Who are your favorite lyricists?

[Doctor Cringelord]

Mine are Neil Young, probably about half of Wu Tang Clan, Bowie, Stephen Malkmus, Nick Drake, David Byrne, Ken Andrews of the band Failure.

I like the mental imagery they conjure.

Neil Young is often stereotyped as an old granola eating hippie writing about boring hippie shit, but some of his deeper cuts display lyrics ranging from batshit to just really poetic, provocative imagery. Fragments of his lyrics evoke cinematic images for me. "Men with walkie talkies / men with flashlights waving / Up upon the tower". Or the entirety of the song "Sedan Delivery" feels to me like some Coen Brothers movie plot.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Bob Dylan and John Darnielle.

 

[chickpea]

my favorite girlie

 

[Lexicon]

Off the top of my head, in no particular order:

Tom Waits
Patti Smith
Bob Dylan
Neutral Milk Hotel

And, for fun: The Ramones

(Will likely add more later)

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Off the top of my head, in no particular order:

Tom Waits
Patti Smith
Bob Dylan
Neutral Milk Hotel

And, for fun: The Ramones

(Will likely add more later)

I should have included Jeff Mangum. Oops.

Not super-prolific, but someone who wrote two-headed boy parts 1 & 2 definitely belongs here.

 

[Novella]