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Favorite lyricists?
Will:
I second Ben Folds...
The Ben Folds Live album is one that makes a regular appearance in my rotation...and yes, I sing along.
Injektilo:
I'm also behind the Jeff Mangum-ness. But for my money I'm an especially depraved and easy whore for Craig Finn and Colin Meloy. Stories songs are an art that is ignored way to much. Narratives are teh hottseckz and both guys do an amazing job with them.
Merkava:
Man, now that I'm on my sudden and random "Wilco used to be meh but now they're in my top 5" transition, I realize how great a songwriter and lyricist Jeff Tweedy is. She's a Jar's "she begs me not to hit her" was so unexpected and brilliant. The way he changes "she begs me not to miss her" into that was so unsettling, it gave me chills.
Thrillho:
--- Quote from: Merkava ---Man, now that I'm on my sudden and random "Wilco used to be meh but now they're in my top 5" transition, I realize how great a songwriter and lyricist Jeff Tweedy is. She's a Jar's "she begs me not to hit her" was so unexpected and brilliant. The way he changes "she begs me not to miss her" into that was so unsettling, it gave me chills.
--- End quote ---
That's the genius of that one song. The ENTIRE song changes with the last line.
nuisance:
--- Quote from: Merkava ---Man, now that I'm on my sudden and random "Wilco used to be meh but now they're in my top 5" transition, I realize how great a songwriter and lyricist Jeff Tweedy is. She's a Jar's "she begs me not to hit her" was so unexpected and brilliant. The way he changes "she begs me not to miss her" into that was so unsettling, it gave me chills.
--- End quote ---
There's a great bit in David Sylvian's 'When The Poets Dream of Angels' a bit like that...
Mellow as fuck song, vaguely Spanish sounding acoustic guitar, hand percussion wandering about, Sylvian kicks in with his low croon: "He kneels beside her once more, and whispers a promise..." (ah, it's romantic, we think) "Next time I'll break every bone in your body" ... ouch. He's usually a bit earthy and earnest for my tastes (same reason I'll probably never enjoy Dylan etc, whether or not I can appreciate them) but every now and then I really dig it.
So many good lyrics confound expectations I reckon. It's a bit clever-clever, but I like Nilsson's 'One' - "One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do" ... it completely leads you up the garden path as to what the word "number" means and then "do" makes it clear he's using the word in a different sense from what you first thought. Well, probably in two senses, I suppose. Either way, it's cool, and a cooler image than if he meant "number" like, you know, just maths.
Edit: Actually, this is also one reason why many ESL lyricists can be pretty interesting. Beck is right to use his ESL buddies as a source of inspiration. The only example I can think of at the moment is the Notwist - eg. 'One with the Freaks' ... grammatically that's sweet, but surely the boring, conventional approach would be "one of the freaks"? Of course maybe Herr Acher is well aware of what he's doing there... but then there's things like 'Solitaire': "We never will manage to be rude - only twice." Oof. Really unnatural grammar, putting "never" in the wrong place and that weird exception having said "never", but it's also pretty awesome, I reckon.
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