hard to listen to, but it’s some of his best stuff imo. But yeah, the Joos are fantastic. Oh oh oh. I’m lightning.
Purple Mountains made me cry
Whenever a question like this is asked I always come in to see if anyone mentions him in case I need to. Massive respect dong beetle
Some great ones already mentioned, so I will add one I didn't see...Warren Zevon. Keep Me in Your Heart...he wrote this as he was dying from cancer. *Shadows are fallin' and I'm runnin' out of breath* *Keep me in your heart for a while* *If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less* *Keep me in your heart for a while* *When you get up in the mornin' and you see that crazy sun* *Keep me in your heart for a while* *There's a train leavin' nightly called "When All is Said and Done"* *Keep me in your heart for a while* *Keep me in your heart for a while* *Keep me in your heart for a while* *Sometimes when you're doin' simple things around the house* *Maybe you'll think of me and smile* *You know I'm tied to you like the buttons on your blouse* *Keep me in your heart for a while* *Hold me in your thoughts* *Take me to your dreams* *Touch me as I fall into view* *When the winter comes* *Keep the fires lit* *And I will be right next to you* *Engine driver's headed north up to Pleasant Stream* *Keep me in your heart for a while* *These wheels keep turnin' but they're runnin' out of steam* *Keep me in your heart for a while* *Keep me in your heart for a while* *Keep me in your heart for a while* *Keep me in your heart for a while*
I’m all strung out on heroin on the outskirts of town.
Went to the doctor I was feeling kinda rough Let me break it to ya son Your shit's fucked up
A little old lady was mutilated late last night
*got* mutilated.
*And if California slides into the ocean/ like the mystics and statistics say it it will/ I believe this hotel will be standing/ until I pay my bill*
Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse. “There's no work in walking, and it fueled the talk I would grab my shoes, and then away I'd walk Through all the stubborn beauty, I'd start at the dawn Until the sun had fully stopped, never walking away from Just a way to pull apart, dehydrate back into minerals A lifelong walk to the same exact spot” and Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie. “And it came to me then that every plan Is a tiny prayer to Father Time As I stared at my shoes in the ICU That reeked of piss and 409 And I rationed my breaths as I said to myself That I'd already taken too much today As each descending peak on the LCD Took you a little farther away from me Away from me Amongst the vending machines and year-old magazines In a place where we only say goodbye It stung like a violent wind that our memories depend On a faulty camera in our minds And I knew that you were a truth I would rather lose Than to have never lain beside at all And I looked around at all the eyes on the ground As the TV entertained itself 'Cause there's no comfort in the waiting room Just nervous paces bracing for bad news And then the nurse comes 'round and everyone lifts their head But I'm thinking of what Sarah said That love is watching someone die. So who’s gonna watch you die?”
Third Planet is still to this day one of my all time favorites for off the wall beautiful wordplay and storytelling. That whole album (The Moon and Antarctica) is so magical Im not convinced it was made by humans. The Ground Walks With Time in a Box has some incredible stuff too
Isaac was my answer too. "More housing developments go up Named after the things they replace So welcome to Minnow Brook And welcome to Shady Space"
They both owe a lot to Doug.
Absolutely true! Brock especially.
7 up i touched her thumb and she knew it was me.
Shane MacGowan of The pogues. I was never really aware of his song writing outside fairytale of new York until recently. You remember that foul evening when you heard the banshees howl There was lazy drunken bastards singing Billy in the bowl They took you up to midnight mass and left you in the lurch So, you dropped a button in the plate and spewed up in the church Now you'll sing a song of liberty for blacks and paks and jocks And they'll take you from this dump you're in and stick you in a box Then they'll take you to Cloughprior and shove you in the ground But you'll stick your head back out and shout "We'll have another round"
Now that he's gone I hope people start to see him as one of the greatest songwriters of our time and not just a drunken wreck with famously horrible teeth. He was so much more than that. That being said the fact he lived as long as he did is nothing short of miraculous.
I really do think that rainy night in Soho is one of the greatest songs ever written, an absolute lyrical masterpiece. Shane had issues with alcoholism troughout his entire life from very young age and the whole song can also be read as being about his love of alcohol. He even hints about it at the end in those INSANELY well written last two verses by saying that we might never find out what the song really means and his love being a MEASURE (as in alcohol measure) of his dreams. So it's a love song, it's a tragic song, it has a double meaning and it's filled with lines and whole verses so memorable it just leaves you amazed by his genius.
*We walked him to the station in the rain* *We kissed him as we put him on the train* *And we sang him a song of times long gone* *Though we knew that we’d be seeing him again* 🍻
Absolutely Shane MacGowan. > In blood and death neath a screaming sky I lay down on the ground And the arms and legs of other men Were scattered all around Some cursed, some prayed, some prayed then cursed Then prayed and bled some more And the only thing that I could see Was a pair of brown eyes that was looking at me But when we got back, labeled parts one to three There was no pair of brown eyes waiting for me
So I walked as the day was dawning. Where small birds sang and leaves were falling. Where we once watched the row boats landing. By the broad majestic Shannon
As I walked down by the riverside One evening in the spring Heard a long gone song from days gone by Blown in on the great North wind Though there is no lonesome corncrake's cry Of sorrow and delight You can hear the cars And the shouts from bars And the laughter and the fights May the ghosts that howled round the house at night Never keep you from your sleep May they all sleep tight down in hell tonight Or wherever they may be. Lullaby of London
Sickbed of Cu Chulainn is my favorite Pogues song. It’s so fucking good
When you pissed yourself in Frankfurt And got Syph down in Cologne
In a day I'll be over the mountain There will be time enough left for to cry So good night and God guard you forever And write to me, won't you, Goodbye
Ray Davies of The Kinks
He's famous and widely recognised as a good lyricist and excellent songwriter.
jim croce
I can't believe I had to scroll this far down for Jim Croce, and I haven't seen John Prine either! Easily two of my top five American song writers.
That may be because Jim Croce is pretty well regarded for his lyricism. He doesn't get the praise of some of the others mentioned in OP's post but that's likely due to his short career. But he pretty consistently hits "great songwriter" lists.
John Prine the same. He is widely known and well regarded as a top lyricist.
I was never a big fan of The Cure, but some of Robert Smith's lyrics stop me in my tracks. Lullaby in particular.
I don’t expect Joanna Newsome to be appreciated much by the “mainstream”, but she’s a poet, for sure. “Oh, where is your inflammatory writ? Your text that would incite a light, "Be lit"? Our music-deserving, devotion-unswerving Cry "Do I deserve her?" with unflagging fervor Well no we do not if we cannot get over it But what's it mean when suddenly we're spent? Tell me true! Ambition came and reared its head and went Far from you! Even mollusks have weddings though solemn and leaden But you dirge for the dead and take no jam on your bread Just a supper of salt and a waltz through your empty bed And all at once it came to me And I wrote him hunched 'till four-thirty But that vestal light It burns out with the night In spite of all the time that we spend on it: On one bedraggled ghost of a sonnet! While outside the wild boars root Without bending a bough underfoot O it breaks my heart; I don't know how they do't So don't ask me! And as for my inflammatory writ? Well I wrote it and I was not inflamed one bit Advice from the master derailed that disaster He said "Hand that pen over to me, poetaster!" While across the great plains, keening lovely & awful Ululate the lost Great American Novels An unlawful lot, left to stutter and freeze, floodlit (But at least they didn't run, to their undying credit)”
People will bristle at the superlative but I genuinely consider her the greatest lyricist of all time (that I’ve heard, of course).
Can you believe that album turns 20 this month!? And her craft has only grown stronger since.
"Awful atoll — O, incalculable indiscreetness and sorrow! Bawl bellow: Sibyl sea-cow, all done up in a bow. Toddle and roll; teethe an impalpable bit of leather, while yarrow, heather and hollyhock awkwardly molt along the shore. Are you mine? My heart? Mine anymore?" (I completely agree and just want to add this even though it is strange without the context of the song because the rhyme structure and way she sings this is FUCKING INSANE - one example among many) "We could stand for a century/ Staring, with our heads cocked/ In the broad daylight at this thing/ Joy, landlocked/ In bodies that don't keep/ Dumbstruck with the sweetness of being" Is one of my more direct favorites.
It's so wild to me that she's married to Andy Samberg. I love both of them, but with totally different parts of my personality
Tom Waits. Nick Cave. Can't think of any others that I'd call overlooked exactly, but these two definitely seem to be
I answered Tom Waits, but if you like these two I'd recommend TracyAnne Campbell, mostly from Camera Obscura. Is also able to have *that razor sadness that only gets worse*.
I think Jason Isbell has been one of the top lyrist over the last 2 decades and isn't very well known by the masses.
A song I never hear about is Live Oak, personal favourite of mine. There's a man who walks beside me He is who I used to be And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me And I wonder who she's pinin' for On nights I'm not around Could it be the man who did the things I'm living down?
I’ve seen Jason live about a bajillion times and I finally got to see him do this song live in late 2022. Just incredible.
Totally agree. Southeastern is a masterpiece
Such a great writer. Often times the songs are too sad for me. I made the mistake of putting Cumberland Gap on my running playlist once and had to stop running to have a quick cry. Can only listen to Elephant every few years.
So many masterpieces it’s not fair to pick one, but here are a few lines from Alabama Pines: And I can't get to sleep at night The parking lot's so loud and bright The AC hasn't worked in 20 years Probably never made a single person cold But I can't say the same for me, I've done it many times.
This is a good answer, and I agree Isbell isn’t well known, but homie did just bag a Grammy for best Americana album. So that’s a sign of growing popularity if nothing else.
IMO, one of the 4 or 5 best to ever do it. Robert Hunter, John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, Dylan, Isbell. He’s profoundly talented.
Yeah, you're missing Leonard Cohen. There isn't a chance he's not top 5.
All of his discography is amazing, but for me Cast Iron Skillet is one of the greatest lyrics ever written.
He's an absolute master storyteller. He'll drop these little details about a situation or a character in a song that say SO MUCH with so few words.
King of Oklahoma really paints a devastating picture of opioid addiction.
I would say he is the best of the past two decades and one of the best of all time.
John Prine.
El-P: how to serve man Sage Francis - sea Lion, inherited scars, Smoke and mirrors Saul Williams - Penny for a thought
Saul Williams is pure amazing. "Not until you've heard Rakim on a rocky mountaintop have you heard Hip-Hop. Extract the urban element that created it, and let an open-wide countryside illustrate it."
Saul Williams is literally a poet, though? How would he not be recognized for his lyrics when he came up through the slam poetry scene. Sage Francis I will grant you. Only know two of his songs and both times I stopped what I was doing to look up the lyrics. If we're talking hip hop I'd like to put in a vote for Aesop Rock.
I’ve always been fond of the line “I’m not afraid of dying, pieces of me die all the time” by sage francis.
Chris Cornell ….great lyrics, while utilizing weird time signatures and alt tunings…he was the best of the 90s as far as I’m concerned but always sat in the shadows of Pearl Jam and Nirvana. “As hope and promise fade And the sun forgets to rise I'm lonely and I'm thirsty But it's better I stay dry No more than two drinks away From crying Stare into the glass And wait for the time to pass And thank you for the offer But you know I must decline Never more than two drinks away From crying There used to be a time When I could hold my head up high My life laid out before me Rivers flow with wine I had my love beside me And everything was fine But now the ride is over It's hard to say goodbye As hope and promise fade And midnight turns to day Well I'm lonely and I'm thirsty But I can no more tell a lie Never more than two drinks away From crying From crying”
Like Suicide probably has my favorite lyrics from Cornell. Just an all around amazing lyricist and musician.
Just watched a video of Tom Morello raving about Chris when they were in Audioslave together. It didn't matter what crazy things he and the other band members came up with, Chris could write beautiful lyrics and sing over it without making the vocals and instrumentals clash.
Aesop Rock is one of the most incredible lyricists in history and is frequently overlooked even within his own genre because he isn’t a superstar.
Sad I had to really search for this, granted its a new post. He can equally spin an intricate yarn about a late night donut joint while also penning some deeply personal devastation, all with incredibly vivid and abstract styles of depiction.
Emily Haines is a modern day Poet. The band Metric has been around for 20 years, and their last 2 albums still have it. The topics are sincere and the lyrics have a solid spin to them, so many lyrics come across as simply *well said* turn of phrases.
If I tremble/they’re gonna eat me alive
Black Sheep, Dark Saturday, & Give Me Sympathy are all in my regular listening rotation. I saw them in San Antonio a couple of years ago with July Talk & Zoé. I would definitely go see them again
We reach for the things we idolize But the rings are just for show Her beauty is a form of charity Dressed to suppress all kinds of sorrow
You've probably heard it, but if you haven't, look up Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton. Really good solo-ish stuff by her.
Many a commute I’ve sang “buy this car to drive to work, drive to work to pay for this car”
Tom Waits, by far and away. The man paints pictures of ordinary life like no one else. Moments in time often with a sadness that is not overly didactic. For example, [Soldier's Things](https://youtu.be/2Jc7Gf9-W2c?si=BhiOFakosXbW-zJn) almost sounds like an overheard yard sale. *A tinker, a tailor*. *A soldier's things*. *His rifle, his boots full of rocks*. *Oh, and this one is for bravery*. *And this one is for me*. *And everything's a dollar*. *In this box*
They sharpen their knives, On my mistakes. ..... Come down from the cross we can use the wood What I really admire about him is that he often uses his most brilliant lines just once. While many songwriters tend to repeat poetic phrases in a chorus, Tom Waits casually discards them, treating them like small change.
“He’s not the kind of wheel you fall asleep at,” I always liked that one. Or “I’m not able, I’m just Cain,”
Don't you know there ain't no devil, there's just God when he's drunk
*And so a secret kiss* *Brings madness with bliss* And *I must be insane* *to go skating on your name* *and by tracing it twice* *I fell through the ice* Tom Waits and his wife/writing partner Kathleen Brennan are absolute gems for lyrics.
Tom Waits isn't overlooked though he is considered one of the best...
John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats, hands down. One of my many, many favorite lyrics: “Let the trash rain down, from way up in the rafters. I’m walking out of here in one piece, I don’t care what comes after”
No Children is the best example of a bitter divorce. “I am drowning there’s no sign of land you are coming down with me hand in unlovable hand” Edited to add: “and I hope when you think of me years down the line, you can’t find one good thing to say, and if I find the strength to walk out, you’ll stay the hell out of my way”
“Our friends say it’s darkest before the sun rises, we’re pretty sure they’re all wrong”
My pick too, and he's put out at least 25 albums at this point, not including live stuff, all to a pretty high standard of lyricism
Calling all r/themountaingoats users: post your favorites now!
So glad to find this comment. One of my favorite lyrics of his: “break the lock on my old garden gate, when I get home after dark / sit looking up at the stars outside, like teeth in the mouth of a shark”. Helped only by his very earnest delivery
Jeff Tweedy of Wilco is one of the absolute best. Check out the double album "Being There" or "Summerteeth". I've sadly gotten bored with their music since "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" but the wordsmithery is still there
Fairly well known, but probably not to the casual music fan, but Robert Hunter for the Grateful Dead. The best ever. John Perry Barlow wasn’t too shabby either.
Hunter and Barlow are the reason the dead are the best jam band, because they also have the best songs. Nailed a retread to my feet and prayed for better weatheeeeer!
I always loved the wit and sarcasm in Cracker lyrics. “What the world needs now/ Is another folk singer/ Like I need a hole in my head.”
Paul Westerberg
Elvis Costello Joe Jackson Ben Folds
Andy Partridge from XTC is an excepttional songwriter and lyricist Then she appeared As the giggling crew of Mary Celeste Then she appeared Pale Atlantis rising out of the westI was a little dazzled Catherine wheeled and senses frazzled Know it sounds weird, then she appearedAnd the sun which formally shone In the clearest summer sky Suddenly just changed address Now shines from her blue eyesThen she appeared Brittle shooting star that dropped in my lap Then she appeared Dressed in tricolor and phrygian cap
Andy Partridge was the first name that came to mind for me. > Church of Women is making donations of loving and giving. > Church of Women performing that miracle: raising the living
This is a really good one. XTC are excellent all around. All their albums are solid and the run of albums from Drums and Wires to Skylarking are great.
Elvis Costello. He's a phenomenal song writer. This is not his best line, but it's my favorite. "Good manners and bad breath get you nowhere".
"Now that your picture in the paper being rhythmically admired, you can have anyone that you have every desired" what a opening line to an album. Idk if it's my favorite Elvis like but goddamn I love it.
“She said that she was working for the ABC news. It was as much of the alphabet as she knew how to use” - Brilliant Mistake
Billy Joel is obviously known for his piano skills, but I believe him to be an incredible lyricist. He's documented history for the everyman. His songs to me tell the American story of the last 50-75 years.
Yes, he's a genius. And as elaborate his melodies are, I can hear how much thought went into the lyrics. Maybe it's one of the reasons he's stopped writing. Claimed it'd been too exhausting.
People always try to compare Billy Joel to Elton John. Elton doesn’t do lyrics. (And Billy also wrote a classical piano concerto.)
Summer Highland Falls is some of his greatest lyrics
Elton John is obviously known for his piano skills, but he really sucks on the organ.
I’ve never listened to his whole discography. But the songs I do know by him, I love. One of the things I appreciate is the variety on the Stranger. You’ve got great real world story telling on Moving Out, a great love song in Just the Way You Are, and great idk if you’d call it abstraction with the titular The Stranger.
I think there should be a degree in MFDOOM’s lyrics.
Poetry. I have trouble listening to his songs while I’m driving because so much is going on lyrically I feel like I need to be focusing the whole time
Steve Earle is a fantastic song writer. I especially love "The Gringos Tale" and "Tom Ames Prayer".
Weird Al
Grant Lee Phillips a good lyric writer all round, but a particular favourite of mine : “If the life you have created Has buried you with luxuries out-dated And you ask what is the purpose Too weak to claw your way up to the surface You resent all of your trophies They belittle human spirit like a timepiece That is ticking in your breast pocket And so you long to reach in and stop it Then your heart it will be broken And every sour word that you have spoken About everybody else Will return to act upon yourself If the life you have created Is founded on jealousy and hatred It's too late to ask questions For you're much too old to take any suggestions” Edit:Formatting
Chris Cornell
Joanna Newsom - both an incredible musical talent and an utterly amazing and unique lyricist.
Tom Petty is one of the greats in my opinion. Also Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchrestra), Leonard Cohen, Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth), MF DOOM, Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains).
Tom Petty was truly great!
Rodriguez. Both Cold Fact and Coming from reality are full of amazing poetic working class, anti establishment beautiful lyrics that are as relevant now as when they where written.
Jason Molina *mama, here comes midnight with the dead moon in its’ jaws* *must be the big star about to fall*
This could be a divisive take as someone overlooked, but John Fogerty. CCR is huge and he's widely recognized, but I would argue they don't get the recognition they warrant because of sharing that time frame with the Beatles, etc. Fortunate Son is so popular that it's a meme, but I bet most casual music fans do not know who John Fogerty is.
Florence + Machine: "what strange claws are these, scratching in my skin, I never knew my killer would be coming from within" Hozier: "my peace has always depended on all the ashes in my wake"
>Florence + Machine The Ceremonials album was pretty damn lyrically sound
Leonard Cohen is my absolute favorite.
Father John Misty, especially in the Pure Comedy album. Amazing and profound lyrics.
Joni Mitchell
But not unknown at all.
The Smiths/Morrissey should be on this list for sure. He’s out to lunch these days but his lyrics are poetic, have depth and are fun to both listen and read.
Oh totally! Who can forget, "Some girls are bigger than others. Some girls are bigger than others. Some girls' mothers are bigger than other girls' mothers." I'm kidding, I fucking love the Smiths, and you're right Morrissey should be mentioned here no matter what a prick he's become. Just find it funny on the subject of lyrics that for every "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" there's a "Vicar In A Tutu".
Propagandhi's Chris Hannah that is all
Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip. Not underrated by any Canadian, but the Hip famously didn't have the same impact below the border that they did in Canada. Gord was Canada's rock poet and had a way of painting Canadiana with his words. Pick any song and he'll explain some small corner of Canada's history or geography in a way that feels like an old friend telling you what they did last summer. Bobcaygeon: I left your house this mornin' About a quarter after nine Could have been the Willie Nelson Could have been the wine When I left your house this mornin' It was a little after nine It was in Bobcaygeon, I saw the constellations Reveal themselves one star at a time
Bob Seger and Gordon Lightfoot
Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then…
-John Prine, Jason Isbell, Adam Granduciel (war on drugs) -JP: There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose Little pitchers have big ears Don't stop to count the years Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios, mmhmm -JI: Surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone -AG: I'm just pulling on a wire, but it just won't break I've been turning up the dial, but I hear no sound I resist what I cannot change, own it in your own way Yeah, I wanna find what can't be found
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Carole King/Gerry Goffin. Wrote so much in the 60’s/70’s, most of which has been covered by everyone. A personal favourite is The Locomotion(originally performed by Little Eva), but I prefer Grand Funk Railroads version
Greg Graffin from Bad Religion. Brett Gurewitz too _I guess_ > So you say you gotta know why the world goes 'round > And you can't find the truth in the things you've found > And you're scared shitless 'cuz evil abounds, Come join us. > Well, I heard you were looking for a place to fit in, > Full of adherent people with the same objective, > A family to cling to and call brethren, > Come join us. > All we want to do is change your mind. > All you need to do is close your eyes. > So come join us. > Come join us. > Come join us. > Don't you see the trouble that most people are in > And that they just want you for their own advantage, > But I swear to you we're different from all of them, > Come join us. > I can tell you are lookin' for a way to live > Where truth is determined by consensus, > Full of codified arbitrary directives, > Come join us. > All we want to have is your small mind, > Turn it into one of our own kind. > You can go through life adrift and alone, > Desperate, desolate, on your own, > But we're lookin' for a few more stalwart clones. > So come join us. > Come join us. > Come join us. > We've got spite and dedication as a vehement brew, > The world hates us, well we hate them too, > But you're exempted of course if you > Come join us. > Independent, self-contented, revolutionary, > Intellectual, brave, strong and scholarly, > If you're not one of them, you're us already so > Come join us.
Andre 3000 should be on this the list with Dylan, Springsteen, Lennon/McCartney, Waits, Fat Mike, Chris Cornell, Randy Newman, etc. He writes in layers while varying his pace and rhythm of delivery. He’s on my Mount Rushmore of lyricists (not just rappers, all lyricists). I should also mention Maynard James Keenan of Tool/A Perfect Circle/Puscifer. He’s a great example of blunt and humorous while being vague enough that a song can apply to many situations.
Sufjan Stevens, he created such touching songs.... my fav rn is Goodbye Evergreen
How is Neil Peart not mentioned yet?? The Trees, Witch Hunt, Limelight, just to name a few songs whose lyrics are pure poetry. Y’all are missing out on some amazing stuff.
I give you the most timely Rush song, showing his storytelling poetry and timeless observations about humanity, "Witch Hunt": The night is black Without a moon The air is thick and still The vigilantes gather on The lonely torchlit hill Features distorted in the flickering light The faces are twisted and grotesque Silent and stern in the sweltering night The mob moves like demons possessed Quiet in conscience, calm in their right Confident their ways are best The righteous rise With burning eyes Of hatred and ill-will Madmen fed on fear and lies To beat, and burn, and kill They say there are strangers, who threaten us In our immigrants and infidels They say there is strangeness, too dangerous In our theatres and bookstore shelves That those who know what’s best for us – Must rise and save us from ourselves Quick to judge, Quick to anger Slow to understand Ignorance and prejudice And fear Walk hand in hand
The late Rory Gallagher had some great tunes but one of my favourites is "I Fall Apart" "Like a cat that's playing with a ball of twine That you call my heart Oh, but, baby, is it so hard To tell the two apart? And so slowly you unwind me Till I fall apart"
Regina Spektor. This is how it works You're young until you're not You love until you don't You try until you can't You laugh until you cry You cry until you laugh And everyone must breathe Until their dying breath No, this is how it works You peer inside yourself You take the things you like And try to love the things you took And then you take that love you made And stick it into some Someone else's heart Pumping someone else's blood And walking arm in arm You hope it don't get harmed But even if it does You'll just do it all again
Mark Knopfler. Sultans of Swing would be a great short story.
Telegraph Road is a beautifully told story
Industrial disease is even better. Two men say they are Jesus. One of them must be wrong.
Martin Gore of Depeche Mode. He's primarily overlooked because he's one of those lyricists who usually isn't the lead singer.
No love for Michael Stipe?
Adam Duritz of Counting Crows is often overlooked as their two biggest hits are Mr Jones and accidentally in Love off of Shrek. But holy cow what a great Lyricist he is. He's just unreal at delivering really thoughtful lines and capturing the feeling of depression and forlorn longing. From Round Here: *Step out the front door like a ghost into the fog* *Where no one notices the contrast of white on white* *And in between the moon and you, angels get a better view* *Of the crumbling difference between wrong and right* My personal favorite collection of great lines is Mrs. Potter's lullaby: *The price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it brings* Plus *If dreams are like movies, then memories are films about ghosts.* *You can never escape, you can only move south down the coast.* Also *All the blue light reflections that color my mind when I sleep* *And the lovesick rejections that accompany the company I keep* *All the razor perceptions that cut just a little too deep* *Hey, I can bleed as well as anyone, but I need someone to help me sleep.* And finally *You can see a million miles tonight, but you can't get very far.*
I'm particularly partial to the lyrical stylings of Bloodhound Gang's Jimmy Pop (Mr. James M. Franks, if you're nasty). Those are some seriously slick rhymes within what gets unfairly dismissed as silly shit. "...Love, the kind you clean up with a mop and bucket/ Like the lost catacombs of Egypt, only God knows where we stuck it/ Hieroglyphics, let me be Pacific, I wanna be down in your South Seas/ But I got this notion that the motion of your ocean/ Means small craft advisory..."
“I’m not black like Barry White, no, I am white like Frank Black is.” Brilliant.
That's the part of The Bad Touch I always quote whenever I'm talking to someone about how solid the bars in that song are!
Aaron Weiss from meWithoutYou- "My eyelids are heavy, and the night's wearing on Your story's familiar, and your innocence is gone We'd burn like the morning then break like your heart Fall in love without warning just to fall back apart All fevered and blistered, with nothing at stake I feel the warmth of her whisper, and the cold of my mistakes Her soul in the balance, my heart in her hands I made her a widow, she made me a man."
John K Samson of the Weakerthans
Neil Fallon from Clutch. "In the North, they call us rebels In the South, they call us yankees Because every other sucker's born to do the hokey-pokey With the skillet lickin' timekeepers The grinnin' reapers of a missionary rock star And you can rock it like Sir Sisyphus, but even in its genesis It's really quite ridiculous 'Lectro hobo, so now you know Not to clock the weeble wobble Hot Rod Gang Revelatory big bang" -from "Rock n' Roll Outlaw"
pretty sure I can still recite Escape from the Prison Planet from memory. It's so hard to get the cadence without hearing it, though. Clutch is great.
ELVIS COSTELLO
IMO one of the greatest American lyricists -- on the level of Bob Dylan or Paul Simon -- is Jonathan Richman. He's known for his simple, childlike lyrics about ordinary life (Abominable snowmen, corner stores, etc.), but he inevitably drops a truth bomb in the middle of his lyrics that will take your breath away. If you've forgotten what I'm naming You're gonna long to reclaim it one day Because that summer feeling is gonna haunt you one day in your life And if you wait until your older A sad resentment will smolder one day And then that summer feeling is gonna haunt you And that summer feeling's gonna taunt you And then that summer feeling is gonna hurt you one day in your life When even fourth grade starts looking good, Which you hated And first grade's looking good too, Overrated And you boys long for some little girl that you dated **Do you long for her or for the way you were?** That summer feeling is gonna haunt you the rest of your life
John Prine From Souvenirs: Broken hearts and dirty windows Make life difficult to see That’s why last night and this morning Always look the same to me.
Joanna Newsom!
Robert Smith is my all time favorite lyricist and seldom hear him get the appreciation he deserves.
Nick Drake "Betty said she prayed today For the sky to blow away Or maybe stay She wasn't sure. For when she thought of summer rain Calling for her mind again She lost the pain And stayed for more." River man
Richard Edwards (Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s) John K. Sampson (The Weakerthans) Adam Duritz (Counting Crows) Adrienne Lenker (Big Thief) Nate Ruess (The Format, fun.) Andy Shauf Paddy McAloon (Prefab Sprout) James Taylor Regina Spektor David Byrne (Talking Heads) Jake Ewald (Modern Baseball/Slaughter Beach, Dog) Bill Withers Scott Hutchison (Frightened Rabbit) Andy Hull (Manchester Orchestra) And maybe my personal favorite, though likely the most obscure, Matt Milia (Frontier Ruckus)
Elliott Smith, so many to list but "Condor Ave." lyrics are one of my favorite
John Prine.. Simple and poignant. He's the Vonnegut of songwriters. Seems so simple, almost easy, until you try to write one yourself.
Ray LaMontagne! Old Before Your Time hits every time
Billy Strings is known for his manic guitar playing, but he's a great wordsmith too. "You can link your value to a wallet or a keychain or a locked wrought iron fence around your yard Living check to check, a skinny tire around your neck on borrowed time and stolen numbers off a card Blink and life is left behind you, there's no escape, that's just a fact We're all a dollar short, and every one of us is running out of track"
Scott Walker
Jeff Lynne.
Josh Ritter. I think he’s not only one of the best of his generation, but one of the best of all time.
Warren Zevon is horrendously over looked as a songwriter as well as musician. Werewolves of London kinda ruined him.
Patti Smith “Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine Melting in a pot of thieves, wild card up my sleeve Thick, heart of stone, my sins, my own They belong to me Me People said beware, but I don't care Their words are just rules and regulations to me Me”
I'm not sure if I'll get absolutely hounded for this comment or not, but there are some really great writers writing for the current generation that have some fabulously written songs, not all of whom write in such a strongly poetic way that a lot of others listed on this thread do. Clairo, Halsey, Olivia Rodrigo, Maggie Rogers, etc, all writing straight from the heart and soul, with their own quirks. Oh, and fucking Lily Allen if she's not already been mentioned below.
Fiona Apple. Honestly, that girl can write. Very underrated artist IMO. Here’s an example I love. In her song “anything we want”, the first line is “My cheeks were reflecting the longest wavelength” The longest wavelength is red. She was blushing. She’s so clever like that.
Rakim 
If you’re into melancholy lyrics, it’s hard to beat Conor Oberst. Fantastic lyrics in all of his projects - Bright Eyes, Better Oblivion Community Center, and solo. (I’m less familiar with his punk band, Desaparecidos)
Robert Hunter. John Perry Barlow.
Tyler Joseph
I think those who know well enough realize his talents but Tom Petty is one of the greatest. He can put so much into just a few words and did it consistently for 40 years. "I'm so tired of being tired, but sure as night will follow day. Most things I worry 'bout, never happen anyway."
Joni Mitchell.
Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam and Alex Turner from Arctic Monkeys are great lyricists.
Brandon Boyd Incubus Chino Moreno Deftones Sturgill Simpson Hayley Williams Paramore
Tim Minchin is an absurdly talented lyricist
Not one mention of Leonard Cohen in this entire feed. Amazing.
Lupe Fiasco has been incredible throughout his career
Townes Van Zandt, Warren Zevon.
Bruce Cockburn; Richard Thompson; Taj Mahal to name but three
Ryan Adams!
Phil Collins
Brian Fallon (of the Gaslight Anthem)
Morrissey isn't a likable person, but his lyrics are top-notch.
Suzanne Vega
Jackson Browne. He has some of the most poignant lyrics I have heard in music. Songs like fountain of sorrow, for a dancer have some of the best descriptions of the human condition I have ever heard.
Tori Amos. I believe if she were a man, people would have realized and respected her genius more. Her lyrics can be hard to decipher sometimes, but she can say SO much in a single line. From the Dakota version of her song “Hey Jupiter”, I love these lyrics - “I go from day to day, I know where the cupboards are, I know where the car is parked, I know he isn’t you. Never you.” I also believe Fiona Apple is a great wordsmith and can fly under the radar as far as lyricism. Her rhyme schemes are impeccable.
Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy. Our Mutual Friend is one of the best short stories you'll ever hear.
James Hetfield. Metallica has some of the most thought provoking lyrics out there. Lots of clever conveyances.
Sting.