who does the best lyrics
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Printed Date: January 25 2025 at 09:06
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Topic: who does the best lyrics
Posted By: matti meikäläin
Subject: who does the best lyrics
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 10:54
| so who ? |
Replies:
Posted By: Jeremy Bender
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 10:59
|
ROGER WATERS |
Posted By: Phil
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 11:00
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Hhm...either Gabriel or Waters I think....maybe Gabriel? Cedrik Bixler and Jon Anderson vie for most incomprehensible! 
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Posted By: Tichy
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 13:09
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It's a tough question. Peter Gabriel is a great lyricist both in Genesis and his solo works (Remember Red Rain, Solsbury Hill, Don't Give Up, Mercy Street). He also created the best concept album at least lyrically. Peter Hammill is darker and more depressive. IMO, he is more succesful to reflect or express his feelings and thoughts with his voice. Also Ian Anderson is a great lyricist, especially in Aqualung, Thick As A Brick and A Passion Play. He knows to reflect his personal feelings according to his way of life (TAAB, APP are more satiric, depressive, schizoid; SFTW, HH and Stormwatch are more pastoral, naturalist; last works are more oriental). His lyrics and life reflects his music. Roger Waters was my favourite before I didn't know Peter Gabriel, Ian Anderson and Peter Hammill. Now I think his lyrics is still good and meaningful, but simpler and includes only depressive feelings. And Jon Anderson is more divine and spiritual, but sometimes his lyrics lose his direction and meaning. But he has a different style. It's really hard to choose, but I think my vote goes for Peter Gabriel. Then Peter Hammill and Ian Anderson. |
Posted By: Drew
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 13:11
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Peart! EASY! |
Posted By: sleeper
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 16:50
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Tough question but I'll have to go eith Gabriel ------------- Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005 
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Posted By: CryoftheCarrots
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 16:55
| Maynard James Keenan |
Posted By: TheProgtologist
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 17:03
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Out of the list Gabriel. For me personally I like Peart's lyrics and for newer stuff Maynard James Keenan. -------------  |
Posted By: Losendos
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 17:09
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Gabriel is the best since he can do so may emotions and also they are so complex that you can always find something more in them. Roger Waters really went down hill after DSOTM descending further and further into abject negativity.The early works had quite good lyrics and maybe he just needed some medication. ------------- How wonderful to be so profound |
Posted By: Gentle Tull
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 17:16
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I said Ian Anderson, although I think it's a tie between Jon Anderson, Ian Anderson, and Peter Gabriel. ------------- 
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Posted By: White Duck
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 17:36
| For me Ian Anderson.His lyrics in Songs from the wood are great. |
Posted By: Kotro
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 18:09
| Don't know, guys... Peter Hammil has awsome stuff... |
Posted By: Drew
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 18:15
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Are you kidding? |
CryoftheCarrots wrote:
Posted By: Arsillus
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 18:41
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Dude, where the frig is Peart? He's all encompassing.
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 18:42
| For me Syd Barrett's lyrics are just amazing! naive, trippy, and amazing |
Posted By: The Ryan
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 18:50
I think he's kidding... maybe not. I'm shaking my head regardless |
Posted By: Bern
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 19:08
Peter Gabriel did an amazing job with the lyrics of The lamb. It is
impressing. Just reading them without the music is great. 
-------------  
RIP in bossa nova heaven. |
Posted By: CryoftheCarrots
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 19:10
I dont kid .Hey there is a box that says other.I ticked it.My opinion.Just like you did Drew. Of the others..... Gabriel. |
Posted By: FragileDT
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 20:01
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There's no question in my mind that Gabriel wrote the best lyrics. You can
like others more, but the intelligence in Gabriel's lyrics is incredible. ------------- One likes to believe In the freedom of music But glittering prizes And endless Compromises Shatter the illusion Of integrity |
Posted By: Hemispheres
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 20:59
|
JELLO BIAFRA
------------- [IMG]http://www.wheresthatfrom.com/avatars/miguelsanchez.gif">[IMG]http://www.rockphiles.com/all_images/Act_Images/TheMothersOfInvention/mothers300.jpg"> |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: December 02 2005 at 22:30
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Peter Gabriel, the guy is so versatile that can tell a story in a few verses and make sense, he can write lyrics about almost everything. Iván ------------- 
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Posted By: Deliriumist
Date Posted: December 03 2005 at 08:53
| Peter Gabriel for sure. |
Posted By: Lindsay Lohan
Date Posted: December 03 2005 at 08:56
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Cedric bixler zavala has never written a single lyric at all So id go for OMAR! ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Fjuffe/?chartstyle=sideRed - [IMG - http://imagegen.last.fm/sideRed/recenttracks/Fjuffe.gif - |
Posted By: ANDREW
Date Posted: December 03 2005 at 10:18
PETER HAMMIL !!!!!!
|
Posted By: Korova
Date Posted: December 03 2005 at 10:31
------------- La Speranza della coscienza è forza La Speranza del sentimento è schiavitù La Speranza del corpo è malattia (G.I. Gurdjieff) |
Posted By: OldFatherThames
Date Posted: December 03 2005 at 23:34
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Agree 100%
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Posted By: Mikerinos
Date Posted: December 03 2005 at 23:37
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Peter Hammill, with Waters and Gabriel next. ------------- 
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Posted By: bsoutar
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 11:12
| Sorry, did not vote, as I wanted to vote for Neil Peart of Rush, and did not think that voting "other" was fair justification. I think he should warrant a place of his own. |
Posted By: matti meikäläin
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 11:16
sorry, i forgot some important lyricist's like peart. of course there are also really good lyrics on other music styles. here are only some of the prog lyricist's |
Posted By: matti meikäläin
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 11:18
oh sorry, i always mix their names ( cedric and omar) i cant remember who is who  |
Posted By: Ed_The_Dead
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 11:26
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Daniel Gildenlow ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/ed_the_dead/?chartstyle=asimpleblue5"> 
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Posted By: Paulieg
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 11:46
| I gave the the nod to Mr. Waters. With albums like "Animals" to his credit, how couldn't I? |
Posted By: Raff
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 11:55
| Waters is possibly my favourite, alongside Gabriel, Peart and Ian Anderson. However, I'd also like to mention Kate Bush: her lyrics suit her music and her voice perfectly, and they are deeply heartfelt and poetic. |
Posted By: Forgotten Son
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 12:08
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Fish. I'm very surprised he wasn't included in this poll to start with. |
Posted By: GPFR
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 14:53
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NO! I change my mind! I already put my vote down! :-( I prefere Waters! Not Gabriel! However there both awsome... ------------- www.myspace.com/hail_peter 
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Posted By: RaphaelT
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 16:04
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Peter Hammill!! But why are we missing Peter Sinfield - he created the whole idiom of progressive lyrics with Fripp and Emerson!! Hats off before Gabriel, Waters, Andersons and Fish nevertheless!! ------------- yet you still have time! |
Posted By: Page to Squire
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 16:43
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I think Gabriel's can be a bit random and lose the atmasphere that the brilliant music creates, the other way around with Jon Anderson's are the best thing in Yes- mean nothing but work really well! ------------- I talk to the wind... It tells me to burn things |
Posted By: Cygnus X-1
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 16:50
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Waters, Animals is just brilliant ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Bodins/?chartstyle=DarkSide5Big"> 
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Posted By: Musak
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 17:10
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I would have voted for Sinfield but he's not there... ------------- * My eyes are full but my face is empty * |
Posted By: Publius84
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 17:50
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Roger Waters
------------- I know what I like and I like what I know... Prog is in my heart, in my mind, in my soul... |
Posted By: ElwoodHerring
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 18:15
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Gabriel's lyrics on the Lamb are simply staggering, especially when you do a bit of research to discover all the literary tricks and allusions, wordplay, references etc. Check out this site for starters:
http://www.rawbw.com/~marka/music/lamb.html No contest. Peter Gabriel is a modern Shakespeare. ------------- [IMG]http://www.herring.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/DRMkillb.JPG"> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4816930.stm - Right the Copyright Wrongs (Bill Thompson's BBC blog - essential reading!) |
Posted By: Proglover
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 18:44
| I CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT ROGER WATERS IS AHEAD IN THE POLLS.... HAHAHA, WELL I GUESS HELL HAS FROZEN OVER AND PIGS ARE NOW FLYING!!!... HAHAHAHA!! |
Posted By: raindance
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 18:48
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Pete Sinfield
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Posted By: An old fart
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 19:02
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Fish, followed by other Animals (= Roger Waters). I also often appreciate lyrics by Neil Peart, Peter Gabriel and Ian Anderson. ------------- "Make tea, not love" |
Posted By: Mercury
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 19:38
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Roger Waters, but Peart definetely deserves a place in the poll. |
Posted By: chamberry
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 20:06
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Peter Gabriel for me
------------- 
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 20:13
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Peart, easy! For those who seriously voted for Maynard, I refer you to the line of "Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up you're saturating me" from Undertow. |
Posted By: Mad Bass Player
Date Posted: December 04 2005 at 20:39
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Peart or Waters?...Peart or Waters? Gonna have to go with Waters. |
Posted By: Norbert
Date Posted: December 05 2005 at 02:55
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[QUOTE=Forgotten Son]Fish.
I also think that Fish belongs to the best lyricists(maybe he's the best). The 2 Peters are excellent and for different reasons I like the lyrics of Jon Anderson as well.
|
Posted By: video vertigo
Date Posted: December 05 2005 at 15:04
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Neil Peart and Fish are my two favorites. ------------- "The rock and roll business is pretty absurd, but the world of serious music is much worse." - Zappa |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: December 05 2005 at 15:12
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Posted By: Uther Pendragon
Date Posted: December 05 2005 at 20:11
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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... ------------- "And so as I patrol in the valley of the shadow of the tricolour I must fear evil for I am but mortal and mortals can only die." |
Posted By: RaphaelT
Date Posted: December 06 2005 at 16:37
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Let's vote for Fish - he has all the values of Hammill, Gabriel and Waters combined, everyone should agree with that. Steve Hogarth has smoother voice (makes me yawn, makes me cry), but he is not worthy to lick Derek's boots!! ------------- yet you still have time! |
Posted By: RaphaelT
Date Posted: December 06 2005 at 16:39
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no votes for Greg Lake so far - come on, nobody appreciate the great literature of Lucky Man ------------- yet you still have time! |
?Posted By: beebs
Date Posted: December 06 2005 at 16:55
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I'll go with Steven Kilbey of The Church. ------------- "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of one's own mind" * Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Posted By: moodyxadi
Date Posted: December 06 2005 at 17:24
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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. |
Posted By: jedi_of_pi
Date Posted: December 06 2005 at 17:47
| When it comes to how they are sang I have to say Gentle Giant. As for meaning probly Peter Gabriel. |
Posted By: diga.stef
Date Posted: December 07 2005 at 02:15
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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, ------------- Yours progressively, Stefano |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: December 07 2005 at 02:44
Another CoF fan, I see Grossly underappreciated by the Prog Metal community IMHO... |
Posted By: Figglesnout
Date Posted: December 07 2005 at 12:19
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'm a reasonable man, get off my case |
Posted By: Publius84
Date Posted: December 07 2005 at 12:24
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I see Roger's on the lead ------------- I know what I like and I like what I know... Prog is in my heart, in my mind, in my soul... |
Posted By: A'swepe
Date Posted: December 08 2005 at 18:44
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Nuff Said. ------------- David - Never doubt in the dark that which you believe to be true in the light. http://www.myspace.com/aardvarktxusa - Instrumental rock http://www.soundclick.com/aardvarktxusa |
Posted By: Vulkan
Date Posted: December 09 2005 at 01:10
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I am amazed by the amount of people who say Waters is the best songwriter... how odd, though he is something to have in mind... I would argue that waters on his own would not have been able to write that well and he needed external inspiration (don't you think Animals, if in a way creation of Waters, is an allegory to Orwell's "Animal Farm" and therefore to the Russian Revolution, though of course that same message could be applied to many other real-life historical situations?)... NO doubt Waters was a great writer, on the whole... Gabriel on the other hand... he shines in many songs through his 6 Genesis albums... but he is incredibly farfetched in others (specially in the Lamb...) and very cold and to-the-chase in some (The Return of the Giant Hogweed, for example, though I think is a GREAT SONG). Yet, he has proven to be an excelent writer with SUPPER'S READY and his great epics. Peter Hammil, maybe? Too cold? Jon Anderson? Ian Anderson? Yes and Tull are not THAT recognized by their lyrics (arguable with, for instance, Heart of the Sunrise - Yes, and the album Close to the Edge - Yes) I'd want to add another writer, who is well known in Argentina and maybe somebody's heard of him... Charly Garcia from La Maquina de Hacer Pajaros... ------------- Why are we never too sure till we die or have killed for an answer... ...Though names may change each face retains the mask it wore |