The Greatest Prog Lyricist

Christian Vander and Frank Zappa....
thank you.

Fish

Ian Anderson, especially on Thick As A Brick

Peter Hammill hands down.

Kerry Minnear, Derek, Ray and Phil Shulman

Friede was too decent to name herself as a lyricist, but since it is very doubtful that the music of the Bald Angels can be calleld "prog rock" it does not matter much. her lyrics, however, are excellent, whether she writes in German or in English. here are the lyrics of one song of her of which she made an English translation, in both languages; for those who speak both it will be interesting to compare them.

Eilig vorwärtshastend,
Ruh'los, niemals rastend,
Unaufhaltsam, stur.
Werd' ich je erfahren,
Was seit vielen Jahren
Zeigt mir meine Uhr?

„Gleichmäßig läufst du Stück für Stück,
Und nimmer kehrest du zurück.
Du scheinst mal langsam, scheinst mal schnell,
Ruhst scheinbar aus dich auf der Stell'.
Ist alles dies nur Täuschung, Zeit?
Sag', was  bist du in Wirklichkeit“?

So seufzt' ich oft in mancher Stund',
Und endlich tat die zeit mir kund:
„Ich“ sprach sie „bin, was existiert,
Wenn nichts mehr auf der Welt passiert.
Wenn endlich an dem Jüngsten Tag
Das Weltall birst mit einem Schlag
Und alles ringsumher ist Leere,
So bin noch immer ich“. „Das wäre“...
Rief ich vergeblich, denn soeben
Entschwand die Zeit – so ist das Leben.

Nun steh' ich hier und weiß es kaum,
Ob es die Wahrheit, ob es Traum
Gewesen, was ich da vernommen.
Die Zeit? Sie wird nie wiederkommen.

Eilig vorwärtshastend,
Ruh'los, niemals rastend,
Unaufhaltsam, stur.
Werd' ich je erfahren,
Was seit vielen Jahren
Zeigt mir meine Uhr?

Und hier die englische Version:

Time

Hastily pacing,
Steadily racing,
Headstrong without match.
Will ever I know
Whatever does show
Upon my wrist watch?

„You run steadfastly in your track
And never ever you turn back.
You seem to amble, seem to pace,
You seem to stand still in one place.
Is all of this illusion, time?
Pray, what's your reason and your rhyme“?

Thus I in many hours sighed,
And finally the time replied:
„I“, spake he, „am, what will be there
When there is nothing anywhere.
Wenn finally on Judgment Day
The whole world will be blown away
And ev'rything around is naught,
Then there will still be I“. „That ought“...
I cried in vain, for disappeared
The time just had, as I had feared.

Now here I stand, and I can't seem
To tell if this has been a dream
Or real, what I have just been told.
The time will nevermore unfold.

Hastily pacing,
Steadily racing,
Headstrong without match.
Will ever I know
Whatever does show
Upon my wrist watch?

Edited by BaldJean - November 01 2010 at 13:11

Vander and Zappa nuff said

Neil Peart, Ian Anderson, Peter Hammill all really stand out for me.

Nobody had mentioned Adrian Belew, just only one of you (God knows why) underrated Richard Palmer-James.

Peter Hammill & Peter Gabriel.