Top Lyricists of all time

[clone4life82]

Love the completely subjective topic. My top is Ben rector. Some of the songs he’s put forth hit me hard:

Fear, brand new, 30,000 feet, the men that drive me places, note to self, old friends,

Too many lyrically awesome songs to not mention him but I’m probably the only one or in the minority with this one.

 

[AgronAlum]

I have no idea what Boogaloo shrimp is and at this point I'm too afraid to ask

I like the color purple
Macaroni and cheese
Ruby red slippers
And a bunch of trees

 

[Big_Sill]

Lil Wayne... not even close.

 

[sleestakCy]

Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison.

 

[3TrueFans]

Nas
Mos Def
Talib Kweli

 

[raftercy]

Kris Kristofferson
Merle Haggard

 

[JM4CY]

I like the color purple
Macaroni and cheese
Ruby red slippers
And a bunch of trees

Feels like they consulted Seth MacFarlane on that song.

 

[Gunnerclone]

Feels like they consulted Seth MacFarlane on that song.

Just run down that list and tell me where he’s wrong?

Color Purple - great movie
Mac and Cheese - classic American cuisine
Wizard of Oz - great classic film
Bunch of trees - 420 smoke em if you got em

 

[JM4CY]

Just run down that list and tell me where he’s wrong?

Color Purple - great movie
Mac and Cheese - classic American cuisine
Wizard of Oz - great classic film
Bunch of trees - 420 smoke em if you got em

 

[CloneGuy8]

2 Live Crew

 

[NoCreativity]

Has to be Chad Kroeger. Who could top such profound lyrics and storytelling such as "You look so much better with something in your mouth"?

 

[yowza]

Bernie Taupin who wrote many of Elton John's songs.

 

[helechopper]

Best Song Writer Alive:
Jason Isbell

Best Song Writer Dead:
John Lennon

Best Song Writer You Thought Was Dead, But Is Actually Alive:
Bob Dylan

 

[ketchupnmustard]

David Byrne?
Frank Zappa?

 

[madguy30]

Isbell's fantastic. My unpopular opinion is that he wrote his best songs when he was still a drunk. I'm not advocating he go back to the bottle or anything, but I think the first part of his career is wildly underrated by the people who discovered him because of Southeastern.

Better performances too honestly.

His shows are still great but 2007-09 the weary ruggedness came through hard and I'm glad I saw it.

Obviously a great thing to see someone grow so much like his sobriety and popularity so it's fine by me.

 

[Angie]

My husband and I were just talking about this last week. Some names:

Bob Dylan
Paul McCartney
Kendrick Lamar
Biggie
Prince
Leonard Cohen
Paul Simon
David Bowie
Smokey Robinson (“Tracks of My Tears” alone qualifies)

Burt Bacharach has to be mentioned, even if he isn’t your bag. (Which I guess also grandfathers in Randy Newman, ugh.) I love Hank Sr, although I know he isn’t everyone’s thing.

 

[Angie]

Also, I unironically love Billy Joel, and my husband largely thinks he is a turd. Do not care.

 

[matclone]

My husband and I were just talking about this last week. Some names:

Bob Dylan
Paul McCartney
Kendrick Lamar
Biggie
Prince
Leonard Cohen
Paul Simon
David Bowie
Smokey Robinson (“Tracks of My Tears” alone qualifies)

Burt Bacharach has to be mentioned, even if he isn’t your bag. (Which I guess also grandfathers in Randy Newman, ugh.) I love Hank Sr, although I know he isn’t everyone’s thing.

Hal David wrote the lyrics to almost all of Bacharach's musical compositions.

So, "If you see me walking down the street
and I start to cry, each time we meet"--that was Hal David.

 

[Cyclonepride]

I'm going to throw out Stevie Nicks for this one too.

Category:Songs written by Stevie Nicks - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[carvers4math]

Disney has had some great ones, but Howard Ashman died way too young.