Thread: Wow, Never?

So are lyricists a rare breed nowadays? Maybe they're the shy type?

Anyhow, it looked a tad lonely down here so I thought I'd start with something a little neutral. Maybe a question or two.

1.) What is your favourite lyric of all time? [That can be a line, a verse, song you name it.]

2.) If you write lyrics, or have ever written them, which other songwriters do you see most in your work? [i.e. your style, how direct you are, the subject matter you cover, that sort of thing]

ive looked at this post twice and i think the same song.....probably one that is not well known to many: from the inside off of the retro active album by def leppard.

its a song about what drug addictions do to people but from the drugs' point of view. awesome imagery and metaphores. if you havent heard it i recommend a listen to all.

Well I am NOT a lyracist. I have never written a song and truth be told I wouldnt know the first thing about it either. BUT ..I do love a good lyric as much as anyone else, and I find a lot of songs will hook me first because of a certain lyric. Now, to pin point a favorite would be just IMPOSSIBLE because I have 100's .. but a couple that come to mind "today" would be:

pretty much ANYTHING by Colletive Soul! Ed Roland .. an AMAZING lyracist!!

One other: Matchbox 20 - 3AM - "She thinks that happiness is a mat that sits on her doorway"

Just a couple examples

Oh Phil .. yes I know the song you are talking about .. and ..good call my friend!! :-)

I thought I would share my most current fave lyric. This little gem comes from Nikki Sixx's new band and album ..

Sixx:Am - The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack
The track - "Life Is Beautiful"

"There’s nothing like a trail of blood to find your way back home"

This whole album is lyrically amazing!!

I write most of the lyrics for my band. What inspired me mostly to write the lyrics the way I did for our first album was the 60 minutes song by Waltari: Yeah! Yeah! Die! Die! Death Metal Symphony in Deep C.
Also The Wall by Pink Floyd, together with others.

But one of my favorite lyrics of all time, also from a 60 minutes song, is from the song Light of Day, Day of Darkness - Green Carnation.

The most profound lyrics to me are from 'Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine' composed by Eric Whitacre. Its just as it sounds:Leonardo da Vinci is dreaming about some flying contraption he made. What really grabs me about the song is that along with lyrics, Whitacre used sounds as well. I can't really say what he used; I haven't looked at the music. But different voice parts imitate the contraption flying. It's really beautiful.

Either those, or a piece set to this poem.

I am a poet.
I am very fond of bananas.

I am bananas.
I am very fond of a poet.

I am a poet of bananas.
I am very fond.

A fond poet of 'I am, I am'-
Very bananas.

Fond of 'Am I bananas?
Am I?'-a very poet.

Bananas of a poet!
Am I fond? Am I very?

Poet bananas! I am.
I am fond of a 'very.'

I am of very fond bananas.
Am I a poet?

My first awakening to the power of lyrics was with Pink Floyd. As a teenager, sitting listening to Dark Side, or The Wall and trying to piece together what it all meant just added another dimension to my listening pleasure.

Still think Roger Waters is the master lyricist. Some examples:

Time - DSOTM

Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say.

Brain Damage - DSOTM

The lunatic is in the hall.
The lunatics are in my hall.
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more.

&

And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear.
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.

Dogs - Animals

And when you loose control, you'll reap the harvest you have sown.
And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone.
And it's too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw
around.
So have a good drown, as you go down, all alone,
Dragged down by the stone.

The Thin Ice - The Wall

If you should go skating
On the thin ice of modern life
Dragging behind you the silent reproach
Of a million tear-stained eyes
Don't be surprised when a crack in the ice
Appears under your feet.
You slip out of your depth and out of your mind
With your fear flowing out behind you
As you claw the thin ice.

Goodbye Blue Sky - The Wall

Did you see the frightened ones?
Did you hear the falling bombs?
Did you ever wonder why we had to run for shelter when the
promise of a brave new world unfurled beneath a clear blue
sky?

One of my Turns - The Wall

Day after day, love turns grey
Like the skin of a dying man.
Night after night, we pretend its all right
But I have grown older and
You have grown colder and
Nothing is very much fun any more.
And I can feel one of my turns coming on.
I feel cold as a razor blade,
Tight as a tourniquet,
Dry as a funeral drum.

Not exactly the most uplifting lyrics, which is why many despise the Floyd, but I think they stand up.





Another favourite is UK folkie Roy Harper whose lyrics are very much poetry set to music.

ANYTHING from Floyd or Radiohead will do...

Some examples:

Please could you stop the noise, I'm trying to get some rest
from all the unborn chicken voices in my head
...
When I am king you will be first against the wall
with your opinion which is of no consequence at all
-Paranoid Android, by Radiohead

The lunatic is in my head
The lunatic is in my head
You raise the blade, you make the change
You rearrange me till I'm sane
You lock the door
and throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me.
-Brain Damage, by Pink Floyd

I am an amateur songwriter. I write lyrics and melodies, both are pleasant, not great, in my opinion. But I have the hardest time putting them together. Am I the only one with this problem?

As for the lyrics, which are the main focus of this discussion, I write about all kinds of things, usually just obscure philosophical things rather than specific instances...they range from cheerful to downright depressing. What they all seem to have in common, though, is that they're quite simple, but they get their point across.
I'm thinking of posting them here soon...after a bit of editing :D

A few that I like:

The Day I Left The Womb-Escape The Fate

Brother, put your needles down.
The best thing for you is to leave this awful town.
Pretty soon, you'll have kids to feed.
If you see mother, tell her I can sing.

Hush- Automatic LoveLetter
gets me everytime
This is the calming
before the storm
this absolution is always incomplete
its always bittersweet
hush you color my eyes red
your loves not life its death
...
I wont make a sound
so you dont wake
dont wake
you dont wake

Ghost- The Academy Is...
How we die no body wants to know
Who decides where everybody goes

Usually anything by One Republic

We fall We fall- Dead Celebrity Status
the whole song but especially
F*ck mass appeal and f*ck keeping it real,
I feel I need to date Tommy Matola for a record deal.
What would you do for that big contract?
Change your face like Michael, be on American Idol?
Act homicidal and eat your own intestines.
I thought we were musicians not Fear Factor contestants.
...
yea you went platnum
but who wrote your record

This Love This Hate- Hollywood Undead
The wholeee song
Seriously check it out.

andd finally

The Irony Of Dying On Your Birthday- Senses Fail
Ill lock myself alone in a room
drink until the clock strikes noon
with just a pen a pill and some paper
maybe I will write a sad song
or another cliche poem
of the person that I long to be


:D
I love music that speaks to me.

The entirety of 'Do The Evolution' by Pearl Jam
One of the few songs i listen to where the lyrics actually mean something