Thread: Real lyricists

The front man may rule the stage and have the audience in throes of ecstasy, the lead guitarist may break the speed of light and sustain a note that suffocates the audience but it's the lyrics that always really grab me. Perhaps because I'm a word man, it doesn't matter how brilliant something may sound, if the lyric is rubbish then it does nothing for me.

This attempt at debate is inspired, with tongue firmly planted in cheek, by some of the thoughts offered in critique on the Lyrics board. Perhaps even more by some of the responses to reviews.

I'll start the ball rolling with words penned by one of my favourite lyricist/poets as an opener; Pete Sinfield, the pen behind King Crimson.

The Song of the Sea Goat

The sea goat casts Aquarian runes through beads of mirrored tears,
Suave pirates words of apricot crawl out of your veneer
Anoint your eyes with Midas’ oil and make it still appear
Alladin’s lamp is glowing bright transmuting panacea;
To fill your souls with sugared holes.
“Oh can’t you hear” sang the sea goat “the nonsense makes me numb.”
“It’s near it’s clear” sang the sea goat “we live to overcome,
The madman’s voice and his nowhere choice,
The pain that drains like an endless day of rain.”

The sea goat reads the flight of birds and writes upon the sand;
Gold waterfalls of autumn wheat slip through a pointing hand
Whose fingers stiff with sentences still beckon to the band
To play the “Best Foot Forward March” and deafen all the land.
With hollow words, it’s so absurd!
“Take your stand” sang the sea goat “the night goes on and on.”
“Unwrap your plans” sang the sea goat “tell everyone you’ve gone
To touch the earth and to see the birth
The smile, the style down an unspun mile of life.”

It fills the air! It fills the air!
The song of the sea goat shaking in the domes
The song of the sea goat as endlessly he roams,
Between the sunset’s crimson veil
On smooth grey streets where the drunkard spins his tale.

The sea goat sips and hurls his glass along the smoke-filled road
Where shuttered snakes of brakeless trains run aching with their load
Of spring-eyed, tonguetied, wooldyed lads who kiss the L-shaped goat
Which soon will smear their uniforms with blood, whitewash & woad.
Damn iron minded, gold braid blinded, officers and gentlemen!
“God!” sang the sea goat “is always on both sides.”
“Change” sang the sea goat “is constant as the tides
“And this play” sang the sea goat “is strangely synthesised
When your part of a cast where the first comes last
Where the east goes west and the sun is burning out

And your part of a cast where the first comes last
Where the east goes west and the sun is burning out”

Lyrics © copyright Pete Sinfield 1973.

I've always thought of lyricists as the great poets of our time. (Well, up until recent developments) and used to suffer for writing academic papers to that effect. People like Roger Waters, Bernie Taupin, Robert Hunter are masterful poets.

These verses by Neil Young go way beyond just being "a song".

THE OLD LAUGHING LADY

Don't call pretty Peggy,
she can't hear you no more
Don't leave no message
'round her back door.
They say the old laughing lady
been here before
She don't keep time,
she don't count score.

You can't have a cupboard
if there ain't no wall.
You got to move there's
no time left to stall.
They say the old laughing lady
dropped by to call
And when she leaves,
she leaves nothing at all.

See the drunkard of the village
falling on the street.
Can't tell his ankles
from the rest of his feet.
He loves his old laughing lady
'cause her taste is so sweet.
But his laughing lady's loving
ain't the kind he can keep.

There's a fever on the freeway,
blacks out the night.
There's a slipping on the stairway,
just don't feel right
And there's a rumbling
in the bedroom
and a flashing of light
There's the old laughing lady,
everything is all right.

Too Tolkien for my tastes, Baron. But I agree that lyrics can make or break a song.

Poetic blues of the highest caliber: Howlin' Wolf- Spoonful

It could be a spoonful of diamonds,
could be a spoonful of gold;
just a little spoon of your precious love,
satisfy my soul.

Men lies about a little,
some men cries about a little,
some will dies about a little;
everybody fights about a spoonful,
that spoon, that spoon, that spoonful.

It could be a spoonful of coffee,
could be a spoonful of tea;
but a little spoon of your precious love,
good enough for me.

Men lies about a little,
some men cries about a little,
some will dies about a little;
everybody fights about a spoonful,
that spoon, that spoon, that spoonful.

It could be a spoonful of water,
saved from the desert sand;
but a little spoon of them fortifies,
save you from another man.

Men lies about a little,
some men cries about a little,
some will dies about a little;
everybody fighting 'bout that spoonful,
that spoon, that spoon, that spoonful.

I like Neil young's lyrics, Lin. Always among my favourite musicians.

Spoonful is also a favourite of mine. The very first time I heard it I was stoned with a very attractive hippy female and the song was being played by Cream. Great rhythm to that song and anything more of the anecdote would have to be censored.

One acid test of lyrics-as-poetry (right or wrong) is if they stand up on paper without music with them.

Here's another that I consider very much in that class, by J.D. Souther (author of many songs for The Eagles and Linda Ronstadt, includiing "New Kid In Town", "White Rhythm and Blues", and "Hasten Down The Wind".

DEEP, DARK AND DREAMLESS

When the moon blows 'round your door and water burns like wine

The line between your life and more has grown a little fine

Oh little lonely one, sometimes everything is wrong

You're all alone and the night's so long

Deep, dark and dreamless nights, shadows that don't move right

Deep, dark and dreamless nights, you're not the only one

Childrean all get scared at night and run away to dream

We've grown so fast and gone so far, but oh how near it seems

Poor little lonely one, you're just breaking my heart

All alone, you could die in the dark

Deep, dark and dreamless nights, shadows that don't move right

Deep, dark and dreamless nights, oh lonely one, you're not the only one

You're weeping like a whippoorwill and I know these are lonely days

But you could spend your life in tears and never have your way

Deep, dark and dreamless nights, shadows that don't move right

Deep, dark and dreamless nights, oh lonely one, you're not the only one

I agree that the lyric should be able to stand alone. That's what makes writers such as Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen and Carol King so great. It isn't confined to that generation though. Conor Oberst gets into some very adept wordplay that would make Robert Zimmerman sit up and take notice. Matt Bellamy, of Muse, produces some very interesting work as well.

Do we count Michael Moorcock's scribblings for Hawkwind?

For me, the only lyricist I've really ever thought nonpareil was Billy Corgan. Some of his lyrics were from another planet.

Like Bernie Taupin, who did Elton John's lyrics, Robert Hunter composed mostly for the Grateful Dead (though he was a musican himself and released albums). Almost everything he did was poetry.

This one, a major Dead classic, is interesting for a couple of reasons. For one it's actually even a bit beyond poetry to me, more of a spiritual document, like sutra or scriptures. And the subject matter is about writing songs.


RIPPLE

If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung
Would you hear my voice come through the music?
Would you hold it near, as it were your own?

It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken
Perhaps they're better left unsung
I don't know, don't really care
Let there be songs to fill the air

Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow

Reach out your hand if your cup be empty
If your cup is full may it be again
Let it be known there is a fountain
That was not made by the hands of man

There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go, no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone

Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow

You who choose to lead must follow
But if you fall, you fall alone
If you should stand, then who's to guide you?
If I knew the way, I would take you home

I'm afraid I don't have any examples right now, but I certainly accept the sentiment that good lyrics still work without music. It's worth noting that even though none of the above quoted songs are examples of what I normally listen to, they're all brilliantly written as far as lyrics go.

I'm not a huge fan of that school of lyricism that purports to wax philosophical about the human condition (there are exceptions), but I do value wordplay and I like stories or vignettes.
Here's a couple that I've always found notable, and undervalued as far as lyrical content:

Alice Cooper

Desperado

I'm a gambler
And I'm a runner
But you knew that
When you lay down

I'm a picture
Of ugly stories
I'm a killer
And I'm a clown

Step into the street by sundown
Step into your last goodbye
You're a target just by living
Twenty dollars will make you die

I wear lace
And I wear black leather
My hands are lightning upon my gun

My shots are clean
And my, my shots are final
My shots are deadly
And when it's done

You're as stiff as my smoking barrel
You're as dead as a desert night
You're a notch
And I'm a legend
You're at peace
And I must hide

Tell me where the hell I'm going
Let my bones fall in the dust
Can't you hear that ghost that's calling
As my Colt begins to rust
In the dust

I'm a killer
I'm a clown
I'm a priest
That's gone to town


Steely Dan is another band that's always had a surfeit of good words. Here's an example:

My Old School

I remember the thirty-five sweet goodbyes
When you put me on the Wolverine
Up to Annandale
It was still September
When your daddy was quite surprised
To find you with the working girls
In the county jail
I was smoking with the boys upstairs
When I heard about the whole affair
I said oh no
William and Mary won't do
CHORUS:
Well I did not think the girl
Could be so cruel
And I'm never going back
To my old school

Oleanders growing outside her door
Soon they're gonna be in bloom
Up in Annandale
I can't stand her
Doing what she did before
Living like a gypsy queen
In a fairy tale
Well I hear the whistle but I can't go
I'm gonna take her down to Mexico
She said oh no
Guadalajara won't do

CHORUS

California tumbles into the sea
That'll be the day I go
Back to Annandale
Tried to warn you
About Chino and Daddy Gee
But I can't seem to get to you
Through the U.S. Mail
Well I hear the whistle but I can't go
I'm gonna take her down to Mexico
She said oh no
Guadalajara won't do

CHORUS

I think both of those paint a perfectly good picture.

Originally Posted by Sam W

Some of his lyrics were from another planet.

Same goes for Mark E. Smith of The Fall. Love him or hate him, his lyrics are not, like you say about Corgan, from here.

A popular singer/songwriter right now is Dallas Green, who goes by the name City and Colour. I find his lyrics very powerful. His songs tend to deal with emotions and psychological issues in relatively direct, non-metaphorical words. Here's one of his about, more or less, the feeling of being away from someone.

City & Colour - Hello, I'm In Delaware

So there goes my life
Passing by with every exit sign
And it's been so long
Sometimes I wonder how I will stay strong
No sleep tonight
I'll keep on driving these dark highway lines
And as the moon fades
One more night gone only twenty more days

(chorus)
But I will see you again
I will see you again
a long time from now

And there goes my life
Passing by with every departing flight
And its been so hard
So much time so far apart
She walks the night
How many hearts will die tonight
And when things have changed
I guess I'll find out in seventeen days

But I will see you again
I will see you again
a long time from now

(refrain)
My body aches
And it hurts to sing
And no one is moving
And I wish that I
Weren't here tonight
This is my life.

And I will see you again
I will see you again a long time from now
And I will see you again
I will see you again a long time from now

Harry Nilsson is one of my favourites.
And Mr. Richland's Favourite Song is one of his best, by far.


When he was young he sang in a band and the fans all looked the same.
The fans he had were younger than he and they loved to scream his name.
They'd leave at the end of the third show, go home to talk of the fun . . .
Well isn't nice the parents would say, well isn't nice you've got someone,
Someone to idolize, he must look twice his size.
I think it's great your going through a phase.
And I'm awfully glad it will all be over in a couple of days.

Well the calendar changed and the pages fell off, but the singer remained the same.
And he never grew tired of singing his song, and the fans still called his name.
They'd leave at the of the second show, go home to talk of the fun.
For most of the fans were married by then, so they had to be in by One.
I'm awfully glad the husbands would say, I'm awfully glad you got someone
Someone I realize . . . who used to look twice his size.
I think it's great you still remember his name.
And I'll bet if he knew you were there for the show,
He'd be awfully glad you came.

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "to speak of other things."
Like a fallen star who works in a bar where yesterday is king.
The fans all come for an hour or so, they still remember his fame,
But the time has come the Walrus said, to call your fans by name.

I am lazy. I usually go for the best tune because I usually only listen to music when I am looking to vegetate, lol. However, King Crimson have some amazing lyrics. I've always liked Muse - they were my favourite band for ages. Then I moved onto the Killers and now I am more into Muse again.

Elvis Costello is probably my favorite lyricist. But to me, it's really about the whole ball of wax -- the lyrics, the music, the performance -- all of it. Some can stand on their own, I guess, but I think lyrics are best considered in context.