Best Lyricists

Who, in your opinion, are the best lyricists in music (past or present), since it's pretty fair to say that music has come to fill the role of poetry nowadays. And what are some examples, i.e. songs or specific lyrics?

And for interest's sake, what are their signs?

What about specific artists?

Freddy - agreed:-)

Katie Melua - virgo also:-)

Perhaps Freddy's song The Great Pretender was written in advance about ALV and DD!!!!— - well that's conspiracy theory for today:-)

Your right blingy....I think it was the black group....the Platters who originally sang that....you brainbird!!!!:-)

A x

Biggie Smalls (Gemini)

I'd agree that it's the Water signs but then you have Bob Dylan who's of course, a Gemini (they do have their way with words!).

But Scorpios like Neil Young and Josh Ritter write some fantastic things. Cancer: Robbie Robertson. Pisces: Townes Van Zandt.

Ritter: 'Peter said to Paul
"All those words that we wrote
Are just the rules of the game and the rules are the first to go"
But now talkin' to God is Laurel beggin' Hardy for a gun
I gotta girl in the war, man I wonder what it is we done' (Girl in the War)

Young: 'It's better to burn out, than to fade away' (My, My, Hey, Hey) (of course immortalised by Kurt Cobain, a Pisces).

Robbie Robertson: 'The war was over and the spirit was broken
The hills were smokin' as the men withdrew
We stood on the cliffs, oh and watched the ships
Slowly sinking to their rendezvous
They signed a treaty and our homes were taken
Loved ones forsaken, they didn't give a damn
Trying to raise a family, end up the enemy
Over what went down on the plains of Abraham' (Acadian Driftwood)

Van Zandt: 'Windows accusin the doors, of abusin' the walls' (Be Here to Love Me)

John Lennon (Libra) The active strength of his (Mars) was also in Libra (Peace) A true Lover of peace; sad he had to leave us too soon..

"Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace."

Also: Elton John (Aries) Neil Young (Scorpio) Kurt Cobain (Pisces) Prince (Gemini)

Bryan Adams - Scorpio
Jewel - Gemini
Sarah McLachlan - Aquarius
Shakira (Spanish) - Aquarius


I also love these musicians, but would say they were more great musicians than great lyricists:
Freddie Mercury/Queen - Virgo
Kurt Cobain/Nirvana - Pisces
Rob Zombie - Taurus

*Rob Zombie - Capricorn

Don't ask...LOL!

Will Pugh - Taurus...if you can set aside the genre, which is definitely pop...the lyrics really do have some substance...for example:

here it goes again,
put on that deserving tone.
and don't forget
that this was all your fault.
it's breathing down your neck;
you know you've got to let this go.
you're such a wreck,
and now it starts to show.

'cause all you can't deny is held inside
and when we go, we say goodbye,
and then we run, we run away...

from all we can't deny is just a lie.
and when we try to just get by,
we just can't get past ourselves.

'cause where you are is where you'll be:
always wanting everything.
it's all the same that you can't ignore
'cause all you want is just to be more. (etc, etc.)


Johnny Rzeznik - Sagittarius

and I'd give up forever to touch you
'cause I know that you feel me somehow.
you're the closest to heaven that i'll ever be,
And i don't want to go home right now.

and all i can taste is this moment,
and all i can breathe is your life.
'cause sooner or later it's over;
i just don't wanna miss you tonight.

and i don't want the world to see me
'cause i don't think that they'd understand.
when everything's made to be broken,
i just want you to know who i am.

and you can't fight the tears that ain't coming,
or the moment of truth in your lies,
when everything feels like the movies
and you bleed just to know you're alive. (etc.)

Anna Nalick - Aries

well it takes all of my strength to be stable,
as i force your insults under the table,
and if you were wise you would compromise
and allow me to live my way.
'cause i am not a force to be reckoned with,
and you don't have a clue what you're messin' with.
and you can't see to the best in me
'cause it's more than your heart can take.

and hidin' beneath my blankets and sheets,
i'm finally free.
i'm killin' the ghost of you and i'm close to awakening me.

i'm awakening me
i'm awakening me, yeah
i'm awakening me

so i'm takin' my heart and i'm gettin' me out.
love's something that i wouldn't wanna live without.
so i'm takin' my heart and i'm gettin' me out
on my own, on my own, on my own

i'm takin' my heart and i'm settin' you free
and, baby, now you're just another song to me
and the edge of your sword isn't sharp enough for me to bleed

Van Morrison - Virgo

well it's a marvelous night for a moondance
with the stars up above in your eyes.
a fantabulous night to make romance,
'neath the cover of october skies.

and all the leaves on the trees are falling
to the sound of the breezes that blow.
and I'm trying to please to the calling
of your heart-strings that play soft and low.

you know the night's magic seems to whisper and hush.
you know soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush.

can i just have one more moondance with you, my love?
can i just make some more romance with you, my love?

----------------------------------------------------------

hey, where did we go days when the rains came?
down in the hollow playing a new game,
laughing and running, hey, hey,
skipping and jumping in the misty morning fog
with our, our hearts a-thumping

and you, my brown-eyed girl.
you, my brown-eyed girl.

whatever happened to tuesday and so slow
going down to the old mine with a transistor radio?
standing in the sunlight laughing,
hide behind a rainbow's wall,
slipping and a-sliding
all along the waterfall

with you, my brown-eyed girl.
you, my brown-eyed girl.

do you remember when we used to sing
sha la la la la la la la la la la de da
just like that
sha la la la la la la la la la la de da

I agree with Tom Waits (he's a comic genius)

The piano has been drinking
My necktie's asleep
The combo went back to New York, and left me all alone
The jukebox has to take a leak
Have you noticed that the carpet needs a haircut?
And the spotlight looks just like a prison break
And the telephone's out of cigarettes
As usual the balcony's on the make
And the piano has been drinking, heavily
The piano has been drinking
And he's on the hard stuff tonight

I would also agree with many others listed above esp. Paul McCartney and John Lennon (wrote the best of the Beatles' lyrics) and Van Morrison. Also Concrete Blonde (and here I'm too lazy to look up who wrote most of their lyrics or those of any of the following, though Johnette Napolitano is a Libra), Alison Krause (Leo), Credence Clearwater Revival (John Fogerty, Gemini), Kenny Rogers (Virgo), Stevie Wonder (Taurus), Bell XI, Cocteau Twins (Elizabeth Fraser, Virgo), Sting (Libra), Coldplay (Chris Martin is a Pisces), Dovonan (Taurus) (it's hit or miss with his music), Clapton (Aries), REM (Michael Stipe, Capricorn), Ryan Adams (Scorpio), and most especially, Leonard Cohen (Libra) who is a poet by trade (no one can write lyrics like Leonard Cohen).

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

Leonard Cohen - Everybody Knows

Artist: Donovan Lyrics
Song: There Is An Ocean Lyrics

There is an ocean of vast proportion
And she flows within ourselves.
To take dips daily we dive in gaily,
He knows who goes within himself.
The abode of Angels, the
mystical Promised Land,
The one and only Heaven, the God of man
Is but the closing of an eyelid away.

There is a silence of pure excellence
And she flows within ourselves.
To appreciate, re-deactivate,
He knows who goes within himself.
The domain of Devils, the Fearful
Land, The only and only Hades, the Satan of man
Is but the closing of an eyelid away.

All is as it was and
ever more shall be,
Though they try to tell us it's not so.
Over all the earth there's nothing new to see,
Excepting every seed will newly grow.

Innocence in childhood false men misconstrue
To be years of darkness spent in shade,
Denying childhood's vision of the God of Love,
So that Truth be turned about and untruth made,
And untruth made.

There is a reason for every season
Of change within ourselves.
To navigate, re-appreciate
And know the flow within ourselves.
The deliverance from Deluge, the good dry land,
The one and only Haven, the rock of Man
Is but the closing of an eyelid away.

(cancer) cassidy

[Cass the Problem]
I'm in the zone boy and I got the chrome boy
I'll have blood gushing out your dome on your homeboy
I'm a threat see you should of left me alone boy
I'm real to the chromosome you a clone boy
Chicks get bone I'm know for getting dome boy
Probably got your baby moms number in my phone boy
And if I hittin the click up dick sucks
Had your bitch in the telly throwin her 'SIX" up
Yea we made her lick nuts then hop on the 6 bus
After this over than they gon try say this was fixed up
They gon be like he cheated that's why he beated
I've been in wild battles and won I'm undefeated
The punch lines that I put in the streets
Even made freeway say "Put on a beat"
Only the strong pre-vail I know but a shell
Make him yell like hoes when I perfom hotel
[Cass the Hustla]
Listen to this all that lip will get you and your man bodied
I'm the man you a bitch in a man's body
You a disgrace who wrote your shit? Mase?
Your album wasn't nothing like the shit on the mixtapes
First you was hustling bustin them shells
Then you went commercial to get a couple of sells
That's what you got a couple of sells
And you probably wouldn't of sold loads if wasn't for Kels
Well you was crazy man with the punch line flow
But now you the ladies man where the punch lines go
Yo it don't get no better
You was smiling chi-town stepping but ain't get no cheddar
If you a star I'm a galaxy nigga
One verse'll merk all your personalities nigga
You garbage and ain't nothing trash about me
I'M THE HUSTLER MUTHAFUCKER ASK ABOUT ME... ASK ABOUT ME PUSSY
I got shit on lock
Like I'm constipated you will get abominated
I ain't lyricist of the year but I was nominated
Where your strip at you ain't hustling nigga
That track would have been wack if it wasn't for Jigga
I'm a ladies man chicks loving a nigga
But I'll still put a slug in a nigga BRAAT
Real funny I went gold but get money on the road
And I own a hundred percent of my publishing nigga
You don't really want the drama nigga
You'll take more shots in your face then Madonna nigga
You get ate I'm like Dahmer nigga
You don't battle you make songs for the chicks like Mashonda nigga
The best is me I got stripes like a referee
And coke comin on boats like a refugee
You should switch flow nigga your shits gold
When I drop I'ma shit more than your shit sold NIGGA

Kurt Cobain - Pisces
AMAZING song writer.

Biggie Smalls (Gemini)

187 i thought biggie was a pisces