Prog's Most Controversial Lyricist

AlexDOM wrote: Daniel Gildenlow

Snow Dog wrote: Blacksword wrote: Textbook wrote: Horizons: Really? I don't think I've ever seen people argue over his lyrics, not passionately at least.   SD: Good pick except I think there is a bit of a consensus that he's a bit naff. "How could he lose six million jews etc" must just be about the most derided prog lyric ever. Yeah, that line in 'The only way' (is that what it's called?) is awful. I could feel my toes curl the first time I heard it. Lakes vocal is really bad on that song too, which doesn't help. I disagree on both counts. I love the line and his vocals a  superb.

I agree with you Snow Dog, but it's safe to say that that line IS controversial, don't you think?  Just by it's very nature, it's going to stir some people up.  I always love the song though, and the lyrics.......I wrote them on the inside cover of one of my copies of the bible when I was 20 years old (I was studying religion at college).  I feel kind of silly about it now, and the lyrics seem a bit juvenile to me now as well, but I still think it's a great song and the lyrics work perfectly.

I think most prog lyrics have been controversial over the years, at least with critics.  What I find interesting is how even prog fans will make the old joke about prog songs being about faeries and Tolken and such, yet I'd be hard pressed to name a song that is about either (well, okay, Lothlorien and Nimrodel come to mind, but I think fantasy references are actually not used that much in prog at all).

questionsneverknown wrote: Another way to approach the problem with Neil Peart's lyrics is to think about one of the basic "rules" that pop up in creative writing classes: show don't tell (or, as Henry James put it, "Dramatize! Dramatize!").  I don't think the issue is with the content of the lyrics, but with how he expresses the ideas.  Rather than create a dramatic situation in which ideas are brought to life, in the clunkiest moments the lines are presented all too literally, reading like cod philosophy notes.  ("Free Will" is the ultimate example of this; I have a friend who is a professor of philosophy who just cringes and cringes at the thought of those lyrics.)  But he has been far less guilty of this kind of thing on the two most recent albums. At the end of the day, I know though that hearing Neil's words the first time when I was in high school was revelatory.  If most of what you had heard before were the words found in radio ballads or AC/DC, then these lyrics were really something special.  Still, it is still pretty hard to forgive "Trees" (even if I do still sing along).

Ambient Hurricanes wrote:   I think that "The Trees" is quite effective; it's a simple analogy, almost like a parable, and the fact that it doesn't take into account all the complexities of socio-economic theory doesn't diminish it's effectiveness.

I'm pretty sure "The Trees" was literally supposed to be about trees; no deeper meaning behind it.

^ Well, ... that is a good clarification for me ... unless you were looking for an excuse on Pete's behalf  .

Edited by Dayvenkirq - June 19 2012 at 11:55

I'll re-nominate Peter Hammill. From "Lizard Play" (a song about how guys just want poontang [read not talking]), "And the toungues they flick out- though they want to touch, words get all in the way". It's a pretty funny little ditty, though, I must insist.

^ That makes him controversial?

Roger Waters
Peter Gabriel
Fish

And,..not prog,..JELLO BIAFRA

I don't think any prog lyrics are controversial in a "public outrage" kind of way because of the genre's inherent lack of public attention.

Within prog communities like this one, such things as whether or not Miles Davis ought to be on the Top 100 are "controversial"....... 

I suppose some love Jon Anderson's words and some hate them. But nobody argues either view with any more passion than "...it's just what I like..."

Art can be polarising in terms of taste, but to be controversial, I think you'd have to do something massively taboo....... and what is taboo these days?

Zappa lyrics = controversy