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Top 100 lyricists

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by Batman Jones, Mar 3, 2005.

  1. No Worries

    No Worries Member

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    Big Log.
     
  2. No Worries

    No Worries Member

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    Methinks some people are confusing song writing with lyric writing.
     
  3. KellyDwyer

    KellyDwyer Member

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    No objected was presented! Referencing NVE and Yao is what makes Jigga the man. Or something like that.
     
  4. BMoney

    BMoney Member

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    The reason Bob Dylan is the best is because he wrote about Catfish Hunter.

    I am still waiting for a Wayne Coyne song about Bob Stoops....
     
  5. Davidoff

    Davidoff Member

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    Hell, I'll be a man and say I dont know one from the other...care to share??
     
  6. BMoney

    BMoney Member

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    A best songwriting list would have Brian Wilson rated higher, for example.
     
  7. No Worries

    No Worries Member

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    Take Elton John songs. Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics for most of his songs. Elton would take the lyrics and make a song.

    Reading about how songs get created, songwriters sometimes start with a riff (music) or lyrics (words) or a chorus (music+words). Given this, songwriters may have to fit their words to a musical structure. Thus, the lyrics can be more driven by the music versus stand alone reading.

    Taupin's lyrics can easily be read as say stand alone poetry or prose.

    Another great lyricist is Jimmy Buffett who has an amazing body of work.

    Neal Peart also has a great body of lyrical work.
     
  8. Rockets2K

    Rockets2K Clutch Crew

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    and along that line......best hard rock lyricists..

    Peart
    Harris
    Mustaine
    Tate\DeGarmo
    Whoever the primary lyricists are for Fates Warning and Dream Theater

    tons of great lyric writers amongst the progressive rock\metal genre never make llists like these..
     
  9. thegary

    thegary Member

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    for deck:

    I am a lonely visitor.
    I came too late to cause a stir,
    Though i campaigned all my life towards that goal.
    I hardly slept the night you wept
    Our secret's safe and still well kept
    Where even richard nixon has got soul.
    Even richard nixon has got
    Soul.

    Traffic cops are all color blind.
    People steal from their own kind.
    Evening comes to early for a stroll.
    Down neon streets the streaker streaks.
    The speaker speaks, but the truth still leaks,
    Where even richard nixon has got soul.
    Even richard nixon has got it,
    Soul.

    The podium rocks in the crowded waves.
    The speaker talks of the beautiful saves
    That went down long before he played this role
    For the hotel queens and the magazines,
    Test tube genes and slot machines
    Where even richard nixon got soul.
    Even richard nixon has got it,
    Soul.

    Hospitals have made him cry,
    But there's always a free way in his eye,
    Though his beach just got to crowded for his stroll.
    Roads stretch out like healthy veins,
    And wild gift horses strain the reins,
    Where even richard nixon has got soul.
    Even richard nixon has got
    Soul.

    I am a lonely visitor.
    I came too late to cause a stir,
    Though i campaigned all my life towards that goal.
     
  10. thegary

    thegary Member

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    what, my god their is no better songwriter than townes van zandt. for you:

    Your eyes seek conclusion in all this confusion of mine
    Though you and I both know it's only the warm glow of wine
    That's got you to feeling this way, but I don't care,
    I want you to stay and hold me
    And tell me you'll be here to love me today

    Children are dancin', the gamblers are chancin' their all
    The window's accusing the door of abusing the wall
    But who cares what the night watchmen say
    The stage has been set for the play
    Hold me and tell me you'll be here to love me today

    The moon's come and gone but a few stars hang on on to the sky
    The wind's runnin' free but it ain't up to me ask why
    The poets are demanding their pay
    They've left me with nothin' to say
    'cept hold me and tell me you'll be here to love me today
    Just hold me and tell me that you'll be here to love me today
     
  11. BMoney

    BMoney Member

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    Let me add Richard Thompson to the overlooked lyricst list.
     
  12. thegary

    thegary Member

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    batman, listening to this right this second, for you:

    This is the first day of my life
    Swear I was born right in the doorway
    I went out in the rain, suddenly everything changed
    They're spreading blankets on the beach
    Yours is the first face that I saw
    I think I was blind before I met you
    Don't know where I am, don't know where I've been
    But I know where I want to go

    So I thought I'd let you know
    That these things take forever, I especially am slow
    But I realized how I need you
    And I wondered if I could come home

    I remember the time you drove all night
    Just to meet me in the morning
    And I thought it was strange, you said everything changed
    You felt as if you'd just woke up

    And you said, "This is the first day of my life
    I'm glad I didn't die before I met you
    Now I don't care, I could go anywhere with you
    And I'd probably be happy"

    So if you want to be with me
    With these things there's no telling
    We'll just have to wait and see
    But I'd rather be working for a paycheck
    Than waiting to win the lottery

    Besides, maybe this time it's different
    I mean I really think you like me
     
  13. No Worries

    No Worries Member

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    We ain't going to the party
    We ain't going to the game
    We ain't going to the disco
    Ain't gonna cruise down main

    We're stealing people's mail
    stealing people's mail
    stealing people's mail
    On a friday night

    Drivin' in the mountains
    Winding 'round and 'round
    Rummage thru your mailboxes
    Take your mail back to town

    And we got license plates, wedding gifts, tax returns
    Checks to politicians from real estate firms
    Money, bills and cancelled checks
    Pretty funny pictures of your kids

    We're gonna steal your mail
    On a Friday night
    We're gonna steal your mail
    By the pale moonlight

    We got grocery sackful after grocery sackful
    After grocery sackful after grocery sackful
    After grocery sackful after grocery sackful
    Of the private lives of you
    Ha Ha

    People say that we're crazy
    We're sick and all alone
    But when we read your letters
    We're rolling on the floor

    We got more license plates, wedding gifts, tax returns
    Checks to politicians from real estate firms
    Money, bills and cancelled checks
    We cut relationships with your friends

    We're gonna steal your mail
    On a Friday night
    We're gonna steal your mail
    By the pale moonlight

    We better not get caught
    We'll be dumped in institutions
    Where we'll be drugged and shocked
    'Til we come out born-again Christians
     
  14. MadMax

    MadMax Member

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    La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
    La, la, la, la, la, la

    La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
    La, la, la, la, la, la

    When your feeling sad and low
    We will take you where you got to go
    Smiling and dancing
    Everything is free
    All you need is postivity

    Colours of the world, Spice up your life
    Every boy and every girl, Spice up your life
    People of the world, Spice up your life
    aaaaaahhhhh

    Slam it to the left, If you are having a good time
    Shake it to the right, If you know that you feel fine
    Chicas it to to the front, Uh, Uh, go around
    Slam it to the left, If you are having a good time
    Shake it to the right, If you know that you feel fine
    Chicas to the front, Ha, Ha, I see you, hold tight

    La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
    La, la, la, la, la, la

    La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
    La, la, la, la, la, la

    Yellow man in Timbuktu,
    Can’t afford both me and you,
    Kung foo fighting, dancing queen,
    Tribal Spaceman and all the thing in between

    Colours of the world, Spice up your life
    Every boy and every girl, Spice up your life
    People of the world, Spice up your life
    aaaaaahhhhh

    Slam it to the left, If you are having a good time
    Shake it to the right, If you know that you feel fine
    Shake it to to the front, Ha, Ha, and a round
    Slam it to the left, If you are having a good time
    Shake it to the right, If you know that you feel fine
    Shake it to to the front, Ha, ha, I see you, hold tight

    Flamenco, Lambada, but Hip Hop is harder
    We moon walk the foxtrot, then polka the salsa

    Shake it, shake it, shake it
    haka
    Shake it, shake it, shake it
    haka

    aareba, ye, ya, aww, aww

    Colours of the world, Spice up your life
    Every boy and every girl, Spice up your life
    People of the world, Spice up your life
    aaaaaahhhhh

    Slam it to the left, If you are having a good time
    Shake it to the right, If you know that you feel fine
    Chicas it to to the front, Uh, Uh, go around
    Slam it to the left, If you are having a good time
    Shake it to the right, If you know that you feel fine
    Chicas to the front, Uh, Uh, Hi Ci ya, hold tight

    Slam it to the left, If you are having a good time
    Shake it to the right, If you know that you feel fine
    Chicas it to to the front, Ha, Ha, and a round
    Slam it to the left, If you are having a good time
    Shake it to the right, If you know that you feel fine
    Chicas it to to the front, Ha, Ha, Hi Ci ya, hold tight



    :D
     
  15. thegary

    thegary Member

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    for no worries:

    When they kick at your front door
    How you gonna come?
    With your hands on your head
    Or on the trigger of your gun

    When the law break in
    How you gonna go?
    Shot down on the pavement
    Or waiting on death row

    You can crush us
    You can bruise us
    But you'll have to answer to
    Oh, the guns of Brixton

    The money feels good
    And your life you like it well
    But surely your time will come
    As in heaven, as in hell

    You see, he feels like Ivan
    Born under the Brixton sun
    His game is called survivin'
    At the end of the harder they come

    You know it means no mercy
    They caught him with a gun
    No need for the Black Maria
    Goodbye to the Brixton sun

    You can crush us
    You can bruise us
    Yes, even shoot us
    But oh-the guns of Brixton

    When they kick at your front door
    How you gonna come?
    With your hands on your head
    Or on the trigger of your gun

    You can crush us
    You can bruise us
    Yes, even shoot us
    But oh-the guns of Brixton

    Shot down on the pavement
    Waiting in death row
    His game is called survivin'
    As in heaven as in hell

    You can crush us
    You can bruise us
    But you'll have to answer to
    Oh, the guns of Brixton
     
  16. Batman Jones

    Batman Jones Member

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    I like Bright Eyes pretty well, thegary, but I don't know why you sent that out to me. Unless, that is, you're in the Bright Eyes is the next Dylan camp (along with Ryan Adams, Beck and the thousand that came before.) I'd rather you played me a Woody song.

    But since you brought him up, here's an anti-Bright Eyes screed from my favorite Houston band, the Mathletes:

    http://www.allstarpowerup.com/jestandearnest/17.html

    I HATE BRIGHT EYES (A BATTLE RHYME)

    The first volley in the media ****storm-to-be that is the Omaha/Houston indie-pop feud

    Connor Obherst must die
    He's got more exposure than I
    Put out his first album at age fourteen
    Started his own record label
    So did I, but I'm not able
    To generate the kind of buzz that this guy has seen

    Your fans are mostly young teenage girls with mothering complexes
    How in the world
    Does whiny self-loathing equal record sales?
    "No, Connor, no! Don't be so hard on yourself!"
    And his frigging records fly right off the shelves
    He wants to crucify himself but he can't quite hammer in the nails

    Connor Obherst, you must die
    I'm sure that you're a nice enough guy
    But your music isn't anything special
    You're as self-absorbed as Dashboard Confessional
    Connor Obherst, you must die

    Saw you open for Malkmus when I was seventeen
    Saw the atonal yelps of a drama queen
    I laughed but no one else thought it was funny
    Put out an album every year or two
    But I'm still much more prolific than you
    Put out fourteen CD-Rs before I was twenty
    (Good for me!)

    If you want to get specific
    We're both young
    We're both prolific
    And self-esteem is something we both lack
    But I never wallow in it
    Not even for a minute
    'Cuz I'm for real, and he is just an act

    Connor Obherst, you must die
    Your sorry-b*stard shtick is all a lie
    I could strum a guitar like I don't give a ****
    b**** and whine and say that I suck
    Connor Obherst, you must die
     
  17. Fatty FatBastard

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    I really wish y'all would stop posting lyrics. It's stupid.

    As for Billy Joel, I never had a problem with Just the Way You are. In fact, Joel is one of my favorite artists.

    Captain Jack, Goodnight Saigon, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, eic. are all classics, IMO.

    But you can take Piano Man, and throw it down the gutter. The "Copacabana" of Joel's music.
     
  18. Batman Jones

    Batman Jones Member

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    Your posts are condescending.
     
  19. Fatty FatBastard

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    Yes Pot, I know.

    Sincerely,

    Kettle.
     
  20. thegary

    thegary Member

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    don't be confused, i appreciated the thread and i sent out a hello because i was listening to that song. what you posted, on paper, is weak, maybe it sounds good, dunno.
     

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