who does the best lyrics

 

Nuff Said.

Lindsay Lohan wrote: Cedric bixler zavala has never written a single lyric at all So id go for OMAR!

Actually Cedric writes all of the lyrics for The Mars Volta, and they are seemingly at first "incomprehensible" but they are, in my opinion, the most thought out lyrics ever written. Both De-loused and Frances have disturbing sequences in their lyrics and have you ever visited a translation site or tried to figure them out yourself, it's a magical bit of fun. The images portrayed in every metaphorical line are hard to catch onto by the general prog audience I notice, but for me these lyrics work in a way that no other lyrics do, theey are mystific (I know it's not a word) and I also like Cedric for writing lyrics WITH the music instead of just slopping something down and hoping it fits, an error Gabriel was sometimes prone to (in my opinion). Just listen to the great lines delivered through out De-loused and Frances, most memorable are the choruses. Here are a few:

De-loused:

"Now I'm Lost"

"Exoskeletal Juncrtion at the Railroad Delayed"

"Dress the tapeworm as pets"

"I've defected"

"One day this chalk outline will circle this city"

"You brought me here"

--yeah I know some of them are simple but the way they are delivered is what makes them for me, plus almost all of them have deeper meanings than appears at first.

Frances:

"Who do you trust?"

"I'll never sleep alone"

"L'via...(everything that follows, these verses are ingenious)"

"And when Miranda sang, everyone turned away, used to the noose they obey"

"No there's no light, in the darkest of your furthest reaches"

So Bixler gets it for me...followed very closely by the whimsical Roger Waters.

I shall vote for Others since the lyrics I like most have been written by

DANY FILTH

of Cradle Of Filth.

I don't share most of Dany's views but his dominance of the English language is extraordinary. And there are lots of nice word plays.

Ciao,

Who cares for the lyrics? If you listen to any kind of music looking for good lyrics at the first, you're in wrong path. Try poetry.

Obviously, a good lyric jus enriches a good song, but the phonetics are the main element. And for the Waters' critics: the form that he uses to express his feelings and ideas about the world can sound very pessimistic, but just for this reason they can't be good? Even a brazilian who barely speaks English like me knows that, for the sake of the art, Ethics and Esthetics are different things, and can't be mixed. So, don't criticize a cynic just because they hurt your escapist / fluoxetinic world.

 

no votes for Greg Lake so far - come on, nobody appreciate the great literature of Lucky Man?

I chose 'Other' I'm going to have to agree with those of you who went for the big Scot. Fish is most definitely one of the best lyricists.

"Vodka intimate
An affair with isolation in a blackheath cell
Extinguishing the fires in a private hell
Provoking the heartache to renew the licence
Of a bleeding-heart poet in a fragile capsule
Propping up the walls of the glitter-conscience
Wrapping in the christening shall of a hangover
Baptised in tears from the real
Tears from the real..."

Enough said...

Neil Peart and Fish are my two favorites. 

Peart or Waters?...Peart or Waters?

Gonna have to go with Waters.

Peter Gabriel for me

Fish, followed by other Animals (= Roger Waters). I also often appreciate lyrics by Neil Peart, Peter Gabriel and Ian Anderson.