Brilliant Lyricists

[Rhym]

Who do you think are brilliant lyric writers, or what are some brilliant lyrics that are your personal favorites?

Some of my favorite lyrics are written by these personal fave bands of mine:
Tool
A Perfect Circle
Incubus
QOTSA (Queens of the Stone Age)
Radiohead

An example of some favorite brilliant lyrics of mine:
"Life's the study of dying,
How to get it right."
-Song for the Dead, QOTSA

What are your favorite brilliant lyrics/lyricists?

[Cahoots34]

Queen, for one. As suppliers of ever-appropriate, ubiquitous rock like "We Will Rock You", "We Are The Champions" and "Another One Bites The Dust", Freddie Mercury, Brian May and John Deacon (the main co-songwriters) recieve surprsingly little credit for having provided countless stadiumfuls of people with an opportunity to scream and stomp their feet somewhat melodically without being asked to leave by security. In addition to crowd appeal, which in and of itself implies quite a bit of simplicity, there is a faithful attention to detail and innovation throughout the band's work, ensuring that lyrics, among other aspects, are always intriguing, original, and of excellent quality.

Then, of course, there are those like Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Paul Simon who deserve far more praise than I can give, so they're resigned to a humble little mention at the bottom of this post. (Sorry, guys; I suppose you'll just have to comfort yourselves with your vast fourtunes to compensate for not getting a verbiose paragraph on the magnificence of your abilty to rhyme "one" and "sun" on your less inspiring days.)

[ZakuSage]

Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Their lyrics are always full or thought, meaning, and raw emotion put into words and/or just plain fun. One of my favotire lyrics that they wrote together is in the song Across the Universe. Here's my favorite section of the song:

Sounds of laughter shades of life
are ringing through my open ears
inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which
shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe

Or there's Paul's Mull of Kintyre. Here's my favorite section of the song:

Smiles in the sunshine and tears in the rain
Still take me back where my memories remain
Flickering embers go higher and higher
As they carry me back to the Mull of Kintyre

Then there's the entire song Imagine by John Lennon. Do a search to find lyrics for this, or simply listen to the song... it's quite moving.

[Fall]

[font=Verdana][size=2]To me, Scooter Ward, the main singer from Cold, is a lyricist that I can actually look to as someone who puts meaning into the lyrics he writes. [i]Every, single[/i] song his band has produced, the lyrics with them mean alot to me. [/size][/font]

[font=Arial Narrow][size=2]If you can make the world a stage for me, then I hope you can hear me scream.[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=2]---[/size][/font]
[size=1][color=#ffffff][font=Arial Narrow][size=2][color=black]Remember all the times that we used to play
You were lost and i would save you
I don't think those feeling will ever fade
You were born a part of me[/color][/size][/font][/color][/size]
[font=Verdana][size=2][b]-Cure My Tragedy[/b][/size][/font]

[font=Arial Narrow][size=2]And I can't breathe[/size][/font]
[size=2]When you cry[/size]
[font=Arial Narrow][size=2]But I'll be there to hold you tight[/size][/font]
[font=Arial Narrow][size=2]And I would kill[/size][/font]
[font=Arial Narrow][size=2]I would fight[/size][/font]
[size=2]To keep you close[/size]
[b][font=Verdana][size=2]-Gone Away[/size][/font][/b]

[font=Verdana][size=2]These are just two songs that I cannot go a day without listening to. I love the music in them. Though even more, I love the lyrics with them, when I listen to them I can think about anything, anyway I want to. These two songs are two of my favourite songs from Cold, the lyrics in them just mean so much to me.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=2]There are other songs, [b]Insane[/b], [b]Suffocate[/b], [b]Ugly[/b]. And every other song they've produced.[/size][/font]

[PiroMunkie]

[size=1]I do not expect anyone but maybe a few people here to know who these guys are, but one thing that initially turned me on to the ex-band Apocalypse Hoboken was the way they wrote their lyrics. They are mostly just tongue-in-cheek, not really the depth you would see in the lyrics of aforementioned bands like Tool.

While they have done this throughout their career (at least from what I have heard), I think their most solid lyrics were present on their final album, [i]Microstars[/i] (given one song was a Prince cover). I do not really know how to explain the way they write their lyrics, heh. Many times they seem very random, but yet you get the idea of what they are saying. Even with some songs, I stillave no idea what they are referring to in certain lines (not just on the album mentioned before, but on others, too).

After a while of trying to decide which sample to put here, I chose their song [i]Lonely Socks[/i]. One of my favorites from [i]Microstars[/i].
[quote]Hey there lonely socks
No more goldie locks
Ruby red grapefruit tiny finger cupcakes
Hey there missy mit
No more hissy fits
Shoelace necklace Mardi Gras drunk

Clouds in your coffee
Static in your laugh
Everybody needs a little time to themselves

Hey there lonely socks
In your sunshine factory
Painting smiles on doll faces
Hey there far away
No more hissy fits
Shoelace noose and suicide notes

Forget about those postcards
You've never coming home
Everybody needs a little time to themselves

Wish upon a falling star
Because it's all any of us really are[/quote]I do not really know what else say about them, except that they rock. And Tony(Semjaza) rocks, too, because he introduced me to them.[/size]

[Semjaza]

[quote name='PiroMunkie][size=1']I do not really know what else say about them, except that they rock.[/size][/quote]

That about sums it up. When people give this band a chance, I think they are eventually won over by them. I got Heaven's Cloud into them too heh.

I was actually going to name them, but something makes me hesitant. I think, overall, they have some really well written, offbeat songs. It's hard to be like "I love this lyricist" when other people tend to pick people who practically are writing poetic verses. Apocalypse Hoboken just doesn't. While they have a lot of "throw away" songs with no real point, they also have many, many songs that are deeper than they'd first let on. They got me through a lot of stuff. I find their music very easy to relate to.

Other than that, Queens of the Stone Age is a good pick. Hell, so are related bands like Kyuss and The Eagles of Death Metal. Songs for the Deaf, in particular, was absolutely brilliant. I think their older material is just as impressive in that regard, but it's also a lot more experimental in many senses. Songs for the Deaf just brought it all together.

Other than that, there's three obvious choices for me: David Bowie, The Doors and Marilyn Manson.

Bowie is probably the best lyricist in rock music, as far as I'm concerned. Every song tells a story in some sense. While you can say that of many songs, I don't find that any other writer is even in the same league. From the start of the 70s to the late 80s, no one even touched Bowie in this regard. No other musician has had such a long stretch of just perfect material. Between stuff like Five Years, 'Heroes', Young Americans, Diamond Dogs, Ziggy Stardust, Sound and Vision and just dozens of others, there's just no comparison.

The Doors are close behind. Obviously, The Doors, lyrically, were really just Jim Morrison. He's called "The American Poet" for a reason. Between his spoken word work and his actual vocals in songs, he's really on another plane altogether. I can't say that I relate to a lot of the things he sings about directly, but I think that they can appeal to everyone regardless.

Lastly, Marilyn Manson. I'm sure a lot of people scoff at this choice. The problem with Marilyn Manson is really that the image has become more of a focal point than the music. That's not to say the music is bad, but people just aren't willing to pay attention to it when they think of Manson's image. I guess people forget that the music is seperate and there are four other people in the group.

Even so, I can understand why the content wouldn't appeal to everyone. However, it's all so intelligent and well written, very rarely relying on predictable rhyme schemes like nearly every other band of their type. Manson's writing is like bizarre, morose, dark poetry and I absolutely love it.

Bad Religion also comes to mind. They have some eh songs, but a vast majority of them are amazingly good. I love the music, but I would say most people know Bad Religion for their anti-government, anti-religion based lyrics. The thing that I love most about them is that, unlike other political bands, they have a timeless quality. They are obviously referring to specific events (if you know the context), but it's written in such a way that it can really be applied to any time. Many bands have the issue of referring to such specific moments that their songs become dated at some point. Bad Religion has the foresight to realize this and they overcome it.

There's lots of other writers out there, but that's all that are in my head right now.

[Heaven's Cloud]

[QUOTE=Semjaza Azazel]
Bowie is probably the best lyricist in rock music, as far as I'm concerned. Every song tells a story in some sense. While you can say that of many songs, I don't find that any other writer is even in the same league. From the start of the 70s to the late 80s, no one even touched Bowie in this regard. No other musician has had such a long stretch of just perfect material. Between stuff like Five Years, 'Heroes', Young Americans, Diamond Dogs, Ziggy Stardust, Sound and Vision and just dozens of others, there's just no comparison.
[/QUOTE]

[color=indigo]And that is still leaving out a few dozen brilliantly written songs. I always thought that ?Man Who Sold the World?, while far from my favorite Bowie song, may be one of the most eerie and brilliant songs ever written. Bowie just has an uncannily unique way of phrasing things, it is very remarkable.

I think that Jim Morrison of the Doors was an equally adept lyricist. He was one of the first mainstream musicians to really incorporated poetic verse within his songs. I also have always enjoyed Morrison?s use dark and arcane references in his love songs. Again, I think that, for the Doors time, nested amongst the hippie culture of the late sixties and early seventies, this style of song writing strongly influenced the next generation of musicians, for example, Led Zepplin.

Although their song writing was always overshadowed by their compositions, Zepplin?s lyrics were incredible. For example, take this passage from [b]Going to California[/b]:

[quote] The mountains and the canyons started to tremble and shake
as the children of the sun began to awake.

Seems that the wrath of the Gods
Got a punch on the nose and it started to flow;
I think I might be sinking.
Throw me a line if I reach it in time
I'll meet you up there where the path
Runs straight and high.[/quote]

Those are really solid lyrics, just gorgeous, and they fit so perfectly with the tone of the song that it is remarkable.

I also that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones wrote some very poignant lyrics, however, if I am going to remark on pure lyrics I definitely have to mention CSNY. Although the band was plagued with inner turmoil they wrote some of awesome songs. Their main strength (and their weakness) was that the band consisted of four really excellent songwriters. Individually they wrote great songs, but in a group their songs were so powerful that the lyrics tended to become anthems for the hippie movement.

There is a great deal of current musicians that write fairly impressive lyrics, I would definitely say that Marilyn Manson writes perhaps the most twistedly beautiful ballads of any artist ever. Queens of the Stone Age also write some really great lyrics, although I don?t think I could include Tool or APC in the mix, just because I don?t think their lyrics are anything special (though their music does kick ***).

As far as pop singers go, the only notable one that comes to mind is John Mayer, and I am not terribly sure whether I find his music so appealing because it is well written, or because it seems to mirror my life and my thoughts so much (although the regretful line ?Why does everything I think I need seem to come with batteries?, one of my favorites, is fairly universal).[/color]

[Shadow Miho]

I don't wanna sound so...er predictable or anything but I can't really go a day w/o listening to Nirvana...I know so many pple say this... :o I'll just shut up now...I feel so stupid just going along w/ what Rhym said,but Tool and Radiohead are big plusses in my book :D

[DetectiveMikeRS]

Some of the songwriters that I have to give praise to are

Don Henley, espeically in his song The Heart of the Matter. One of the most touching songs, about how love doesn't work out at times. Even though he collaborates with many other artists, the song wouldn't be complete without him.

Billy Joel, I can't really think of one song that doesn't support how good of a writer he is. I even was inspired to play piano by him. Songs such as New York State of Mind, Say Goodbye to Hollywood, and The Stranger are just some of my favorite ones. The melodies, and the story behind the song, are all worth praising.

Neil Hannon. The lead singer and writer of the Irish chamber pop (actually it's a form of alternative rock) band known as The Divine Comedy. His songs range from the romantic such as Everybody Knows (Except You), to the ansty Certainty of Chance. I don't know many people who know of them though.

Neil Peart, of Rush. I even have one of thier songs quoted in my signature from thier album Signals. He mostly focuses on songs based off of sci-fi and fantasy books, but he does to love songs, such as Chemistry, that put on a new perspective to it. One of my favorite songs is Manhattan Project, about the atom bomb used on Japan at the end of World War II, it really changed my outlook on the whole thing, even though it was six decades ago.

[::Ex-Soldier::]

I listen to ALOT of electronic music. Daft Punk, Deavid Soul, Kraftwerk, Squarepusher, Aphex twin, vnv nation...alot of good stuff, but hardly any lyrics...but I used to listen to alot of punk too, and some underground hip hop.

I'd have to recommend some of At The Drive In's lyrics. They are a great, great band. Seriously. Check them out.

[Ganon6d9]

When it comes to lyrics nothing, and I mean [i]nothing[/i] can compare to The Butterfly Effect. "The Butterfly Effect? What's that?" I hear you ask. No, it's not that movie, it's an Australian band and a damn good one at that. Clint writes some of the best lyrics ever and he's a damn good singer as well, just download the(legitimate) MP3's from the links in my sig, Black Lung is one of the coolest songs I've ever heard.

[QUOTE]Clutching my heart I can't feel any more
Laughing to death as I fall to the floor
Irony cruel, calling my name
Suffer this consequence
The shame that you've given me
I still breathe

Your loving sickness I savour like wine
Drilling down hard like a blade in my spine
Damaged nerve endings are feeding me
Raw
Thought patterns processed, I still can?t ignore your hate
Precious pain

Broken and bitter on the faces you tread
Left in your wake are the trails of the dead
Shape shifting sands move and twist undertow
No depth perception has made you shallow

I'm freezing for you
Burn alive
Wont stop now and still I try
I'm alive
Bleed if I want to
Still you lie
Won't you stop now and still I try
I'm alive

Frostbitten fingertips scratching my name
You've left me here to suffer the blame
Callously cruel is your punishment
Lies to deceive is this my consequence

Damage me, damage me hate me to death
Cripple me, cripple me there's nothing left
Parasite poisonous left under skin
Slow self addiction no prize you will win

--[b]Consequence[/b][/QUOTE]That was Consequence, quite possibly the best song ever made. I could leave it on a loop for a whole day and not get tired of it. So anyway, I think I've plugged The Butterfly Effect long enough. Some other bands and artists I think have great lyrics are:

[b]Linkin Park[/b] - Greatest band in the world, don't even try to tell me different. Chester comes up with some amazing lyrics in their songs and I think the band's whole sound is just awesome.

[b]Lostprophets[/b] - Second best band in the world... OK, that sounded dumb. But these guys have some damn good lyrics in their songs, especially Hello Again and Last Train Home.

[b]Eminem[/b] - Come on, admit it. This guy comes up with some of the best lyrics ever and you all know it.

[b]Trapt[/b] - It's too bad these guys don't get much attention, they have a wicked sound. I especially like Hollow Man and Made Of Glass.
[i]"Am I still breathing? Have I lost that feeling? Am I made of glass, 'cause you see right through me? I don't know who I am, you're the only one that sees that. I can't ask these questions that cannot be answered today." -- Made Of Glass[/i]

If you're wondering what the song in my sig is, it's called Always and it's by The Butterfly Effect.

[Vash IDK]

Linkin Park and Staind. Evanescence too, but I think Staind hits all of their songs pretty good.

[Amorphous]

[color=crimson][size=1]
[b]Robert Smith[/b] of [b][i]The Cure[/i][/b]; Lyrics? When it comes ot Robert Smith, he can write the most amazing lyrics, it's like setting the most amazing poetry to the most amazing music. Especially when comparing this statement to the songs of the album Pornography.
[quote]A hand in my mouth
A life spills into the flowers
We all look so perfect
As we all fall down
In an electric glare
The old man cracks with age
She found his last picture
In the ashes of the fire
An image of the queen
Echoes round the sweating bed
Sour yellow sounds inside my head
In books
And films
And in life
And in heaven
The sound of slaughter
As your body turns
The Cure - Pornography[/quote]
[b]Danni Filth[/b] of [i][b]Cradle of Filth[/b][/i]; Rhyming is this mans gift, he can use some of the most amazing words, and he can hide many alternate meanings within his music. He keeps his lyrics incredibly dark of course, especially because of the type of music that he plays. All of his songs tell a story, a twisted, demented sick story, but a story none the less. Just an amazing Lyricists. An Example of this
[quote]The Moon, she hangs like a cruel portrait
soft winds whisper the bidding of trees
as this tragedy starts with a shattered glass heart
and the Midnightmare trampling of dreams
But no, no tears please
Fear and pain may accompany Death
But it is desire that shepherds it's certainty
as We shall see..."

She was divinity's creature
That kissed in cold mirrors
A Queen of Snow
Far beyond compare
Lips attuned to symmetry
Sought Her everywhere
Dark liqoured eyes
An Arabian nightmare...
Cradle of Filth - Her Ghost In The Fog
[/quote]
And My Last Favorite Lyricists
[b]Trent Reznor[/b] of [i][b]Nine Inch Nails[/i][/b]; This choice is a little different, he is one of my favorite because of how much more simplistic his style is, and yet it still hits you right in the face, some of his songs are quite astounding to listen to, especially of his album "The Fragile". Also, his song "The Great Below" is just amazing when being played live on vocals and instruments.
[quote]ocean pulls me close
and whispers in my ear
the destiny I've chose
all becoming clear
the currents have their say
the time is drawing near
washes me away
makes me disappear

I descend from grace
in arms of undertow
I will take my place
in the geat below
Nine Inch Nails - The Great Below
[/quote]
Those are really my current favorite for lyrics that is. But Nine Inch Nails really isn't on my top ten favorite bands list anymore oddly enough, though they are still good.
[/color][/size]

[Semjaza]

[QUOTE=Amorphous][color=crimson][size=1]
[b]Trent Reznor[/b] of [i][b]Nine Inch Nails[/i][/b]; This choice is a little different, he is one of my favorite because of how much more simplistic his style is, and yet it still hits you right in the face, some of his songs are quite astounding to listen to, especially of his album "The Fragile". Also, his song "The Great Below" is just amazing when being played live on vocals and instruments.[/color][/size][/QUOTE]

There's a large sect of people who seemingly hate Trent's writing style because he uses a predictable writing sheme. I don't quite understand it because probably 1 in 3 other musicians do the same thing. To pick on him more than anyone else seems ridiculous, especially when I can name off quite a few songs that really don't have a set pattern at all.

Oh well.

[::Ex-Soldier::]

If any of you have heard of the streets, he writes brilliant songs and always has brilliant lyrics. Very cleverly rhymed. Some of his song are very inspirational. You could just listen to them, and the lyrics come right to life. Also if any of you are into gangstarr, he has really good lyrics too.