Best Prog Lyricist

In support of Pete Sinfield...

One of the reasons I love the lyrics of Pete Sinfield is that he put secret messages in his words.  Unlike Roger Waters who put secret messages in the songs by recording things backwords.. or playing them lightly over the song recording.. Pete would actually write them into the lyrics.  They were sort of like puzzles that you had to figure out.

Still

Still I wonder how it is to be a stream,
From a dark well constant flowing,
Winding seawards over ancient mossy wheels
Yet feel no need of knowing?
Still I wonder how it is to be a tree,
Circled servant to the seasons,
Only drink on sky and rake the winter wind
And need no seal of reasons?

Still I wonder why I wonder why I'm here
All my words just the shaft of my flail
As I race o'er this beautiful sphere
Like a dog who his chasing his . . .
Tailors and tinkers, princes and Incas,
Sailors and sinkers, before me and like me . . .

Still I wonder how it is to be a bird,
Singing each dawns sweet effusions;
Flying far away when all the world has stirred
Yet seek no vain conclusions . . . . . .

Still I wonder if I passed some time ago
As a bird, or a stream, or a tree?
To mount up high you first must sink down low
Like the changeable tides of the
Caesars and Pharoahs, prophets and heroes,
Poets and hobos, before me and after me all the
Painters and dancers, mountainside chancers,
Merchants and gamblers, bankers and ramblers,
Winners and losers, angels and boozers,
Beatles and Bolans, raindrops and oceans,
Kings, pawns and deacons, fainthearts and beacons,
Caesars and Pharoahs . . . . . .

Why hasn`t mariah got any votes?

from Brain Damage on DSOTM... at the end turn it up loud and you hear:

"I can't think of anything to say except...
I think it's marvelous! HaHaHa!" 

This is a hidden message in the song "Empty Spaces" from "The Wall" but the record has to be played backward. In it, Roger Waters says: "Congratulations, You have just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to old pink, care of the funny farm, Chalfont...(interruption) Roger, Carolyn's on the phone! (Roger) Okay!".

On Amused to Death, Roger Waters says: "Julia, (pause) however, (pause) in the light and visions of Stanley, (pause) we've changed our minds. (pause) We have decided to include a backward message, (pause) Stanley, (pause) for you, (pause) and for all the other book partners".

Just a few that I know of...

Peter Gabriel puts images in my head like no other writer.Amazing lyricist.The last verse of 'Solsbury Hill' is mind bogglingly good! (and the Genesis stuff isn't bad either!)

Actually I also loved David Cousins as a lyricist.  I think my favorite by him tho, is probably his most underrated song:  Grace Darling

You have been my lighthouse
In every storm
You have given shelter
You have kept me safe and warm
And in my darkest nights
You have shone your brightest lights
You are my saving grace
Darling I love you.

You have been the pilot
Who guides me home
You have been the my rock
As on the seven seas I roam
And when I was becalmed
You were the strength in my arms
You are my saving grace
Darling I love you.

And when I found my back
Was torn and broken on the reef
You sailed your tiny boat
Across the dark seas of my disbelief.

You have been the anchor
And I the chain
Straining as we hold ourselves
Together in the rain
I have found you ever there
My constant keeper's daughter fair
You are my saving grace
Darling I love you.

I also loved his "Hanging in the Gallery"

Is it the painter or the picture
Hanging in the gallery?
Admired by countless thousands
Who attempt to read the secrets
Of his vision of his very soul.
Is it the painter or the picture
Hanging in the gallery?
Or is it but a still life
Of his own interpretation
Of the way that God had made us
In the image of His eye?

Is it the sculptor or the sculpture
Hanging in the gallery?
Touched by fleeting strangers
Who desire to feel the strength of hands
That realised a form of life.
Is it the sculptor or the sculpture
Hanging in the gallery?
Or is it but the tenderness
With which his hands were guided
To discard the unessentials
And reveal the perfect truth?

Is it the actor or the drama
Playing to the gallery?
Heard in every corner
Of the theatre of cruelty
That masks the humour in his speech.
Is it the actor or the drama
Playing to the gallery?
Or is it but the character
Of any single member of the audience
That forms the plot
Of each and every play?

Is it the singer or his likeness
Hanging in the gallery?
Tongue black, still and swollen,
His eyes staring from their sockets,
He is silent now, will sing no more.
Is it the singer or his likeness
Hanging in the gallery?
Or is it but his conscience,
Insecurity, and loneliness,
When destiny becomes at last
The cause of his demise?

Reed Lover wrote: [QUOTE=threefates] Actually I also loved David Cousins as a lyricist.  I think my favorite by him tho, is probably his most underrated song:  Grace Darling You have been my lighthouse In every storm You have given shelter You have kept me safe and warm And in my darkest nights You have shone your brightest lights You are my saving grace Darling I love you. You have been the pilot Who guides me home You have been the my rock As on the seven seas I roam And when I was becalmed You were the strength in my arms You are my saving grace Darling I love you. And when I found my back Was torn and broken on the reef You sailed your tiny boat Across the dark seas of my disbelief. You have been the anchor And I the chain Straining as we hold ourselves Together in the rain I have found you ever there My constant keeper's daughter fair You are my saving grace Darling I love you. Are you Alan partridge by any chance?

Not the last time I looked... I think my boobs are much bigger than his..