Shannon's Top 10 Lyricists List

Lyrics are something very close to me. And for that reason I can't possibly pick an absolute FAVORITE. So this top 10 list, is in no particular order.

#10. Warren Zevon
His lyrics are diverse in subject, style, and demeaner . . . but his humor, and clearly unconventional wording and timing is prevalent in every single song. I think his songs are superbly awkward and often painfully resonant.

Loneliness and frustration
We both came down with an acute case
And when the lights came up at two
I caught a glimpse of you
And your face looked like something
Death brought with him in his suitcase


#9. Alanis Morrissette
I am consistently defending her against the Angry Chick label. You can't judge an artist by one song, damnit! Ok, Angry Chicks aside. . . Alanis writes in the same vain as Warren, where her lyrics are almost too much for the song, and it's a struggle to fit them all in. And I like that. Big words, big meanings, and sometimes require a little thought. There is something strange about Alanis' writing that makes me feel an almost creepy kinship to her. From album to album you can literally hear her growing as a person. And each album has been realized at just the right time, with just the right songs that it hits me in a very personal way.

I bet you're wondering when the next payback shoe will eventually drop
I bet you're wondering when my conditional police will force you to cough up
I bet wonder how far you have now danced you way back into debt
This is the only kind of love as I understand it that there really is

#8. Rob Thomas
I think sometimes, catchy guitar riffs and dancy breakdowns take away some credibility to the lyrics. And maybe people don't notice them as much. While I love the infectious melodies of all Rob Thomas/Matchbox Twenty/Tabitha's Secret songs, the lyrics still grab me. He has written songs for (and with) so many other artists, like Willie Nelson! (I found it VERY hard to pick just one line, or one verse for him. The songs so whole on their own, it hurts me to take sections, without context)
So scream you, out from behind the bitter ache
Heavy on the memory, you need most
still want love, ugly, smooth and delicate
not without affection, not alone

And instead of wishing that it would get better
man you're seeing that you just get angrier

And it's good that I'm not angry
I just need to get over,
I'm not angry, anymore

Cry when you cry, run when you run
love when you love
represent the ashes
that you leave behind

#7. Peter Gabriel
*sigh* I almost didn't want to put him on the list, for the fact that having to pick ONE lyric to post is causing me a panic attack. His lyrics are smart, diverse, and sometimes wacky. He writes a lot from dreams, and I think that is cool!

Lord, here comes the flood
We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood
If again the seas are silent
in any still alive
It'll be those who gave their island to survive
Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.



#6. Waters, Gilmour, Wright
I have to combine these guys, because honestly, I am not sure who had the heaviest influence, but Pink Floyd lyrics are incredible. I think it takes a lot of talent to make insanely incredible music, and be able to write lyrics that can equal it.

Overhead the albatross
Hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
An echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine.


#5. Jim Steinman
Say what you want about Meatloaf's power ballads, you listen to them close and tell me that they don't have fabulous lyrics! Jim has a flair for the dramatic, but he creates in-depth stories in such a small amount of time. You gotta respect that!

And all the gods come down here just to sing for me
And the melody's gonna make me fly
Without pain
Without fear
Give me all of your dreams
And let me go along on your way
Give me all of your prayers to sing
And i'll turn the night into the skylight of day

#4. Billy Joel
You see, I tend to guage songwriting by goosebumps. This guy has some lines that deliver the goosies even the thirteen hundredth time I've heard them.

We came in spastic
Like tameless horses
We left in plastic
As numbered corpses
And we learned fast
To travel light
Our arms were heavy
But our bellies were tight

#3. Diane Warren
Everytime I look at a list of songs she has written I am awestruck. Obviously quanitity doesn't mean quality. But, in general, hers is equal. She writes great pop songs that are catchy and genius, but she's an awfully good heart-string tugger.
Just look at this list. . . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Warren

#2. Roy Orbison
So, this guy will be much higher up on my best singers list, for sure. But that doesn't diminish his song writing skills. But man, that VOICE!

Tonight at midnight you came by
I shook my head, tried not to cry
Halfway weeping, halfway sleeping
Tossing, turning, trembling, burning
Here it comes, heartache

#1. Jason Mraz
Like Alanis, he squeezes an excessive amount of words into one song and somehow makes it work to his advantage.
Another goose bump creator.

Oh love it's a brittle madness, I sing about it in all my sadness
It's not falsified to say that I found god so inevitably well,
It still exists pale and fine. I can't dismiss
And I won't resist and if I die well at least I tried

And we just lay awake in lust and rust in the rain
And pour over everything we say we trust
It happened again, I listened in thru hallways and thin doors
Where the rivers unwind, rust and in the rain endure.
The rust and the rain are sins