Best Lyrical Musician/Band

[Matt Till]

I'm sure it's been done, but lyrics have gone under serious debate these days. Who's your writes your favorite lyrics. I've taken quite a shine to Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. Aside from his fantastic delivery and amazing voice, his lyrics are deep and often descriptive in a way that I usually find a bit cheesy. But really who can deny Aqualung?

Sitting on a park bench --
eyeing ittle girls with bad intent.
Snot running down his nose --
greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes.
Drying in the cold sun --
Watching as the frilly panties run.
Feeling like a dead duck --
spitting out pieces of his broken luck.

Sun streaking cold --
an old man wandering lonely.
Taking time
the only way he knows.
Leg hurting bad,
as he bends to pick a dog-end --
he goes down to the bog
and warms his feet.

Feeling alone --
the army's up the rode
salvation à la mode and
a cup of tea.
Aqualung my friend --
don't start away uneasy
you poor old sod, you see, it's only me.
Do you still remember
December's foggy freeze --
when the ice that
clings on to your beard is
screaming agony.
And you snatch your rattling last breaths
with deep-sea-diver sounds,
and the flowers bloom like
madness in the spring.


And I don't even know what a "dog end" is. Also, the song "My God" off that same album is terrifying! It's rare that lyrics/mood to a song will disturb me anymore. And how it goes right into Hymn 43. I love that album!

So whos our favs?

[Thee]

Greg Gaffin from Bad Religion.

[Cerb]

Maynard Keenan of Tool writes some of the most interesting and deep lyrics out there. He's by far my favorite lyricist/vocalist.

[Adam Barkley]

Lately I have been getting into Mike Patton's twisted lyrical/vocal style. I think my favorite songs that he sings/wrote are Harelip (Tomahawk), RV (Faith No More), and Kindergarten (Faith No More).

Neil Fallon from Clutch can pretty much do no wrong in my opinion. Same thing goes for Mark Sandman.

[bassicinstinct]

Matt:

I think I'm with you on this one.

Oh, and a "dog end" is the remainder of a cigarette after it has been smoked. Roach?

[i like tictacs]

Dave Maffews Band.

Mr. Matthews is quite the lyricist/guitarist. Amazing stuff he's got. And the bassist writes some amazing lyrics of his own- for example, 'The Dreaming Tree' was written by Stefan. I bolded some standout lines, but the whole thing is really amazing.

Standing here
The old man said to me
"Long before these crowded streets
Here stood my dreaming tree"
Below it he would sit
For hours at a time
Now progress takes away
What forever took to find
Now he's falling hard
He feels the falling dark
How he longs to be
Beneath his dreaming tree
Conquered fear to climb
A moment froze in time
When the girl who first he kissed
Promised him she'd be his
Remembered mother's words
There beneath the tree
"No matter what the world
You'll always be my baby"
Mommy come quick
The dreaming tree has died
The air is growing thick
A fear he cannot hide
The dreaming tree has died
Oh have you no pity
This thing I do
I do not deny it
All through this smile
As crooked as danger
I do not deny
I know in my mind
I would leave you now
If I had the strength to
I would leave you up
To your own devices
Will you not talk
Can you take pity
I don't ask much
But won't you speak
Please
From the start
She knew she had it made
Easy up 'til then
For sure she'd make the grade
Adorers came in hordes
To lay down in her wake
She gave it all she had
But treasures slowly fade
Now she's falling hard
She feels the fall of dark
How did this fall apart
She drinks to fill it up
A smile of sweetest flowers
Wilted so and soured
Black tears stain the cheeks
That once were so admired
She thinks when she was small
There on her father's knee
How he had promised her
"You'll always be my baby"
"Daddy come quick
The dreaming tree has died
I can't find my way home
There is no place to hide
The dreaming tree has died"
Oh if I had the strength...
Take me back
Save me please

[Mike N]

Neil Peart/Rush

Steve Harris/Iron Maiden

[Brendan]

Carly Coma of Candiria is pretty high in my book.

[dancehallclasher]

well, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Elvis Costello should go without saying.

Nowadays though, the best is Colin Meloy from the Decemberists.

Oh what a rush of ripe élan
Languor on divans
Dalliant and dainty
But oh, the smell of burnt cocaine
The dolor and decay
It only makes me cranky
Oh great calamity,
Ditch of iniquity and tears
How I abhor this place
Its sweet and bitter taste
Has left me wretched, retching on all fours
Los Angeles, I’m yours

Medicating in the sun
pinched doses of laudanum
longing for the old fecundity of my homeland
Curses to this mirage!
A bottle of ancient Chiraz
a smattering of distant applause
is ringing in my poor ears

On the old left bank
my baby in a charabanc
riding up the width and length
of the Champs Elysees

If only summer rain would fall
on the houses and the boulevard
and the side walk bagatelles it's like a dream
with the roar of cars
and the lulling of the cafe bars
the sweetly sleeping sweeping of the Seine
Lord I don't know if I'll ever be back again

[Aaron Saunders]

Originally Posted by i like tictacs

Dave Maffews Band.

Mr. Matthews is quite the lyricist/guitarist. Amazing stuff he's got. And the bassist writes some amazing lyrics of his own- for example, 'The Dreaming Tree' was written by Stefan. I bolded some standout lines, but the whole thing is really amazing.

<Lyrics for the Dreaming Tree>

Very much agreed. The band is awesome, and I didn't know Stefan wrote that! It's one of my favourite songs by them.

Crush:

Crazy how it feels tonight
Crazy how you make it all alright love
Crush me with the things you do
And I do for you anything too, oh
Sitting, smoking, feeling high
And in this moment, ah, it feels so right

Lovely lady, I am at your feet
Oh god i want you so badly
and i wonder this could tomorrow be
so wonderous as you there sleeping

Lets go, drive till, mornin comes
Watch the sunrise, and fill our souls oh
Well drink some, wine till, we get drunk YEAH

It's crazy I'm thinking
Just knowing that the world is round
And here I'm dancing on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down
And is this real or am I dreaming

Lovely lady
Let me drink you please
Won't spill a drop, no, I promise you
Lying under this spell you cast on me
Each moment
The more I love you
Crush me
Come on, oh yeah

It's crazy I'm thinking
Just knowing that the world is round
And here I'm dancing on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down
Is this real or, oh, am I dreaming

(Boyd's Solo)

Lovely lady
I will treat you sweetly
Adore you I mean you crush me
And it's times like these
When my faith I feel it
I know how I love you
Come on, Come on
Baby

It's crazy I'm thinking
Just as long as you're around
I'm here I'll be dancing on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down
To each other we'll be facing
My love
By love
We'll beat back the pain we've found
You know
I mean to tell you all the things I've been thinking deep inside
My friend
Each moment the more I love you

Crush me
Come on
Baby
So much you have given love
That I would give you back again and again
Oh my love
Meaning I'll hold you
But please please just let me always...

[i like tictacs]

I love his drinking analogies/metaphors. 'Every drop of you is sacred, every drop i drink you up'

'come fill me up, when i'm dry and cold, when i'm emptied out'

Those are both from JTR and are great. Crush is awesome too. I think that the studio crush is the bands finest moment, perfect everything, perfect vocal delivery, etc etc. And some of Stefan's best bass work.

[Aaron Saunders]

Originally Posted by i like tictacs

I love his drinking analogies/metaphors. 'Every drop of you is sacred, every drop i drink you up'

'come fill me up, when i'm dry and cold, when i'm emptied out'

Those are both from JTR and are great. Crush is awesome too. I think that the studio crush is the bands finest moment, perfect everything, perfect vocal delivery, etc etc. And some of Stefan's best bass work.

+1 Great song. I only wish I hadn't lost my chord sheet for it...I've got it somewhere though! Great song to play along to.

[NoNoise]

I personally think the best lyricist today (and one of the best ever) is Conor Oberst aka "Bright Eyes." Do a search for "Bright Eyes Lyrics" and you'll find plenty of amazing lyrics.

[Gard]

I agree that DMB has some pretty cool stuff, I've always really dug "Crush", but I'm gonna go with Neal Peart & Rush, even for the "love song" lyric stuff (Lifeson's solo on this particular tune is among one of my all-time favorite guitar solos, almost heart wrenchingly emotional):

*Ghost Of A Chance*

Like a million little doorways
All the choices we made
All the stages we passed through
All the roles we played

For so many different directions
Our separate paths might have turned
With every door that we opened
Every bridge that we burned

Somehow we find each other
Through all that masquerade
Somehow we found each other
Somehow we have stayed
In a state of grace

I don't believe in destiny
Or the guiding hand of fate
I don't believe in forever
Or love as a mystical state
I don't believe in the stars or the planets
Or angels watching from above
But I believe there's a ghost of a chance we can find someone to love
And make it last...

Like a million little crossroads
Through the backstreets of youth
Each time we turn a new corner
A tiny moment of truth

For so many different connections
Our separate paths might have made
With every door that we opened
Every game we played

Somehow we find each other
Through all that masquerade
Somehow we found each other
Somehow we have stayed
In a state of grace

I don't believe in destiny
Or the guiding hand of fate
I don't believe in forever
Or love as a mystical state
I don't believe in the stars or the planets
Or angels watching from above
But I believe there's a ghost of a chance we can find someone to love
And make it last...

[Gard]

...and for a second and slightly different view on that topic, a bit more Neal Peart:

*Emotion Detector*

When we lift the covers from our feelings
We expose our insecure spots
Trust is just as rare as devotion;
Forgive us our cynical thoughts
If we need too much attention
Not content with being cool
We must throw ourselves wide open
And start acting like a fool
If we need too much approval
Then the cuts can seem too cruel

Chorus
Right to the heart of the matter
Right to the beautiful part
Illusions are painfully shattered
Right where discovery starts
In the secret wells of emotion
Buried deep in our hearts

It's true that love can change us
But never quite enough
Sometimes we are too tender
Sometimes we're too tough
If we get too much attention
It gets hard to overrule
So often fragile power turns
To scorn and ridicule
Sometimes our big splashes
Are just ripples in the pool

Chorus

Feelings run high

[mikewho]

Originally Posted by Cerb

Maynard Keenan of Tool writes some of the most interesting and deep lyrics out there. He's by far my favorite lyricist/vocalist.

+1. Unless it's actually Billy Howerdel who writes A Perfect Circle's lyrics, which I love. Here's an example...

A Perfect Circle-"The Noose"

So glad to see you well
Overcome and completely silent now
With heaven's help
You cast your demons out
And not to pull your halo down
Around your neck and tug you off your cloud
But I'm more than just a little curious
How you're planning to go about
Making your amends to the dead
To the dead

Recall the deeds as if
They're all someone else's
Atrocious stories
Now you stand reborn before us all
So glad to see you well

And not to pull your halo down
Around your neck and tug you to the ground
But I'm more than just a little curious
How you're planning to go about
Making your amends to the dead
To the dead

With your halo slipping down
Your halo slipping...
Your halo slipping down to choke you now

[Against Will]

MF Doom, hands down. He flows like water, turns a phrase like Shakespeare, words for him are like legos. He constructs lines and creates images, then flips it around and twists your head 180 degrees. MF Doom's lyrics will paralyze you from the waist down. And you will love it.

Yo, yo, yo, y'all can't stand right here
In his right hand was your man's worst nightmare
Loud enough to burst his right eardrum close-range
The game is not only dangerous, but it's most strange
I sell rhymes like dimes
The one who mostly keep cash but brag about the broker times
Joker rhymes, like the "Is you just happy to see me?" trick
Classical slap-stick rappers need Chapstick
A lot of 'em sound like they in a talent show
So I give 'em something to remember, like the Alamo
Tally-ho! A high Joker like Spades game
Came back from five year layin' and stayed the same
Sayin' - electromagnetic feeling blocks all logic, Spock
And G- shocks her biological clock
When I hit it, slit her to the *******, thought I killed her goose
Her Power-Use was pure Brita water, filtered juice
Keep a pen like a fiend keep a pipe wit' 'im
Gentleman who lent a pen to a friend who write wit' 'im
Never seen the **** again, but he's still my dunny
Only thing that come between us is krill and money
I sell rhymes like dimes
The one who mostly keep cash but brag about the broker times
Better rhymes make for better songs, and that is not
If you got a lot of what it takes just to get along
Surrender now or suffer serious setbacks
Got get-back, connects wet-back, get stacks
Even if you gots to get jet-black, head to toe
To get the dough, battle for bottles of Mo' or 'dro
This rhyme flow take practice like Tae Bo
With Billy Blanks
"Oh, you're too kind!" "Really? Thanks."
To the gone and lost forever like "O My Darling Clementine"
He hold his heart when he tellin' rhymes
When it's his time, I hope his soul go to Heaven
He's nasty like the old time Old Number Seven
You still taste it when you chase it with the Coca-Cola
Make you wish they coulda erased out the Motorola
I told her - no credit for it back
If you want what they got, then go get it, it's all gak
Only in America could you find a way to make a healthy buck
And still keep your attitude on self-destruct
I sell rhymes like dimes
The one who mostly keep cash, but tell about the broke times
Joker rhymes, like the "Is you just happy to see me?" trick
Classical slap-stick rappers need Chapstick
A lot of them sound like they in a talent show
So I give 'em something to remember like the Alamo
Tally-ho! High Joker like Spades game
Came back from five years layin' - stayed the same
Sayin' - electromagnetic field will block all logic, Spock
And G-shock her biological clock
When I hit her, slit her to the ****ter, thought I killed her goose
Her Power-Use was pure Brita water, filtered juice
Keep a pen like a fiend keep a pipe wit' 'im
Gentleman who lent a pen to a friend who write wit' 'im
Never seen the **** again, but he still my dunny
Only thing that come between us, is krill and money
We sell rhymes like dimes
The one who mostly keep cash but tell about the broke times

Joe Strummer's one of my favorite as well, one of the best? Maybe not, but still great.

[BassGod]

1. James Hetfield is my favourite, with 'Master of Puppets' being my favourite song (lyrically) of all-time. I love symbolism in lyrics, and the symbolism used in this song is just outstanding. I'm sure I don't need to explain to any of you what this song is about.

2. Chuck Shuldiner is a close second, and he uses a lot of symbolism and metaphors too. "Ashes and promises share a bond, through the winds of change."

Other bands who I've found to have good lyrics include Iron Maiden, Pennywise, and Megadeth.

Graeme

[Mental Octopus]

i think dave matthews writes awesome lyrics as well.

i also really like brandon boyd's (incubus) lyrics.

[Thee]

Also, Saul Williams.
from his song List of Demands:

I wrote a song for you today while I was sitting in my room
I jumped on my bed today and played it on a broom
I didn't think it would be a song that you would hear
but when I played it in my head it make you reappear
I made a video for it and I acted out each part
Then I took your picture out and taped it to my heart
I've taped it to my heart dear girl
I taped you to my heart and if you pull away from me you'll tear apart
I got a list of demands
written on the palm of my hand
I ball my fist and you know where I stand





And Bad Religion's "The Answer"

Long ago in a dusty village
full of hunger, pain and strife
a man came forth with a vision of truth
and the way to a better life
he was convinced he had the answer
and he complelled people to follow along
but the hunger never vansihed
and the man was banished
and the village dried up and died

at a time when wise men peered
through glass tubes toward the sky
the heavens changed in predictable ways
and one man was able to find
that he had thought he found the answer
and he was quick to write his revelation
but as they were scutinized
in his colleagues eyes
he soon became a mockery

don't tell me the answer
I've got ideas too
but if you've got enough naivete
and you've got conviction
then the answer is perfect for you

an urban sprawl sits choking on its discharge
overwhelmed by industry
searching for a modern day savior from another place
inclined toward charity
everyone's begging for an answer
without regard to validity
the searching never ends
it goes on and on for eternity

I don't believe you have the answer
I've got ideas too
but if you've got enough naivete
and you've got conviction
then the answer is perfect for you
the answer is perfect for you