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[StealthGoblin]

Charles Hart.

The guy who wrote the lyrics to Phantom of the Opera and then did a rescue job of love never dies. Fantastic lyrics despite the many different ways they have been sung.

 

[Kipp]

As much as I love JD, I've never heard anything off of AHWT.

Wait. What.

That is like, the defining Mountain Goats album. Most people would agree that AHWT is the best not-studio-recorded Mountain Goats album.

You gotta listen to it.


Oh, and I'm also throwing in my vote for John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats.

 

[InaudibleWhispa]

Has to be Newsom.

From the top of the flight of the wide, white stairs
Through the rest of my life, do you wait for me there?
There's a bell in my ears, there's a wide white roar
Drop a bell down the stairs, hear it fall forevermore.

Drop a bell off of the dock, blot it out in the sea
Drowning mute as a rock; sounding mutiny.

There's a light in the wings, hits this system of strings from the side while they swing;
See the wires, the wires, the wires
And the articulation in our elbows and knees makes us buckle as we couple in endless increase
As the audience admires

 

[Superimposer]

Definitely Mike Vennart.

 

[Casanova]

Wait. What.

That is like, the defining Mountain Goats album. Most people would agree that AHWT is the best not-studio-recorded Mountain Goats album.

You gotta listen to it.


Oh, and I'm also throwing in my vote for John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats.

John Darnielle is amazing. Deeply emotional lyrics and the gift of telling his stories/experiences with profound imagery.

All hail West Texas is a great album, the song 'color in your cheeks' is one of my all time favorites.

Oh, and I actually saw them at The Orange Peel music venue in Asheville, NC (which is about a half hour from where I live) and it was the best show I had ever seen.

 

[Stinkles]

Justin Hawkins from The Darkness. Not a big fan of his voice but the lyrics are amazing. Ironically hard to hear.

You are drunk and you are surly
In Latino lover mode
We all know what's on your agenda
We've broken the code

Oh I've got no right to lay claim to her frame
She's not my possession
You cunt.

Get your hands off my woman motherfucker
Get your hands off my woman motherfucker
Yeah

Octoped, you've got six hands too many
And you can't keep them to yourself
You're too fat and too old to marry
So they left you on the shelf

Oh I've got no right to lay claim to her frame
But you soiled my obsession
You cunt.

Get your hands off my woman motherfucker
Get your hands off my woman motherfucker
Get your hands off my woman motherfucker
Get your hands off my woman motherfucker
Ow!
Get your hands off my woman motherfucker
Get your hands off my woman motherfuuuuuuuuuuckaaaaa!

 

[Midas]

Tracey Thorn came to mind.

 

[ZaCH3000]

Florence Welch tbh

Your faves couldn't.

She has an incredible voice. I'm a big, big fan. I wish music like hers and many other amazing bands that are gaining traction were around when I was a teen.

 

[Unicorn]

John Darnielle of "The Mountain Goats". The man has been unleashing beautifully literate masterpieces for almost 20 years now.
Lyrics-
http://www.themountaingoats.net/cgi-bin/songs.cgi?ACTION=show_all_songs

I'm at work right now so I can't provide vid links but search YouTube for:

Autoclave
Last Man on Earth
Sometimes I still feel the bruise
Sax Roehmer #1
You were cool

Really anything he does is magic and this dude, by himself, has both changed and saved my life.

Yup:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4nnooS1MJs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Riches and Wonders

We live high, our love gorges
on the alcohol we feed it
and it grows all fat and friendly
we have surplus if we need it
we hold on as hard as we can
our knuckles are white
we write letters to each other
invent secrets to confess to
I learn foreign and exotic terms of
endearment by which to address you
we feed fresh fruit to one another
we stay up all night
and I am healthy, I am whole
but I have poor impulse control
and I want to go home
but I am home
we are strong, we are faithful
we are guardians of a rare thing
we pay close careful attention
to the news the morning air brings
we show great loyalty
to the hard times we've been through
We are filled with riches and wonders
Our loves keeps the things it finds
and we dance like drunken sailors
lost at sea, out of our minds
you find shelter somewhere in me
I find great comfort in you
and I keep you safe from harm
you hold me in your arms
and I want to go home
but I am home

 

[lednerg]

Beck - Nobody's Fault But My Own

Treated you like a rusty blade
A throwaway from an open grave
Cut you loose from a chain gang
And let you go

And on the day you said it's true
Some love holds, some gets used
Tried to tell you I never knew
It could be so sweet

Who could ever be so cruel?
Blame the Devil for the things you do
It's such a selfish way to lose
The way you lose these wasted blues
These wasted blues

Tell me that it's nobody's fault
Nobody's fault but my own
Tell me that it's nobody's fault
Nobody's fault but my own
(x 2)

When the moon is a counterfeit
Better find the one that fits
Better find the one that lights
The way for you

When the road is full of nails
Garbage pails and darkened jails
And their tongues are full of heartless tales
That drain on you

Who would ever notice you
You fade into a shaded room
It's such a selfish way to lose
The way you lose these wasted blues
These wasted blues

Tell me that it's nobody's fault
Nobody's fault but my own
Tell me that it's nobody's fault
Nobody's fault but my own
(x3)

 

[Unicorn]

Current favorite song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw3ZNvtITfg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[Sappy113]

Eddie. For songwriting and lyrics. Just an amazing variety in his writing and a way with words put to music I haven't been able to find anywhere else.

Society

It's a mystery to me
We have a greed with which we have agreed
You think you have to want more than you need
Until you have it all you won't be free

Society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me

When you want more than you have
You think you need
And when you think more than you want
Your thoughts begin to bleed

I think I need to find a bigger place
'Cause when you have more than you think
You need more space

Society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me
Society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

There's those thinking more or less, less is more
But if less is more how you're keeping score?
Means for every point you make your level drops
Kinda like it's starting from the top, you can't do that

Society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me
Society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

Society, have mercy on me
I hope you're not angry if I disagree
Society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

The End

What were all those dreams we shared
those many years ago?
What were all those plans we made now
left beside the road?
Behind us in the road

More than friends, I always pledged
cause friends they come and go
People change, as does everything
I wanted to grow old
I just want to grow old

Slide up next to me
I'm just a human being
I will take the blame
But just the same
this is not me

You see?
Believe...

I'm better than this
Don't leave me so cold
I'm buried beneath the stones
I just want to hold on
I know I'm worth your love

Enough...
I don't think
there's such a thing

It's my fault now
Having caught a sickness in my bones
How it pains to leave you here
With the kids on your own
Just don't let me go

Help me see myself
cause I can no longer tell
Looking out from the inside
of the bottom of a well

It's hell...
I yell...

But no one hears before I disappear
whisper in my ear
Give me something to echo
in my unknown future's ear

My dear...
The end
comes near...
I'm here...
But not much longer.

Present Tense

Do you see the way that tree bends? Does it inspire
Leaning out to catch the sun's rays. A lesson to be applied.
Are you getting something out of this all encompassing trip?

You can spend your time alone redigesting past regrets, ohh, or you can come to terms and realize you're the only one who can forgive yourself. Oh.
Makes much more sense to live in the present tense.

Have you ideas on how this life ends?
Checked your hands and studied the lines.
Have you the belief that the road ahead ascends off into the light?
Seems that needlessly it's getting harder to find an approach and a way to live.
Are we getting something out of this all encompassing trip.

You can spend your time alone redigesting past regrets, ohh, or you can come to terms and realize you're the only one who cannot forgive yourself. Oh, ohh.
Makes more sense to live in the present tense.

Just a lot of stuff that, to me, makes sense and evokes a lot of feelings. Which I guess is why the perception of the quality of lyricism is such a personal thing.

 

[Cmdr. Solrak]

Thom Yorke

 

[kmag]

Nick Cave

It began when they come took me from my home
And put me in Dead Row,
Of which I am nearly wholly innocent, you know.
And I'll say it again
I..am..not..afraid..to..die.
I began to warm and chill
To objects and their fields,
A ragged cup, a twisted mop
The face of Jesus in my soup
Those sinister dinner meals
The meal trolley's wicked wheels
A hooked bone rising from my food
All things either good or ungood.
And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.
An eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.
Interpret signs and catalogue
A blackened tooth, a scarlet fog.
The walls are bad. Black. Bottom kind.
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath gathering at my hind
I hear stories from the chamber
How Christ was born into a manger
And like some ragged stranger
Died upon the cross
And might I say it seems so fitting in its way
He was a carpenter by trade
Or at least that's what I'm told
Like my good hand I
tatooed E.V.I.L. across it's brother's fist
That filthy five! They did nothing to challenge or resist.
In Heaven His throne is made of gold
The ark of his Testament is stowed
A throne from which I'm told
All history does unfold.
Down here it's made of wood and wire
And my body is on fire
And God is never far away.
Into the mercy seat I climb
My head is shaved, my head is wired
And like a moth that tries
To enter the bright eye
I go shuffling out of life
Just to hide in death awhile
And anyway I never lied.
My kill-hand is called E.V.I.L.
Wears a wedding band that's G.O.O.D.
`Tis a long-suffering shackle
Collaring all that rebel blood.
And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.
And the mercy seat is burning
And I think my head is glowing
And in a way I'm hoping
To be done with all this weighing up of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And I've got nothing left to lose
And I'm not afraid to die.
And the mercy seat is glowing
And I think my head is smoking
And in a way I'm hoping
To be done with all this looks of disbelief.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway there was no proof
Nor a motive why.
And the mercy seat is smoking
And I think my head is melting
And in a way I'm helping
To be done with all this twisted of the truth.
A lie for a lie
And a truth for a truth
And I've got nothing left to lose
And I'm not afraid to die.
And the mercy seat is melting
And I think my blood is boiling
And in a way I'm spoiling
All the fun with all this truth and consequence.
An eye for an eye
And a truth for a truth
And anyway I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.
And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
A life for a life
And a truth for a truth
And anyway there was no proof
But I'm not afraid to tell a lie.
And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a truth for a truth
And anyway I told the truth
But I'm afraid I told a lie.

Shane MacGowan,

I've been loving you a long time
Down all the years, down all the days
And I've cried for all your troubles
Smiled at your funny little ways
We watched our friends grow up together
And we saw them as they fell
Some of them fell into Heaven
Some of them fell into Hell

I took shelter from a shower
And I stepped into your arms
On a rainy night in Soho
The wind was whistling all its charms
I sang you all my sorrows
You told me all your joys
Whatever happened to that old song
To all those little girls and boys

Now the song is nearly over
We may never find out what it means
But there's a light I hold before me
And you're the measure of my dreams
The measure of my dreams

Sometimes I wake up in the morning
The gingerlady by my bed
Covered in a cloak of silence
I hear you in my head
I'm not singing for the future
I'm not dreaming of the past
I'm not talking of the first time
I never think about the last

Now the song is nearly over
We may never find out what it means
Still there's a light I hold before me
You're the measure of my dreams
The measure of my dreams

Especially when you realise the above isn't about a woman, it's about an alcoholics love affair with drink.

 

[BrokenEchelon]

Well Bob Dylan is still alive, but:

It kills me not to know this but I've all but just forgotten
What the color of her eyes were and her scars or how she got them
As the telling signs of age rain down, a single tear is dropping
Through the valleys of an aging face that this world has forgotten

There is no reconciliation that will put me in my place
And there is no time like the present to drink these draining seconds
But seldom do these words ring true when I'm constantly failing you
Like walls that we just can't break through until we disappear

So tell me now if this ain't love then how do we get out?
'Cause I don't know

 

[Unicorn]

And for posterity some lyric posting:

The Mountain Goats (so glad there are so many fans on GAF, absolutely love 'em)
Here's a more comical song:
Cheshire County

when the sun came up, i got up
'cause you were saying my name backwards in your sleep again

the field outside was wet and green,
and the most goergeous cow i've ever seen
was coming right at me, right at you

her udder was fat with fresh milk
and her black and white coat was as smooth as silk
and in the waning of a long long year
i felt the remnants of last night disappear

To a more solemn:
Wild Sage

I leave as soon as it gets light outside
Like a prisoner breaking out of jail
And I steel down to business fifteen-five-oh-one
like I had a bounty hunter on my tail

and somebody stops to pick me up
but he drops me off just down the block
and along the highway where the empty spirits breathe
wild sage growing in the weeds

Walked down the soft shoulder and I count my steps
Headed vaguely eastward sun in my eyes
And I lose my footing and I skin my hands breaking my fall
And I laugh to myself, and look up at the skies

And then I think I hear angels in my ears
Like marbles being thrown against a mirror
And along the highway where unlucky stray dogs bleed
Wild sage growing in the weeds

and some days I don't miss my family
and some days I do
some days I think I'd feel better if I tried harder
most days I know it's not true

I lay down right where I felt cold grass in my face
And I hear the traffic like the rhythm of the tides
And I stare at the scrape on the heel of my hand
'til it doesn't sting so much and until the bloods dried

And when somebody asks if I'm ok
I don't know what to say
And along the highway
From cast-off innumerable seeds
Wild sage growing in the weeds.

Also, Belle & Sebastian:

Storytelling

Picture a scene in your mind
Look at all the people and take note of the setting behind
Listen, watch, and wait
A plot beings to take shape
There's a story
And then characters will come to you
Relating events as they choose to
But all their words and actions come entirely from you
If you're a storyteller you might think you're without responsibility
And you can lead your characters anywhere you want
You have immunity

Have you considered the way
People might react to all the things that your characters say?
And are their actions hand in hand with what you want to portray?
Are you sick?
Arre you crippled? Insane?
Expressing the desires that daren't speak their name?
Are you the one to blamed?
Now you're a storyteller you might think you're without responsibility
But in directions, actions and words
Cause and effect
You need consistency How can you finish the tale?
Lives which have played a part
Are summarised from the very start
And episodes left out to make it all go your way
"It's a mighty big world Some of it I've seen
But mostly I've only heard
And stories are all fiction from their moment of birth"
You're just a storyteller
You're not trying to escape responsibilty
If we believe you then you're successful
But you don't make claims of verity

The State That I Am In

I was surprised, I was happy for a day in 1975
I was puzzled by a dream, stayed with me all day in 1995
My brother had confessed that he was gay
It took the heat off me for a while
He stood up with a sailor friend
Made it known upon my sisters wedding day

I got married in a rush to save a kid from being deported
Now she's in love
I was so touched, I was moved to kick the crutches
From my crippled friend
She was not impressed that I cured her on the Sabbath
So I went to confess
When she saw the funny side, we introduced my child bride
To whisky and gin

The priest in the booth had a photographic memory
For all he had heard
He took all of my sins and he wrote a pocket novel called
"The State I Am In"
So I gave myself to God
There was a pregnant pause before he said ok
Now I spend my day turning tables round In Marks & Spencer's
They don't seem to mind

I gave myself to sin
And I've been there and back again
I gave myself to Providence
The state that I am in

Oh love of mine, would you condescend to help me
I am stupid and blind
Desperation is the Devil's work, it is the folly of a boys empty mind
Now I'm feeling dangerous, riding on city buses for a hobby is sad
Lead me to a living end
I promised that I'd entertain my crippled friend
My crippled friend

 

[I love Kitties]

Maybe not the greatest ever, but I do love Maynard James Keenan's voice and lyrics.

 

[kickpuncher]

Glad to see so many mentions of the Mountain Goats. They're excellent.

I'll also throw my hat in the ring for Brand New. Musically, I can understand why a lot of people would lump them in as a band for 17 year olds. There's a lot of anger, angst, and screaming. I think what sets them a little apart is their subject matter and lyrics. Jesse Lacey's lyrics frequently deal with a struggle between himself and religion, between his desire to be a good man and his frequent failures to live up to his own expectations.

Other bands with fantastic lyrics...
The Antlers- Two

In the middle of the night I was sleeping sitting up
When a doctor came to tell me, "Enough is enough"

He brought me out into the hall (I could have sworn it was haunted)
And told me something that I didn't know that I wanted to hear:
That there was nothing that I could do to save you
The choir's going to sing, and this thing is going to kill you
Something in my throat made my next words shake
And something in the wires made the lightbulbs break
There was glass inside my feet and raining down from the ceiling
It opened up the scars that had just finished healing
It tore apart the canyon running down your femur
(I thought that it was beautiful, it made me a believer)
And as it opened I could hear you howling from your room
But I hid out in the hall until the hurricane blew
When I reappeared and tried to give you something for the pain
You came to hating me again and just sang your refrain

Andrew Bird- Armchairs

I dreamed you were a cosmonaut
of the space between our chairs
And I was a cartographer
of the tangles in your hair
...
In time you need to learn, to love
The ebb just like the flow
Grab hold of your bootstraps, and pull like hell
until gravity feels sorry for you, and lets you go
As if you lack the proper chemicals to know
the way it felt the last time you let yourself fall this low

 

[SamVimes]

Seriously no one posted Nick Cave?

 

[User 73706]

Eminem was ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag, and people gobbled it up and asked for seconds.

One Direction will have superior wordplay, yet people will whinge and moan to the ends of the earth.

 

[theepicoftyler]

I'd second the Jesse Lacey mentions, and also include Jeffrey Eaton of Modern Life Is War.

Really, a flawless record lyrically IMO.

 

[Unicorn]

Seriously no one posted Nick Cave?

Someone did.

 

[SamVimes]

Someone did.

Yeah i actually checked earlier and didn't get any results for Nick Cave, when there's two persons at least. My bad!