What are some lyricists in popular music that you would say have

>>9033833
Dylan, Cohen, Vega, Mitchell, Simon, Porter, Lennon, McCartney, Reed, Cave, Morrison, Young, Nelson, Cash, Bono, etc. Most good bands or singer-songwriters can pull off at least a little interesting poetic turn or artistic merit in their words. I'm sure there are rappers who do good work to, rather than just rapping about how well they rap, but I'm racist and ignorant, so other than Saul Williams and Speech, no idea.

>>9034867
HAHAHAHA UPBOAT

Phil Anselmo.

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Jackson Browne. He wrote amazing songs like "The Pretender," and "These Days," the latter of which he wrote when he was 17.

Jackson C. Frank

>>9036658
Eh, you sure though? What song(s)? Don't say blues run the game.

I'd say Modest Mouse. Not like float on, but a lot of the lines from their pre 2004 work have poetic merit.

>>9033833
None

>>9034864
Nick Cave and Bono are garbage

built to spill

>>9034905
>>9036658
>>9036908
>>9036916
>>9036925
What is it about music that makes people retarded?

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Not even memeing. Quite probably the schizoidly narcissitic / insecure voice of his generation.

David Lang and John Tavener

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>>9033833
Shane

panda bear is top tier new sincerity tbqh

>>9033833

Young Thug

Rap is 100% mindless boasting and sex/drug/crime worship
So is classic rock and punk
Indie rock is all second rate muh fee fees >Reads Nietzsche once bullshit
"""Folk""" is same shit as indie rock but it's somewhat more introspective in return for completely uninteresting instrumentation
"Art Pop" like Newsom and Bush is just watered down romantic poetry hooked to mediocre arrangements
Post-Punk and other avant-garde shit is either complete nonsense or *tips katana* tier edginess
Non-classical styled electronic is either without vocals or has cringey party/romance shit

ITAOTS has great instrumentation and lyrics tbqh

>>9037378
you are stupid, not because I disagree with you, but due to your poor judgements.

Van Dyke Parks. Song Cycle in particular.

>>9036929
Bait? I take personal offense to you not thinking Jackson Browne's lyrics have merit.

Not the most popular, but I've liked the work of Toh Kay/Streetlight Manifesto

We're going down, down, down to Mephisto's Cafe
Down, down, down to Mephisto's Cafe (We're going down)
And the gears will spin and the sinners sin, but at least we'll give them hell
And the righteous few will spit on you, so bid them all farewell
We're going down, down, down to Mephisto's Cafe
We're going down (Right?) (Right!)

So fuck the flocks of sheep that keep amassing masses
Asses being led so far astray
And I won't claim to believe the things I read
Black books or agenda magazine
I'd rather see in shades of gray

If I were you, I would take this as a sign
Believe it's true, we were never meant to fly

And I knew you when you were you
Before they twisted all your views
Before you came unglued

>>9037378
I agree that listening to music for lyrics is kind of dumb considering it will never be as good as actual literature, but damn you said it in the most edgy way possible. I doubt you have many friends

>>9034867
Lol no

>>9036916
She's one of the few artists who's music and lyrics evoke a specific setting so totally that it makes me feel like I'm there.

Matty Healy of The 1975 for pop (Idc if they say they're indie or whatever shit they are definitely pop). Not everything he writes is great but there are some gems.

>>9037378
>classic rock is sex/drug/crime worship
Who are Frank Zappa and Led Zeppelin?
>Folk is indie
Maybe if you listened to actual folk music, you wouldn't think that
>Art Pop is just romantic poetry
Who are David Byrne and David Bowie?
>Avant-garde is nonsense
Who is Tom Waits
also
>implying that's a bad thing

It's like you don't actually listen to music, you just looked up a bunch of stereotypes

>>9037939
>listening to music for lyrics is kind of dumb considering it will never be as good as actual literature

What a shit opinion. What a close-minded ignorant fucking thing to say. You should be ashamed.

>>9033833
Arctic monkeys - Teddy picker

>>9037978
I'm sorry that you're a tastelet

>>9037378
This

>>9037973
>Frank Zappa
>Led Zeppelin
>not sex and drug worship
Are you mentally retarded?
>Maybe if you listened to actual folk music, you wouldn't think that
Of course, discounting the "ah brought my tractor down by the hill/ and found ma dear old mama was dead" meme tier traditional folk
>Who are David Byrne and David Bowie?
David Byrne is "look at me so quirky xD"
David Bowie is "space and drugs lmao xd"
>Who is Tom Waits
A degenerate posing as a 20's blues singer

>>9037939
In general, music should never have lyrics. Lyric poetry is great and can be set to music wonderfully, but most pop musicians simply cannot write for shit.

>>9037930
>lol everybody except me is a brainwashed sheep
Embarassing

>>9037899
They don't. He's mediocre at best.

>>9036934
>NOW IF I FUCK THIS MODEL

Kendrick Lamar

The only good lyricists all published music before the 50s. Everything since is amateur Garbage Rock oops I mean Garage.

>>9038143
>le black lives matter man
no thanks

>>9038143
This. He's pretty much Gil-Scott reborn.

>>9038145
>The only good lyricists all published music before the 50s.
Who?

>>9038092
>Zappa and Zeppelin
>sex and drug worship
Calm down there Tipper and maybe actually listen to their music and read some of the stuff they said. Zappa didn't use drugs, and most of his sex stuff was comedic.
Zeppelin, whiled having a lot of sex stuff, mostly came from a blues influence. Their later stuff had almost folk-y lyrics.

>Byrne: quirky for quirkiness' sake
Maybe, but it leads to better music than most of what else is put out there. It's almost like watching someone trying to be human, but not quite grasping it.
>Bowie: space and drugs
Also literally did the human thing with 'The Man Who Fell to Earth'
But if you think he only did space stuff, you've listened to what, three of his songs?

>Waits: Blues
Not really since Swordfishtrombones. Most of his stuff is experimental.
Anyways, your ignorance is showing.

>>9038153
Gil-Scott only wrote songs about two subjects
>da white man be oppressin us black folk!
and
>mane being a drug addict sucks ass

>>9038156
>Calm down there Tipper and maybe actually listen to their music and read some of the stuff they said. Zappa didn't use drugs, and most of his sex stuff was comedic.
That's even worse: "dirty jokes". Embarassing.
>Zeppelin, whiled having a lot of sex stuff, mostly came from a blues influence. Their later stuff had almost folk-y lyrics.
You deny that Zeppelin wrote tons of songs about sex? They were never deep.
>Maybe, but it leads to better music than most of what else is put out there. It's almost like watching someone trying to be human, but not quite grasping it.
It's entertaining, but it's not impressive
>Also literally did the human thing with 'The Man Who Fell to Earth'
>But if you think he only did space stuff, you've listened to what, three of his songs?
Bowie is like every other rock star: gimmicky.
>Not really since Swordfishtrombones. Most of his stuff is experimental.
You mean the album that was "influenced by vaudeville"?

>>9033833
Plenty of the Yes catalogue, though sometimes it gets really fucking weird.
Pink Floyd too, sometimes on the edgier side but eh.
Plenty of prog rock.

>>9037378
for rap;
>MF Doom
>Milo
>Tribe called quest
>All Alt-Rap
>All Conscious Hip-Hop

For classic rock
>Zappa
>Pink Floyd
>(other entry-tier prog bands)

Punk and Post-punk;
>Slint
>Dead Kennedys
>Fugazi
>Swans

Indie/Folk/Singer-songwriter
>Nick Drake
>Nebraska (Springsteen)
>Sufjan Stevens
>Randy Newman

Here are some examples that go against your generalizing statements, you musically illiterate faggot.

>>9038167
>Yes and Pink Floyd have good lyrics
I genuinely don't understand how you can read literature and still think this

>>9038173
>Love is the only answer, hate is the root of cancer then.

Deep!

>>9038170

>>MF Doom
le wacky wordplay man
>>Milo
psuedo-philosophy
>>Tribe called quest
hey guys, we're cool and don't give a shit, haha
>>All Alt-Rap
not a thing
>>All Conscious Hip-Hop
nigger whining

>>Zappa
le quirky old guy xd fuck hippies
>>Pink Floyd
drugs and space, wow so deep
>>(other entry-tier prog bands)
drugs etc


>>Slint
/r9k/ tier
>>Dead Kennedys
edgy teen tier
>>Fugazi
edgy teen tier
>>Swans
edgy manchild tier


>>Nick Drake
self-pity: the musician
>>Nebraska (Springsteen)
le americana man
>>Sufjan Stevens
le depressed christian numale
>>Randy Newman
New York kike

>>9038092
>Zappa stated that he tried smoking cannabis ten times, but without any pleasure or result beyond sleepiness and sore throat, and "never used LSD, never used cocaine, never used heroin or any of that other stuff."[218]

>David Byrne is "look at me so quirky xD"
I guess you've never even bothered to listen to his music close enough to challenge your surface-level impression. An album like Remain In Light is an extremely inventive way of commenting on social and political issues in popular music solely through abstract metaphor.

>>9038181
>I guess you've never even bothered to listen to his music close enough to challenge your surface-level impression. An album like Remain In Light is an extremely inventive way of commenting on social and political issues in popular music solely through abstract metaphor.
Yes, very deep and literary

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>>9038166
>dirty jokes
>Embarrassing
bruh,
Do you even read Shakespeare?

Zeppelin did have sex songs, but they did a bunch of other stuff. The question was never 'were they deep' it was weather they were '100% drug and sex worship'.

>it's not impressive
>implying every new album has to be groundbreaking
>implying the Talking Heads weren't one of the most influential bands of all time
Also, fuck you, I like it

>influenced by vaudeville
Christ, do you just read the wikipedia page for this? Most of his stuff since Swordfishtrombones has vaudevillian influences.

5/10 for making me and others reply

>>9038173
I might be biased cause I also play an instrument and I'm a sucker for prog rock instrumentation. I just think the lyrics go really well with the melodies, so it isn't really a merit of the lyrics themselves but in conjunction with the rest of the song.

>>9038092
So are you going to go into any specific analytical detail as to what enforces these criticisms of yours or are you just going to meme like a child?

>>9038200
Yeah, I think that happens when you're a musician, you stop paying attention to the words and more listen to how they sound with the music.

I'm a sucker for patter-esque songs and alliteration

>>9038199
>Zeppelin did have sex songs, but they did a bunch of other stuff. The question was never 'were they deep' it was weather they were '100% drug and sex worship'.
Ah yes. He also had his "satire".
>>implying every new album has to be groundbreaking
>>implying the Talking Heads weren't one of the most influential bands of all time
>Also, fuck you, I like it
I never said that, I just said that it isn't /lit/erary
>Christ, do you just read the wikipedia page for this? Most of his stuff since Swordfishtrombones has vaudevillian influences.
It proves my point. Tom Waits is a 1920s LARPer

>>9038166
lol dude your taste is shitty

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>/mu/ tries to pass of dadrock as "poetic" when the answer staring them in the face

Your father made fetuses with flesh licking ladies
While you and your mother were asleep in the trailer park
Thunderous sparks from the dark of the stadiums
The music and medicine you needed for comforting
So make all your fat fleshy fingers to moving
And pluck all your silly strings and bend all your notes for me
Soft silly music is meaningful magical
The movements were beautiful all in your ovaries
All of them milking with green fleshy flowers
While powerful pistons were sugary sweet machines
Smelling of semen all under the garden was all you were needing
When you still believed in me

Simultaneously surreal and richly evocative, Mangum's lyrics are never as nonsensical as they seem. The Lewis Carrol comparisons are justified, though the true beauty and art at the center of Mangum's poetry is that the Wonderland, the world he's describing, is our own.

>>9038206
I suppose lyricism is multifaceted. Just as it is writing it is also has to be music. I suppose even the best need to compromise somewhere.

>>9038229
It's not a compromise, it's a sliding scale. Some people are going to try to sing really meaningful stuff, but not do it too well. Others will not aim so high, but be more musical.

This is really exemplified in Tupac vs. Biggie Smalls. Tupac had some tracks about ghetto life and being black, but Biggie's flow was years ahead. Despite this, his biggest stuff was ego boasting, the pervasiveness of which to this day remains my greatest problem with rap

>>9033833
None.

I've also listened to more popular music than you, so don't try to claim I'm 'fuggin ignant' or whatever ideologue retort you people have begun to use to ignore those that disagree with you.

In fact, I likely still listen to more popular music than all of you, I just don't pretend it's intellectual (the majority of 'classical' music is not intellectual either, by the way.)
>>9037973
>Who are Frank Zappa and Led Zeppelin?
Frank Zappa is extremely open about his behaviors in his music. Perhaps if you listened to it, rather than mirror his libertarian nonsense for aesthetic reasons, you would know this. No, it's not comedic as you said elsewhere in the thread. And regardless, ironic shitposting is still shitposting.

Led Zeppelin was a band of perverts. Jimmy Page raped and kidnapped a 14-year-old girl (for four years!)
They were obsessed with the occult. Ozzy became very devout early on in his career after an early history of occultism, but Led Zeppelin I believe never renounced it.

>Maybe if you listened to actual folk music, you wouldn't think that
Contemporary 'folk' is the whinings of the bourgeoisie.
Traditional folk is too diverse to speak of.

>Who are David Byrne and David Bowie?
Neither are 'art-pop'. You're applying a label that should be attached to them (they have more in common with pop art than so-called 'art-pop') but cannot due to the term's current usage.

I would say some of their music is somewhat similar to romantic poetry. Or, at least, is heavily romantic (side 2 of "Low", despite largely being lyricless if my memory serves me right.)

>Who is Tom Waits
Not avant-garde. I would never call popular music 'avant-garde.'
Tom Waits' best work is very conventional (Closing Time.)
His other work is nonsense, bad nonsense which is by definition a 'bad thing' (nonsense being the thing.)

>>9038258
>it's not comedic
"Don't Eat the Yellow Snow Suite"? "Dancin' Fool"? "Cosmik Debris'? Parts I, II & III of Joe's Garage? "Muffin Man"?
I bet if it doesn't start with 'Knock Knock', you don't think it's funny.

>band of perverts
Yeah, but that wasn't the issue, it was whether they were '100% drug and sex worship'

>his other work is nonsense
>makes an opera based on a german folk tale

>>9038258
Well the question was if there where in popular music lyricists with artistic merit, not something that is necessarily intellectual in nature. Though I do agree most of the things displayed on this thread have not been particularly thought provoking in terms of lyrics.

>>9038180
>slint
>/r9k/ tier

I never thought of it that way holy kek.

>>9038285
It can be comedic and still be serious.

>makes an opera based on a german folk tale
oh wow that hasnt been done before
>>9038293
'artistic merit' doesn't mean much.

My guilty pleasure is Radiohead. None of their lyrics have 'artistic merit' in the subjective (meaningful) sense, they are just somewhat ''''interesting''''. What does that mean? There is something surreal or perturbing about them.

Nor are they '''intellectual'''

Most poetry with 'artistic merit' is somewhat not great. Yeats is praised, but I believe he could not form an interesting idea or string of words in the English language if he were given eternity to, while Radiohead has despite me also not actually liking them.

Honestly, everything is pretty terrible.
>>9038299
>flint
mama mia

>>9038170
for rap;
>MF Doom
LARPing fatso that pseuds praise for puns or whatever like it is something remotely new.
>Milo
Pseudo PoMo nonsense.
>Tribe called quest
WE
>All Alt-Rap
>All Conscious Hip-Hop
The worst music to ever exist. The height of pseudo-intellectualism.

For classic rock
>Zappa
Already stated in another post by me.
>Pink Floyd
Drug-addled pseuds.
>(other entry-tier prog bands)
Not at all. Gentle Giant surely has the 'best' lyrics of all this crapfest, and they still aren't great.

Punk and Post-punk;
>Slint
mama mia. /r9k/ 'NOBODY UNDERSTANDS ME!!!' nonsense
>Dead Kennedys
EVERYBODY THAT DISAGREES WITH MY POLITICS IS FUCKING EVIL HAHA IM MAKING FUN OF THEM SO I LOOK INTELLIGENT WHILE STILL INSULTING THEM
>Fugazi
DRUGS AND VIOLENCE ARE BAD!!!
>Swans
More LARPers, this time obsessed with rape.

Indie/Folk/Singer-songwriter
>Nick Drake
im so depressed lmao but sometimes im not and also i have bretty bad relationships
>Nebraska (Springsteen)
Only good track is Atlantic City, the rest is trash.
>Sufjan Stevens
Comedically bad.
>Randy Newman
Are you serious? He definitely wasn't.

Not English, but Egor Letov and Yanka Dyagileva

I also like Scott Walker

>>9037378
I'm interested on hearing the pseudo intellectual opinions on Piirpauke and 0.720 Aleacion

>>9038328
Fair 'nuff.
Normally interesting is good enough for me, cause "artistic" in most terms is too vague to define anything. I suppose it all comes how much impact or originality as to how worth it is to listen to. Artsy is boring compared to interesting.

Świetliki
Siekiera
Pere Ubu
Comus
Captain Beefheart
Coil

Real patrician music, like Merzbow, Boredoms, Gerogerigegege, Coil, Throbbing Gristle, Whitehouse, Nurse with Wound, Einstürzende Neubauten, Brainbombs, Egor Letov, Death in June, Current 93, La Monte Young, Moondog, Lou Harrison, Henry Cowell, Luigi Russolo, Popol Vuh, Fishmans, Jean Jacques Perrey, Les Rallizes Dénudés, Rainbow Caroliner, Taj Mahal Travellers, Fushitsusha, DNA, Peter Brötzmann, John Cage, Scott Walker, Unwound, Dead, Frank Zappa, Morton Feldman, Captain Beefheart, Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, Alice Coltrane, Arnold Schoenberg, Pierre Boulez, György Ligeti, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Nang Nang, Haruomi Hosono, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Nara Leão, Basic Channel, Raymond Scott, Delia Derbyshire, Daphne Oram, Noah Howard, Terry Riley, Peter Sotos, Lula Côrtes e Zé Ramalho, Boyd Rice, Mahmoud Ahmed, Henry Flynt, Kazumoto Endo, David Tudor, Aporea, Half Japanese, Mega Banton, Secret Chiefs 3, Keiji Haino, Ramleh, Otomo Yoshihide, John Zorn, Joe Meek, Robbie Basho, Phil Spector, Faxed Head, Harry Partch, Frances Baskerville, Wesley Willis, Fred Frith, The Residents, Sun Ra, Sun City Girls, Hans Krüsi, Royal Trux, Jandek, Yat-Kha, Loren Mazzacane Connors, Pärson Sound, The Dead C, Comus, Cromagnon, Eliane Radigue, Arthur Doyle, Shizuka, The Red Krayola, Henry Cow, Magma, Opus Avantra, Pan.Thy.Monium., Murmuüre, Ksiezyc, Gong, Cukor Bila Smert', cLOUDDEAD, Muslimgauze and Kaoru Abe

>>9038377
Holy... I want more

Bauhaus has some pretty neat lyrics imo.

>>9036922
Gosh, how can I refute such careful devastating analysis? The lyrics to Joshua Tree, taken as a whole, have clear artistic merit. That doesn't mean they're Eliot or Yeats, but they're good.

>>9039335
>eliot
>yeats
>artistic merit
top kek

>>9038377

but most of those have no lyrics

>>9038370
literally just random nonsense, entertaining though
>ALL OF THE JEWS DOWN IN DACHAU BLUES
>I WANNA MAKE A DEAL WITH YOU GIRL

>>9040792
Anon is showing off, music snobs are the worst.

>>9038377
>Sun Ra
>Death in June
>Moondog
>Magma
>Secret Chiefs 3
>John Zorn
These are the only ones I have any familiarity with, especially Magama and Secret Chiefs 3. By extension I found bands like Kōenji Hyakkei and Kayo Dot, both of which I think could fit in this thread

>>9040846
>he doesn't recognize the meme

>>9038377
All shit except for Schoenberg, Beefheart, Ayler, and Coleman

>>9040987
I have met people like that and I don't browse /mu/. I'm actually relieved this is a meme.

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>>9034864
Acknowledging Saul Williams is enough to know you aren't too racist. Dude's a projection of what libral ideal will be in 30 years. He's great though.

npr compared pic related to Woolf
said she was a nuanced songwriter in some powerful ways

and they're right

>>9037930
i think you might like "for an old kentucky anarchist" by erik petersen. Check it out if you find the time

>>9041040
NPR is pseud central.

Woolf isn't great.

Apple is pretty awful and has a massive victim complex in recent news.

>>9041093
It wasn't totally my jam but man,
did society ever ruin punk.
This song's giving me nostalgia

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>>9040792
>>9040804
>>9040846

>not knowing the meme

Those artists are all liked by the people who think they're too good for conventionally popular artists but aren't good enough to appreciate actual intellectual music like Bach.

most bands have lyrics with some artistic merit. Music is a similar art form to lyric poetry, it's silly to insist that one form expression is less artistic than the other.

>>9040804

But it's controlled, intentional nonsense that perfectly embodies the intended surreal aesthetic they are creating

Not in the dadaist "talentless and annoying but intentional to provoke thought" way, but in a way that creates a unique atmosphere

In "The Craft of Lyric Writing" Sheila Davis makes many strong arguments against thinking about song lyrics as poetry or a type of poetry. In popular music, as distinguished from Art Song settings of poetry, the emphasis is on intelligibility, clarity, singability, etc. The listener doesn't have the luxury to re-read and savor each line as songs rely on a constant forward momentum not necessary for a poem. Even if you're reading the lyrics along with the song it's not the same experience as reading a poetry. And reading the lyrics in isolation feels empty without hte music.

I think that's why great songwriters like those listed in the first post use relatively simple diction to create complex ideas and imagery. I wish I could find the survey of Bob Dylan's diction which shows a tendency to avoid words longer than four syllables. There aren't a lot of obscure or sesquipedalian words in his writing. That kind of stuff is great in poetry but nearly always seems pretentious or corny even in the best lyrics.

Pete Townsend is someone whose increasing prolixity due to increasing alcoholism resulted in increasingly bad lyrics. It's the verbal equivalent of a musician who overplays.

>>9036929
I think it's because it's almost impossible to separate lyrics from music once you've made an emotional connection with a song. The lyrics will always evoke a memories of the melody and the emotions created by the song's music. So I think that makes even people who should know better "retarded." That's why you see people posting the cheesiest lyrics on Facebook or whatever as if they were brilliant poetry. It's definitely a weird cognitive blind spot: https://books.google.com/books?id=kpmlBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT274&lpg=PT274&dq=lyrics+seem+profound+because+of+music&source=bl&ots=8wZjrj7Or5&sig=xFF-YUZxVNLV0b0D9PcbRhWgN98&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwip1ees9-vRAhXoqlQKHb9RAO8Q6AEIIDAB#v=onepage&q=lyrics%20seem%20profound%20because%20of%20music&f=false

"Music has the capacity to exaggerate individuals' emotional responses to linguistic information."

Here's some more theorizing about it: http://whatismusic.info/blog/WhyDoSongLyricsSoundSignificantAndProfound.html

>>9033833
chuck schuldiner

>>9036934
kanye's one of my favorite lyricists, he has a perfect lyric for almost every situation

>>9037378
>Rap is 100% mindless boasting and sex/drug/crime worship

so edgy

I like the lyrics from the first R.E.M record.

Slam metal has best lyrics desu

HERE I COME

THEY CALL ME

A BEAST LIKE NONE BEFORE

>>9037378
Not entirely wrong, but all extreme generalizations. There are plenty of worthwhile lyricists within each of those categories.

>>9038223
Mangum rules. Love how most of this verse is dactyllic while still sounding so natural. I would say the music adds a lot to the lyrics in terms of evoking feelings, but they are still pretty solid standalone.

>>9044100
He's not wrong. Go back to /r/eddit

>>9036922
>Nick Cave
>garbage
Kys yourself

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If you look past Ian Curtis's overblown status as a tragic icon, he wrote some really good lyrics. Songs like "Atmosphere" and "The Eternal" make the hairs on my neck stick up.

>>9045801
Henry's Dream [Mute/Elektra, 1992]
Cave's admirers crow about his literary virtues--a rock musician who's actually published a novel! and scripted a film! about John Henry Abbott, how highbrow! Then they proffer dismal examples like "I am the captain of my pain," or the bordello containing--what an eye the man has--a whalebone corset! (Whalebone is very literary--it hasn't been used in underwear since well before Nick was born.) If this is your idea of great writing, you may be ripe for his cult. Otherwise, forget it--the voice alone definitely won't do the trick. C

>>9039988
That's so fucking stupid I can only hope you're a troll.

>this thread
/lit/ trying to put other parts of the arts down is so fucking embarrassing.

My recommendation:
His father died and left him a little farm in New England.
All the long black funeral cars left the scene
And the boy was just standing there alone
Looking at the shiny red tractor
Him and his daddy used to sit inside
And circle the blue fields and grease the night.
It was if someone had spread butter on all the fine points of the stars
'Cause when he looked up they started to slip.
Then he put his head in the crux of his arm
And he started to drift, drift to the belly of a ship,
Let the ship slide open, and he went inside of it
And saw his daddy 'hind the control board streamin' beads of light,
He saw his daddy 'hind the control board,
And he was very different tonight
'Cause he was not human, he was not human.

I'll fight anyone who says Morrissey is trash

>>9038352
>>you

>>9038377
>merzbow
>patrician

Over the ashes of blood marched the civilized soldiers,
over the ruins of the French fortress of a failure
over the silent screams of the dead and the dying
saying please be reassured, we seek no wider war.

The treaties were signed, the country was split into sections
but growing numbers of prisons were built for protection
rapidly filling with people who called for elections
But please be reassured, we seek no wider war.

Ngo Dinh Diem was the puppet who danced for the power
The hero of hate who gambled on hell for his hour
Father of his country was stamped on the medals we showered
but please be reassured, we seek no wider war.

Machine gun bullets became the bloody baptizers
and the falcon 'copters don't care if someone's the wiser
but the boy in the swamp didn't know he was killed by advisers
So please be reassured, we seek no wider war.

And fires were spitting at forests in defoliation
while the people were pressed into camps not called concentration
and the greater the victory the greater the shame of the nation
but please be reassured, we seek no wider war.

While we were watching the prisoners were tested by torture
and vicious and violent gasses maintained the order
as the finest Washington minds found slogans for slaughter
but please be reassured, we seek no wider war.

Then over the border came the Bay of Pigs planes of persuasion
All remaining honor went up in flames of invasion
But the shattered schools never learned that it's not escalation
But please be reassured, we seek no wider war.

We're teaching peaple freedom for which they are yearning
While were dragging them down to the path of never returning
But we'll condescend to talk while the cities are burning
But please be reassured, we seek no wider war.

And the evil is done in hopes that evil surrenders
but the deeds of the devil are burned too deep in the embers
and a world of hunger in vengeance will always remember
So please be reassured, we seek no wider war,
we seek no wider war.

>>9046775
Won't you lend your lungs to me?
Mine are collapsing
Plant my feet and bitterly
Breathe up the time that's passing.
Breath I'll take and breath I'll give
Pray the day's not poison
Stand among the ones that live
In lonely indecision.

Fingers walk the darkness down
Mind is on the midnight
Gather up the gold you've found
You fool, it's only moonlight.
And if you stop to take it home
Your hands will turn to butter
Better leave this dream alone
Try to find another.

Salvation sat and crossed herself
And called the devil partner
Wisdom burned upon a shelf
Who'll kill the raging cancer
Seal the river at its mouth
Take the water prisoner
Fill the sky with screams and cries
Bathe in fiery answers

Jesus was an only son
And love his only concept
But strangers cry in foreign tongues
And dirty up the doorstep
And I for one, and you for two
Ain't got the time for outside
Keep your injured looks to you
We'll tell the world that we tried

>>9046783
Pushing through the market
square
so many mothers sighing
News had just come over,
we had five years left to cry in

News guy wept and told us
earth was really dying
Cried so much his face was wet
then I knew he was not lying

I heard telephones, opera house, favourite melodies
I saw boys, toys electric irons and T.V.'s
My brain hurt like a warehouse
it had no room to spare
I had to cram so many things
to store everything in there
And all the fat-skinny people, and all the tall-short people
And all the nobody people, and all the somebody people
I never thought I'd need so many people

A girl my age went off her head
hit some tiny children
If the black hadn't a-pulled her off, I think she would have killed them

A soldier with a broken arm, fixed his stare to the wheel of a Cadillac
A cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest
and a queer threw up at the sight of that
I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour
drinking milk shakes cold and long
Smiling and waving and looking so fine
don't think you knew you were in this song

And it was cold and it rained so I felt like an actor
And I thought of Ma and I wanted to get back there
Your face, your race, the way that you talk
I kiss you, you're beautiful, I want you to walk

We've got five years, stuck on my eyes
We've got five years, what a surprise
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
We've got five years, that's all we've got

>>9046808
I stepped out onto the midway. I was looking for the pirate ship and saw this small, old tent at one end. It was blue and had white lights hanging all around it. I decided to check out the tent, it seemed I could hear music coming from inside. As I walked toward it, I passed a crowd of people at the sideshow

I couldn't figure out why they would want to wait in line. I pulled back the drape thing on the tent. There was a crystal ball at the table, and behind it, a girl wearing a hat. She smiled, and asked me if I wanted my fortune read. I said okay and sat down. I thought about it for a minute, and asked her if she would rather go on the roller coaster instead

Creeping up into the sky
Stopping, at the top, and starting down
The girl grabbed my hand, I clutched it tight
I said good-bye to the ground

Far below, a soiled man. A bucket of torn tickets at his side he watches as the children run by. And picks his teeth

Spinning round, my head begins to turn
I shouted, and searched the sky for a friend
I heard the fortune teller, screaming back at me
We stuck out our hands and met the wind

The girl falters as she steps down from the platform. She clutches her stomach, and begins to heave. The ticket-taker smiles, and the last car is ready. Who told you that you could leave?

The sun was setting by the time we left. We walked across the deserted lot, alone. We were tired, but we managed to smile

At the gate I said goodnight to the fortune teller. The carnival sign threw colored shadows on her face, but I could tell she was blushing

>>9046819
It's my father's voice dreaming of
Sailors sailing off in the morning
for the air-conditioned rooms
at the top of the stairs

His jaw's been broken
his bandage is wrapped too tight
his fangs have been pulled
and i really want to see you tonight

There's Bourbon on the breath
of the singer you love so much
He takes all his words from the books
that you don't read anyway

His jaw's been broken
his bandage is wrapped too tight
My fangs have been pulled
and I really want to see you tonight

Someone ties a bow
in my backyard to show me love
My voice is climbing walls
smoking and i want love

My jaw's been broken
My heart is wrapped in ice
My fangs have been pulled
and i really want to see you tonight

And it makes no difference to me
how they cried all over overseas
It's hot in the poor places tonight
I'm not going outside

They cried all over overseas
It makes no difference to me
It's hot in the poor places tonight
I'm not going outside

>one jandek mention
>it was a meme
fuck this board

Jason Williamson

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>>9034864

No mention of Tom Waits, but you mention Bono?

Please throw yourself off a cliff

>>9037973
Fucking this!!!

>>9046740
t. fag

Morrisey is pretentious shit

>>9038180
What do you listen to ?

>ctrl-f 'John Darnielle'
>no results
Does /lit/ not like him? Or have you just not heard of him? He's written a couple of books now.

>>9048465
he's shit, now go away

>no MC Ride
baka

Obviously skramz lyrics B)

i will commit suicide at the very peak of our desperate love. so it will never get the chance to weaken or fade.
and you will do the same only to immortalize our unified hearts. and so that every moment and memory will remain fresh in both of our minds.
and this will be ours. forever like the stars.

>>9048508
absolutely terrible

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Mark E. Smith and Stephen Malkmus

I really like Quorthon's lyrics.

>>9038352
>the height of pseudo-intellectualism
I was hoping someone would point out how retarded rap "philosophy" is

>>9048634
Mark E. Smith and Stephen Malkmus, seriously? One negates the other.

>>9037930
Decent taste there, Anon. I quite like The Three of Us and Everything Went Numb.

>>9045811
this

>>9037930
A Better Place A Better Time is a pretty good song lyrically as well. Streetlight Manifesto is very underrated, probably just because they are ska and most ska is pretty trash.

>No one posting based King Crimson
Its like you people don't even /mu/isc.
Seriously though. Everyone should take an hour out of their lives and listen to In The Court Of The Crimson Kind, Cat Food, Neal and Jack and Me and Three Of A Perfect Pair

Wesley Willis was the one true lyrical genius

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyzDKAx8seU&t=59s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkfpi2H8tOE

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>>9038200
Yep, it's like that.

>>9048814
reminder that Red is King Crimson's best album.

>>9049497
You fucking what, mate. Red is mid-tier at best. Fallen Angel and Providence are good, but the rest are bad to not as bad. The best is either Lizard or Three of A Perfect Pair

>>9048814
I've heard all of those and they were all aawful

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>>9049539

>Starless
>Bad

>>9049541
Neck yourself

>>9049559
How could i forget. Best track in that album. Yeah Starless is solid.

>caring about the lyrics
As long as they flow smoothly with the music I'm fine. People who care that much about the lyrics dont really get what music is all about, and thats really sad

>>9048774
I have a hard time calling them ska because they don't really have a skank pattern.
But yeah, as someone who was really into ska, I can affirm most ska is trash. Two tone wasn't bad, but the whole ska-punk thing was pretty awful.

A Better Place is good though.

>>9048728
Yeah, The Hands that Thieve was real neat.

>>9048465
Second only to Jeff Mangum, imo. Complete opposite of the fanciful, flowery stuff mangum does, but especially the boombox days are able to compress so much meaning into these two minute sketches. You can tell he was a poet.

>>9037939
Isn't the Iliad a song?

>>9049933
I'm just glad somebody mentioned Mangum. Too many people are afraid of a frenzy of self-conscious retards descending on them if they give NMH credit. The imagery Jeff Mangum manages is great IMO.

So many of his songs make things both disgusting and beautiful at the same time like in Oh Comely or A Baby for Pree and Where You'll Find me Now. There are so many ways to read into it but all of the ways to read into it are enjoyable and often emotional. A lot of people can connect to it.

>>9050003
I was always partial to "My Dream Girl Don't Exist"

>>9038180
>>>Pink Floyd
>drugs and space, wow so deep
I'm sure they've got a lot of that but the lyricism within Animals and Wish You Were Here, their two best works, doesn't fit that description.

>>9041347
Wrong
And her reaction has nothing to do with idler wheel, but you also think Woolf is 'not that great' so whatever

>>9049600
>I don't like lyrics
>I listen to pop music
Pick one, true patricians only listen to classical

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>>9049354
Fucking this. Why do people not bow down to their Lord and Savior Wesley Willis?

Mark Kozelek
Stephen Malkmus
David Berman

>>9052091
gonna be hard to find lyrics in classical.

And the mail is late and the great estates are not lit from within
The talk in town's becoming downright sickening
In due time we will see the far buttes lit by a flare
I've seen your bravery, and I will follow you there
And row through the nighttime
Gone healthy
Gone healthy all of a sudden
In search of the midwife
Who could help me
Who could help me
Help me find my way back in
There are worries where I've been
Say, say, say in the lee of the bay; don't be bothered
Leave your troubles here where the tugboats shear the water from the water
(Flanked by furrows, curling back, like a match held up to a newspaper)
Emily, they'll follow your lead by the letter
And I make this claim, and I'm not ashamed to say I know you better
What they've seen is just a beam of your sun that banishes winter
Let us go! Though we know it's a hopeless endeavor
The ties that bind, they are barbed and spined and hold us close forever
Though there is nothing would help me come to grips with a sky that is gaping and yawning

>>9052370
very thought-provoking post

>>9034864
Morrison is a published poet though

Chris Stapleton

Nobody's Fool is an astounding lyric

>>9052370

>He doesn't know what Opera is

Uncultured swine.

>>9038180
Why do you think the source of someone's inspiration (e.g., drugs) discounts the ideas? Do you think lit writers never did drugs? What the fuck are you talking about, that's not an argument against their lyrics.

It's like saying "oh no, Shakespeare's crap he used to drink wine while he wrote."

Get over it you straight edge douchebag.

Tim Lambesis from the As I Lay Dying. Life changing for me.

>>9045759
Listen to Busy Is My Best Friend by Silent Knight and shut the absolute fuck up, you ignorant piece of parroting shit.

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surprised pic related not been mentioned

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>>9038185

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>>9033833
this guy. his lyrics are surprisingly layered with meanings + he did bible references on a "low-culture" medium before it was cool

>>9038092
have you ever found yourself in a beatiful wife?

>>9036916
who's this eddie izzard lookin nigga

>>9036934
I SHOWED THIS GIRL A PICTURE OF MY DIIIIIIICK

>>9033833
Fabrizio De André. Anyone else is utter shit.

>>9038180
Apart from Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd was sober, m8. They're like the straight-edge christian kids of prog rock.

>>9038377
My main man.

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Say what you not about Rush being preachy, but the guy who writes the lyrics is pretty dang artistic.

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rush/cygnusx1bookiihemispheres.html

This song is pretty good.

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So many laughs reading this thread full of monolingual idiots who think American rock singers are the best of the world while they completely suck shit compared to this man

>>9048465
all hail west texas is a masterpiece. other tmg stuff is good/decent but nowhere near the level he reached on ahwt.

>>9048412
Waits is fine too. I just listed the first dozen that popped to mind.
>>9052694
So are several of the others. Is that important?