British Lyricists

[Fulham Road Lights]

Bryan Ferry
Bernie Taupin
Graham Nash
Martin Gore
Bernard Sumner

I'd probably say Gore was my favourite from these five.

 

[Fulham Road Lights]

Also, I'm not a fan of the Arctic Monkeys, but I know Alex Turner was included in the Guardian's Greatest Lyricists supplement that also featured Morrissey a couple of years back.

 

[theboywho]

Agree with the Moz, Bernie, Bragg votes...

Laura Marling's latest LP is very good lyrically.

Matthew Mellor too.

 

[Shaw]

I forgot about Michael Flanders and Donald Swann. Wonderfully witty.

 

[Famous when dead]

A couple to throw in the pot:
My hippy side probably understands some of his wierder stuff, but Marc Bolan - abstract and challenging - should be on this list. Much in the vein of Moz - the songs read as poems too.
One from left field - a bit hit and miss, but Ocean Colour Scene's Simon Fowler does a good job on more sensitive ballads.
...and for a cheeky bit of humour - Ian Dury.
Just a few to consider,
Regards,
FWD

Oh...and justice for Kirsty! - gone but not forgotten.

 

[ADAMJOHNSON]

Well simon fowler? shurely shome mistake,the guy is an idiot,proof positive that you can take it up the rump and still be appealing to plumbers....Petey Tatchell would be proud....

Noones mentioned tony reynolds yet? his lyrics can be very amusing-hes a good mate of mine (unlike certain forumites who claim to know folk to enliven their humdrum existenz,bloo army anyone?)so i might be a bit biased,but this tickled me when i heard it on his album with vashti bunyan.....

"I likes girls in the spring,
i like girls with a swing,
i like girls to go with everything,
I like girls who come and go like snow,
i like girls it hurts to know
but nothing surpasses,
girls with glasses"

 

[Qvist]

Bryan Ferry
Bernie Taupin
Graham Nash
Martin Gore
Bernard Sumner

I'd probably say Gore was my favourite from these five.

Bernard Sumner?! I love New Order, but seriously, Bernard Sumner pretty much defines the concept of banal lyrics. "When I was a very small boy, very small boys talked to me", anyone?

cheers

 

[Anaesthesine]

Bernard Sumner?! I love New Order, but seriously, Bernard Sumner pretty much defines the concept of banal lyrics. "When I was a very small boy, very small boys talked to me", anyone?

cheers

I was listening to New Order on a business trip this morning, and thinking this very thing: I find many of Sumner's lyrics to be cringeworthy, although New Order is a great, great band.

In his defense, he did pen this:

"You're everything to me
The sweetest symphony
All that I try to be
You are my harmony
I guess what I mean to say
Is you keep the wolves at bay
The children on holiday
Here comes the crowd"

Very sweet.

If there's ever a "Worst British Lyricists" thread, I'd like to nominate Wayne Hussey.

 

[Jukebox Jury]

Bernard Sumner?! I love New Order, but seriously, Bernard Sumner pretty much defines the concept of banal lyrics. "When I was a very small boy, very small boys talked to me", anyone?

cheers

I have to say..........as much as I love NO.....the lyrics are not the strongest point......
I lived my life in the valleys
I've lived my life on the hills
I've lived my life on alcohol
I've lived my life on pills.......

I've been walking in the rain
just to get wet on purpose....

I just wanna place I can call my own
have a conversation on the telephone......

Oh you've got green eye
oh you've got blue eyes
oh you've got grey eyes

Jukebox Jury

 

[Happy Maudlin]

Bernard Sumner?! I love New Order, but seriously, Bernard Sumner pretty much defines the concept of banal lyrics. "When I was a very small boy, very small boys talked to me", anyone?

cheers

Thank you. But come to think of it that might have been intentional.

 

[Happy Maudlin]

Bryan Ferry
Bernie Taupin
Graham Nash
Martin Gore
Bernard Sumner

I'd probably say Gore was my favourite from these five.

While I do enjoy Depeche Mode, and I do like Gore's lyrics, he himself admitted that he is not the most prolific songwriter. But some good rhymes came his songs though (He can be a bit of a triple rhymer):

Everything Counts
"...A career, in Korea
Being insincere-a"

A Question of Lust
"It's a Question of Lust
It's a Question of trust
It's a question of not letting
What we've built up
Crumble to dust"

Sweetest Perfection
"...like a drug in me
And it brings out the thug in me
Feel something tugging me"

Drug, thug, tug, mug,bug, Doug. You get the picture.

 

[nightingale+therose]

If there's ever a "Worst British Lyricists" thread, I'd like to nominate Wayne Hussey.

Hey, why the beef with Wayne? Took me years of listening to The Mission before i realised i should be blushing singing some of dem songs! - they're subtle!

 

[Famous when dead]

Well simon fowler? shurely shome mistake,the guy is an idiot,proof positive that you can take it up the rump and still be appealing to plumbers....Petey Tatchell would be proud...."

Well the clue was in 'hit and miss'.
The OCS 'stuff' I refer to is not the charted material - hence an album of more sedate / emotive bsides et al.
Given Moz' ambiguity, there is a synergy with Fowler's angst in places (note: in places - maladapt this to your own ends as required!).
The suggestion is still vaild even when off-set against your 'comedic' view of said.
I'm pretty sure there have been several people listed that 'take it in the rump' and still have some worth as lyricists.
I can think of one guy from Manchester.... well let's not go there...
Regards,
FWD

 

[Anaesthesine]

Hey, why the beef with Wayne? Took me years of listening to The Mission before i realised i should be blushing singing some of dem songs! - they're subtle!

I was a HUGE Sisters of Mercy fan; The Mission were fun, but I can take only so many "windswept liquid mirrors."

Seriously, I think Wayne's a wonderful songwriter and a fabulous musician - he's the king of the 12 string. He should just let someone else write his lyrics...

 

[nightingale+therose]

I was a HUGE Sisters of Mercy fan; The Mission were fun, but I can take only so many "windswept liquid mirrors."

Seriously, I think Wayne's a wonderful songwriter and a fabulous musician - he's the king of the 12 string. He should just let someone else write his lyrics...

Anaesthesine - I recently decided to play a couple of old Mish tunes to rejig the memory.... and much to my horror, many of the tracks played could have been 'labelled' as 'soft rock.' (seriously - bet you haven't listened to a track for ages - you'll probably be appalled at how a lot of them are)!
you're absolutely right - his lyrics suck, big time, and the tunes are samey!, but i forgive him this as i have many fond and youthful memories of Mission concerts. (this feels like a confession)

 

[j funk]

Doherty and Winehouse are up there with Moz IMO

 

[Anaesthesine]

Anaesthesine - I recently decided to play a couple of old Mish tunes to rejig the memory.... and much to my horror, many of the tracks played could have been 'labelled' as 'soft rock.' (seriously - bet you haven't listened to a track for ages - you'll probably be appalled at how a lot of them are)!
you're absolutely right - his lyrics suck, big time, and the tunes are samey!, but i forgive him this as i have many fond and youthful memories of Mission concerts. (this feels like a confession)

You're right - I haven't listened to The Mission in years. My memories of them are of a very danceable, hooky goth band: great, chiming guitars and godawful new-agey lyrics.

I only saw them live once, and Wayne took a big fall, almost off the stage. He got back up and said "I fell on my bum!" That kind of punctured the aura of pretense which is essential at any effective goth show.

Still, let's give the man his due: great guitarist, gifted songwriter, decent singer, embarrassing dresser and dismal lyricist.

 

[konstantinl]

I'm glad someone else mentioned Edwyn Collins.

I've said many times how influential the Postcard scene and in particular Orange Juice were on The Smiths although it seems to me its rarely commented on elsewhere.

Although Collins has a slightly different sense of humour from Morrissey you can clearly see the lyrical lineage in songs like 'Falling and Laughing' or 'Consolation Prize'.

Collins was certainly one of the first sensitive young men to emerge from the late seventies/early eighties - not many other artists who arrived via the punk scene would write lines like 'only my dreams satisfy the real needs of my heart - I resist' or write a chorus that went 'Ye Gods, I'm simply thrilled honey, worldliness must keep apart from me'.

And this still rings as true for me as ever :- 'It's a funny thing / I'm wondering what tomorrow might bring / If it's more of the same / I've only got myself to blame / That's the funny thing.'

 

[Qvist]

. Still, let's give the man his due: great guitarist, gifted songwriter, decent singer, embarrassing dresser and dismal lyricist.

Haha, very good summation of The Mission. Although on the songwriting bit he did recirculate Wasteland a good deal, and he ripped that off of Echo and the Bunnymen in the first place: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQYbtADuDR0

cheers

 

[Rusholme Ruffian 90]

David Gilmour has to go there, and I'd add Ozzy Osbourne and Tim Booth too.