Best Prog Rock Lyricist

Fish of course should've been there, but what about Geoff Mann of Twelfth Night.

Sequences, We Are Sane, Creepshow, The Collector... the list goes on.

Very sadly missed.

My vote went to Roger Waters, and even if you put in another 100 lyric writers, it'll still be Waters. Mr. Waters appeal to "tell it like it is" with the emotional/psychological in depth touch is yes to be surpassed. His lyrics seduces audiences and fans for over 30 years now and he`s still going at it. Brain Damage, Eclipse, Wish You Were Here, Dogs, Mother, Is There Anybody Out There, Nobody Home, Comfortbly Numb, South Hampton Dock, Final Cut, Every Strangers Eyes, 4:37am, 5:01am, Home, Four Minutes, The Tide Is Turning, Perfect Sense II, Watching TV, Its a Miracle, Amused To Death, Folded Flags, Towers Of Faith, To Kill a Child   and Leaving Beiruth....

Not only do we have the straight to the face lyrics, the thoughts of the common daily hard working middle class dude, but also geopolitical points of view; on the cold war and on the post-cold war. We have the constant fear of "loosing it" and be institutionalized !

•       Do you remember me how we used to be helpless, happy and blind ?
•       Sunk without hope, in the haze of  dope and cheap vine.
•       Now in your little white room, with no windows and three square sedations a day.
•       You plea to the Doctor who is running the show, Please take all theses men away     and leave me alone.

One of the things I keep asking myself is why does Roger Waters have this huge appeal among Prog Rock die hard fans ? His music is not that prog after all. His side men are allways recruted from the Rythm and Blues ranks (Drummers, backing, vocals are mostly from former Tina Turner line-ups). His guitar players are proeminently blues influenced. Clapton, Beck and Guilmore. Is it the "easy to digest" tunes and "hard to swallow" lyrics that does the magic ?

                    - Is my English clear enough to understand ? -

_________

Lunar

Robert Fripp?  Solo outings aside, his lyrics for King Crimson total to this line:

"Cigarettes and ice cream; figurines of the Virgin Mary!"

...was that line alone enough to have him included while excluding the likes of Anderson(s), Hammill, Livgren, and Stolt ()? 

gdub411 wrote: Roger Waters is SO over-rated. Wish You Were Here...Oh wah...I miss Syd The Wall...Oh wah...my daddy died and I still miss Syd The Final Cut...oh wah...let me tell you some more about my daddy dieing.   Peter Gabriel is the best on this list, but he doesn't compare to Fish.

You missed Radio K.A.O.S.  Dad?? Is It Really You??

Roger Waters is SO over-rated.

Wish You Were Here...Oh wah...I miss Syd

The Wall...Oh wah...my daddy died and I still miss Syd

The Final Cut...oh wah...let me tell you some more about my daddy dieing.

Peter Gabriel is the best on this list, but he doesn't compare to Fish.

Roger Waters

His narrative style is the most duplicated in prog but the hardest to equal.  Narrative either connects or it does not.  Waters understood how to write in a clear and emotional way but he always left just enough for the imagination, unlike the Neil Morse, Arena, and DT.  Just listen to Snow by SB and then listen to the Final Cut, then you will understand the difference between telling a story and writing a real narrative piece of art.