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what makes a great lyricist?

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thestyxcrossing:
Hey guys. I just joined the forums so uh...thanks for having me.

I've been playing music since I was about seven years old, but I've only recently started getting into the lyrical aspect of songwriting. It's not really something I consider myself great at, but I do think I'm getting better. When I listen to an album, I obviously know what I think are incredible lyrics. But my question is, what do you guys think makes a great lyricist? Who's your favorite? And what do you guys think are good idea's for me to become better at it, (other than reading alot, i do that already =D)

I appreciate the input guys and I really look forward to hearing what you guys have to say.

Tom:
A good lyricist should be able to marry both music and lyrics and convey a range of ideas and themes through his words. Well that's what i think. Personally, i like Colin Meloy 'cause he can tell a story that isn'y totally unweildy and convey the ideas and story really well.

You had a charming air
All cheap and debonair
My widowed mother found so sweet
And so she took you in
Her sheets still warm with him
Now filled with filth and foul disease
As time wore on you proved
A debt-ridden drunken mess
Leaving my mother
A poor consumptive wretch
(oh, oh)

On the other hand i like Spencer Krug who always gets the idea across although it isn't quite clear lyrically. I just can't argue against stuff like:
 
i have lusted after you
the way blood suckers do

and

You're the one whose wild hide will weather in the weathering days
to a leather made soft
so princes can lay down their princely white heads of hair

KharBevNor:
In my opinion, really great lyrics come down to three factors:

1) A grasp of the techniques of storytelling through poetry. There's a long tradition to study for this. Some of the best song lyrics ever were authored by 'anonymous'. The real secret is a sense of minimalism, knowing exactly what you have to say and not wasting a word, unless you're deliberately being florid for some reason, which can also work, epecially within certain genres. But precise and careful use of language is normally a must. You have to know what you're doing as well. Songs, I find, are normally one of four things: A short (or maybe long) story, a character description, a description of a place, or a statement of position. It's handy to know which one you're going for. 

2) A proper understanding of rhyme and meter. Everyone knows how to rhyme, but you'd be amazed at the number of starting lyricists especially whose works just do not scan at all. This also includes understanding and using poetic devices like stressed syllables, alliteration, internal rhymes, etc. The best thing about knowing the fuck out of poetry is it means you know how to break the rules with style if you want to start writing lyrics with no rhymes or completely fucked up meters.

3) Just having a big vocabulary, a great visual imagination, and strong and definite opinions. You want to write songs about things that no one else has ever written songs about, applying metaphors and images no one else ever thought of, using terms of such exacting power that people just nod their heads and go 'yeah'. That is good lyrics my friends.

As for my faves, I don't suppose I could really pick between Dave Tibet (cryptic, complex, unconventional, mystical lyrics), Martin Walkyier (Unique, playful, humorous, human and insightful lyrics) and Tony Wakeford (simple, pure, staggeringly, bleakly, often viciously honest lyrics, but also with a touch of the complex, the cryptic and the mystical). Nick Cave, Bob Dylan and Dan Swano are runners up.

carrotosaurus:
Be as crazy as you want to be. Try to avoid clichéd statements - or completely rip them apart:

"Have I told you lately that I love you
Did I fail to mention there's a sword hanging above you... "

Destroyer.

Johnny C:
Write lyrics until your hands hurt, let them heal a bit, and then write some more. The only way you'll get better is practice. Also, don't throw anything away, just rewrite.

Will Sheff from Okkervil River is an amazing lyricist.

You love a stone,
because it's dark and it's old,
and if it could start
being alive
you'd stop living alone.
And I think I believe that,
if stones could dream,
they'd dream of being laid
side-by-side,
piece-by-piece,
and turned into a castle
for some towering queen
they're unable to know.

And when that queen's daughter
came of age,
I think she'd be lovely
and stubborn and brave,
and suitors would journey
from kingdoms away
just to make themselves known.

And I think that I know the bitter dismay of a lover who brought
fresh brouquets every day
when she turned him away
to remember some knave
who once gave
just one rose, one day, years ago.

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