Who do you think is the best lyricist of this generation?

laguacamaya

Agree with bizarre nominations of Robert Plant and Chris Martin. How bout Gillian Welch and Richard Thompson for starters?
Jimmy McCarthy?...Meh...Give me Shane McGowan any day or night...

frag420

Chino Moreno
Alex Turner
Mike Patton
Scroobius Pip
Jon McClure

Malari

Android 666 wrote: »

He is responsible for some of the worst lines I have ever heard. ****ing awful...

He sure has, but this is about good lyrics? I just think he has some good 'uns here and there.

Anyway, I don't think he's the best, as per my post

Oasis_Dublin

I'm not a huge man for lyrics but you would do well to look beyond Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not and Favourite Worst Nightmare for examples of the best lyrics of the last twenty years.

Mister Jingles

Surprised not to see Gary Barlow being mentioned.

The Scientician

Regina Spektor is up there too.

Stompbox

karaokeman wrote: »

If you want my favourite non-trad lyricist I would say Chris Martin.

Different strokes and all that, but you're having a laugh, right?

Rocket_Man

Mister Jingles wrote: »

Surprised not to see Gary Barlow being mentioned.

+1
Barlow is actually an excellent lyricist but has suffered from the whole 'boy band' thing.
Anyone in doubt should listen to his Open Road album. Excellent!!

karaokeman

Rocket_Man wrote: »

+1
Barlow is actually an excellent lyricist but has suffered from the whole 'boy band' thing.
Anyone in doubt should listen to his Open Road album. Excellent!!

True that. Some people never listen.

Take That are by no means a "boy band". They started off as one but as they grew older, realised their talent.

They also completely changed the face of British pop music when they reformed in 2005. In the 90s they did covers like How Deep Is Your Love, which is a common trait with boybands to not write their own material.

Take That do however write their own songs, they also play instruments, sing really well and if thats not enough Barlow is also a record producer.

Mister Jingles

Rocket_Man wrote: »

+1
Barlow is actually an excellent lyricist but has suffered from the whole 'boy band' thing.
Anyone in doubt should listen to his Open Road album. Excellent!!

Seemingly he wrote a lot of stuff for Donny Osmond and people who were at their highest fame while he would of still being in school.

I agree Take That were a boy band back in the 90's but in the 00s and today they aren't and this is why they are respected so much within the music community.......if that makes sense.

DOC09UNAM

Scroobius pip, alex turner or jay z in my opinion.

nitromaster

Gerard Way/Pete Wentz.

Alex Turner isn't bad either :pac:

CiaranK

Damien Dempesy
Glen Hansard
Mark Oliver Everett (E from Eels)

Aldebaran

Colin Meloy is by far my favourite lyricist of this generation, he is superb.

Alex Turner has written some fantastic lyrics too but, while I loved the last two AM albums, his lyrics have definitely lost the magic that was present in the first two.

Frank Turner knows how to write a good lyric too but he can be a bit hit and miss with them.

ItsAWindUp

Morrissey is the most lyrical man to ever write music.

veee

Kanye West He's the voice of a generation, a lyrical wordsmith...

bullpost

Paul Weller has been a consistently good writer for over 30 years now and is still making excellent albums.

WinstonOno

cant believe no ones meantioned ryan adams. no one this generation has built up a such body of work as consistantly strong as his. just listen to cold roses or 29, amazing stuff.
ron sexsmith deserves a meantion, and i think josh ritter has improved with every album.

alex turner started out strong, but i think he's slipped on every album since. there new album sounds like hes struggling for ideas. case in point 'dont sit down coz i've moved your chair'
as for who ever meantioned damien dampsey, you must be havin a laugh, some of his stuff is cringeworthy.

"Hey little baby I want to take you from here
Hey little baby I don't want to see you on the gear
It's so hard to find your way back
Hey little baby it's every parent's worst fear
For their child to end up on smack

There was pills, there was tabs
There was pain and needle jabs
And the ghosts overdoses
Replace the ghosts of tuberculois!

that been said, i still like him, great voice!!

The last poster beat me to it, was flabbergasted that no one mentioned Ryan Adams. The dude catches alot of **** over his image and unfortunate name, but effing hell the man can write lyrics, be it introspective, observational or old-fashioned storytelling. A masterclass in song composition can be heard on his albums Heartbreaker, Cold Roses and 29. The songs 'Oh My Sweet Carolina', 'Let It Ride' and 'Carolina Rain' respectively from the aforementioned albums should be youtubed now if you got the time:D

Ben Gibbard of 'Death Cab For Cutie' comes up with really quirky but apt lyrics in some beautiful song settings, the album Plans is a good example of this. 'Summer Skin', 'What Sarah Said' and 'Brothers on a Hotel Bed' should illustrate what i'm driving at.

I'm not fond of the Arctic Monkeys but Alex Turner is a serious composer, both musically and lyrically.

lalee17

I'm not one to listen intensely to lyrics in songs but I can't help but notice Beck's. His lyrics are always interesting and have a message to convey,
the man is a genius.

Dub88

Not saying hes the best but ed sheeran is a bit of a lyrical genius

marty1985

For me the best lyricist is Mike Scott of the Waterboys. Check out the lyrics for his song The Return Of Jimi Hendrix.

More recently, I think Bright Eyes and M Ward write some great lyrics.

dave3004

WinstonOno wrote: »

cant believe no ones meantioned ryan adams. no one this generation has built up a such body of work as consistantly strong as his. just listen to cold roses or 29, amazing stuff.
ron sexsmith deserves a meantion, and i think josh ritter has improved with every album.

alex turner started out strong, but i think he's slipped on every album since. there new album sounds like hes struggling for ideas. case in point 'dont sit down coz i've moved your chair'
as for who ever meantioned damien dampsey, you must be havin a laugh, some of his stuff is cringeworthy.

"Hey little baby I want to take you from here
Hey little baby I don't want to see you on the gear
It's so hard to find your way back
Hey little baby it's every parent's worst fear
For their child to end up on smack

There was pills, there was tabs
There was pain and needle jabs
And the ghosts overdoses
Replace the ghosts of tuberculois!

that been said, i still like him, great voice!!

he is a great lyricist. Colony / Celtic Tiger (relevant these days) are superb lyrics. It doesn't have to be deep, metaphorical set of words to make a point. Sometimes the plain english writing is what is needed most in lyrics.

I sing the song of the colony
How many years and you're still not free
And your mother cries and you ask god why
Greed is the knife and the scars run deep
How many races with much reason to weep
And your children cry
And you ask god why

Annie, she came from Dunlavin Town
The TB came and killed her family all around
Population booms
Eleven in two rooms
Katie she came from down Townsend street
Ten in a bed and no shoes on their feet
1916 came
They played the patriots game
Freddy, he came from the Iveagh flats
Tenement slums and infested with rats
Sleeping on damp straw
Trying not to break the law
Thomas, he came from Kilmaine in Mayo
Semi starvation was the only life you'd know
In a two room shack
Then jailed in Letterfrack

I look to the east, I look to the west
To the north and the south, and I'm not too impressed
Time after time
After crime after crime
They raped, robbed, pillaged, enslaved and murdered
Jesus Christ was their god and they done it in his name
So he could take the blame if it's not all a game
With bible in one hand and a sword in the other
They came to purify my land of my Gaelic Irish mothers
And fathers, and sisters and brothers
With our own ancient customs, laws, music, art
Way of life and culture
Tribal in structure
We had a civilisation
When they were still neanderthal nations
We suffer with the Native American, the Indian in Asia
Aboriginal Australia
The African people with their history so deep
And our children still weep and our lives are still cheap
You came from Germany, from France, from England
And from Spain
From Belgium and from Portugal
You all done much the same

You took what was not yours
Went against your own bible
You broke your own laws
Just to out do the rival
But did you ever apologize
For the hundreds and millions of lives
You destroyed and terrorised
Or have you never realized
Did you never feel shame
For what was done in your country's name
And find out who's to blame and why they were so inhumane
And still they teach you in your school
About those glorious days of rule
And how it's your destiny to be
Superior to me
But if you've any kind of mind
You'll see that all human kind
Are the children of this earth
And your hate for them will chew you up and spit you out

You'll never kill our will to be free, to be free
You'll never kill our will to be free, to be free
You'll never kill our will to be free, to be free
Inside our minds we hold, hold the key


(SHIVERS DOWN YOUR SPINE)

marty1985

Ah you lads are cheating now, pasting the lyrics here. Not allowed.

I dreamed about Jimi Hendrix
he came back for one day
was born weeping out an egg the midwife said
and straightaway began to pray
with lifted head
He spent the early hours
communing with the morning stars
And then he came over to my house
where he tried out my guitar

He was young and black and beautiful
big eyed, perfect skinned
and he played my guitar like a lightning storm
like twirling feathers in the wind
He could make it sound like the end of the world
a train, the prow of a ship
He could squeeze it slow and masterful
like a secret kiss on lovers' lips

Together we strolled in sculptured gardens
passed a sleepy afternoon
Maids were darting back and forth
from a window came a violin tune
Angels dressed as nurses toyed with playing cards
Looters, sprung from prison filled the yard
A yellow sun hung low and yawned and as it dipped
Jimi stood up straight, grinned
and shook his velvet hips

Calling himself "King Electric"
in the evening he went wild
played on a dozen stages in the clubs of New York
lit the city end to end
wired it up, fired it up
scarved, bejewelled, long legged, snake limbed,
athletic, driven, dangerous
He made all Manhattan shake
He made every street and sidewalk quake
His stratocaster caused the mighty Empire State to vibrate
His whammy bar caused shock-eyed punks from Hackensack and Yonkers
raised on speed-metal and rap to enter trance and levitate
He played "Purple Haze" in Pyramid
"Voodoo Chile" at Sin E
"Up From The Skies" and "Stone Free" in King Tut's Wah Wah Hut
He did a forty-two minute karmic rising future shock "Star Bangled Banner" in the back of CBGB'S
He stopped every clock in New York State
and every heart that heard him
and Time Itself was beaten and confused and fell lamblike under the spell of his fabulous
flashing fingers
He played an encore at The Bitter End
- a heartburst "Little Wing"
Even the waiters cried
and then we fell outside
and in the dusty dawn of Bleecker Street
a sweet rain fell
and Jimi died

bradlente

Julian Casablancas is pretty good I think.Not really sure who I'd consider the best.

If "this" generation is the last ten years then I haven't listened to enough popular musicians in that time to form a definitive opinion probably.I'd say I've only heard about half of what the thread has consisted of so far.Been meaning to check out Ryan Adams and Bon Iver.

Arctic Monkeys 1st album has some quality lyrics on there.

A couple of my favourites not mentioned:

Jesse Leach-Love his stuff with Killswitch Engage and The Empire Shall Fall.
Jon Henry-Another metal vocalist with the band Darkest Hour.

I don't really listen to much hip/hop or singer songwriter stuff as regards to this generation so can't say much there.

Morrissey beats em all hands down any day!

veee

Just think it might deserve a mention but there are actually some good lyrics in the modern rap/hip hop generation of music not that it would be my style of music I just don't think you can rule anything out when it comes to music.

Da Shins Kelly

veee wrote: »

Just think it might deserve a mention but there are actually some good lyrics in the modern rap/hip hop generation of music not that it would be my style of music I just don't think you can rule anything out when it comes to music.

Definitely. Lupe Fiasco is a great writer, in my opinion. Immortal Technique and Nas were and continue to be incredible, as is Illogic, and he might be a d*ck, but Kanye West is capable of writing some great stuff. It's a shame he believes his own hype, but I think it's impossible to deny the man's talent.

I'd also throw in a word for Gary Barlow. I'm not really a fan of Take That, but he can definitely write a good pop tune.

splashthecash

Guy Garvey from Elbow - beautiful lyrics\imagery, a very talented lyricist

"And we took the town to town last night
We kissed like we invented it
And now I know what every step is for
To lead me to your door
Know that while you sleep
Everything has changed"

Mirrorball - The Seldom Seen Kid

aidodo

Conor O'Brien from the Villagers.

WinstonOno

aidodo wrote: »

Conor O'Brien from the Villagers.

best of our generation after one album?? christ they must be some lyrics!!