British Lyricists

Aidan John Moffat

his songs are pornographic (nice guy though - he sang at my mate's wedding)


Noel Coward
:thumb::thumb::thumb:


Kate Bush
:thumb::thumb: good to see a girl finally get a mention!


What about David Gedge (The Wedding Present. etc)
"The boy Gedge has written some of the best love songs of the Rock 'n' Roll Era:flowers:. You may dispute this, but I'm right and you're wrong!” John Peel.


or Alun Woodward (Delgados/Lord Cut-Glass):cool:


or the Reid brothers (every lyric on Darklands sends a shiver down my spine)

.
 
A couple not been mentioned:

As far as lyricists go, for me it doesn't get much better than Jake Thackray. Truly brilliant.

Also, George Formby is well worth a mention

I thought Gary Sparra wrote those George Formby songs.
 
Nigel Blackwell (Half Man Half Biscuit)

Twenty Four Hour Garage People

I fancy I’ll open a stationer’s
Stock quaint notepads for weekend Pagans
While you were out at The Rollright Stones
I came and set fire to your shed
‘Cos you probably work at an all-night garage
You probably work at an all-night garage
You probably work at an all-night garage
With Talk Radio on

And you curse my soul if I don’t want petrol
Curse my soul ‘cos I don’t want petrol
I only came down for a tube of Pringles
…Sour Cream and Chives

Because you gotta get up off your fat arse to go and get my crisps and you gotta go around the counter and it’s really inconvenient; and when you come back, you toss them into that sliding metal tray device thing that separates us and you say: “One pound thirty-five”, as opposed to: “That’ll be one pound thirty-five please, sir”. This is of course done to annoy me but has the opposite effect of amusing me no end, because suddenly I’ve got other things to buy…

“I’ll have two Scotch eggs and a jar of Marmite,
Two Scotch eggs and a jar of Marmite
Two Scotch eggs and a jar of Marmite
…what sandwiches have you got?”

Well now you become quite irate and your voice becomes louder, and you start to sound like Leadbelly at the Depot…

“I got ham, I got cheese, I got chicken, I got beef,
I got tuna-sweetcorn; I’ve got tuna-sweetcorn…”

“I’ll have ten Kit-Kats and a motoring atlas
Ten Kit-Kats and a motoring atlas
And a blues CD on the Hallmark label
– that’s sure to be good”

Oh he went to play golf on a Sunday morn’ just a mile and a half from town
His head was found on the driving range and his body has never been found
 
All the talk of Brett Anderson and Paul Weller on this board makes me wonder who else we rate as great British lyricists...?

Along with Moz, Brett and Weller, I'd also cite Jarvis Cocker as one of the greats. Bowie, though undoubtedly a great and influential artist, is not to my mind a great lyricist: his words just don't stand up without the music in quite the same way as the others.

As for Lennon...what was the late, great John Peel's remark about the lyrics of 'Imagine'? Something about "the sort of trite nonsense you might find inside a fortune cookie" wasn't it??

Any more suggestions?

Haha, great Peel quote, and how right he was. I don't actually quite see that Brett Anderson was/is that great, and I'm not quite sold on Paul Weller either, as a lyricist.

A definite inclusion though is Matt Johnson (The The) - the only one to very nearly rival Morrissey, in my opinion. There is also the inimitable David Tibet (Current 93). His frequent flights of esoteric/religious fancy may not be to everyone's liking, but he is equally adept when dealing with the more existential. Also not to be forgotten, Howard Devoto (Magazine).

EDIT: And Ian Curtis. How the F could I forget him.....

cheers
 
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It's interesting that one of Britain's greatest songwriters was, in fact, often a fairly pedestrian lyricist (at least on paper).

Yes, one can bash Lennon for his lack of lyrical sophistication. It really wasn't so much what he said, but rather the way that he said it that spoke volumes:

Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun.
If the sun don't come, you get a tan
From standing in the English rain.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen.
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob.


Poetry, of a sort.
 
Nigel Blackwell (Half Man Half Biscuit)

Twenty Four Hour Garage People

I fancy I’ll open a stationer’s
Stock quaint notepads for weekend Pagans
While you were out at The Rollright Stones
I came and set fire to your shed
‘Cos you probably work at an all-night garage
You probably work at an all-night garage
You probably work at an all-night garage
With Talk Radio on

And you curse my soul if I don’t want petrol
Curse my soul ‘cos I don’t want petrol
I only came down for a tube of Pringles
…Sour Cream and Chives

Because you gotta get up off your fat arse to go and get my crisps and you gotta go around the counter and it’s really inconvenient; and when you come back, you toss them into that sliding metal tray device thing that separates us and you say: “One pound thirty-five”, as opposed to: “That’ll be one pound thirty-five please, sir”. This is of course done to annoy me but has the opposite effect of amusing me no end, because suddenly I’ve got other things to buy…

“I’ll have two Scotch eggs and a jar of Marmite,
Two Scotch eggs and a jar of Marmite
Two Scotch eggs and a jar of Marmite
…what sandwiches have you got?”

Well now you become quite irate and your voice becomes louder, and you start to sound like Leadbelly at the Depot…

“I got ham, I got cheese, I got chicken, I got beef,
I got tuna-sweetcorn; I’ve got tuna-sweetcorn…”

“I’ll have ten Kit-Kats and a motoring atlas
Ten Kit-Kats and a motoring atlas
And a blues CD on the Hallmark label
– that’s sure to be good”

Oh he went to play golf on a Sunday morn’ just a mile and a half from town
His head was found on the driving range and his body has never been found

The man's a genius....'You're going on after Crispy Ambulance' :lbf:
 
Nick Drake, most definitely!

‘Time has told me you’re a rarer find.
A troubled cure for a troubled mind.
And time has told me not to ask for more.
For someday our ocean will find its shore.
So I’ll leave the ways that are making me be what I really don’t want to be.
And I’ll leave the ways that are making me love what I really don’t want to love.’

Sublime!

[youtube]t5HsQsmJsRY&feature[/youtube]
 
I’ve sort of fallen in love with this band. I know they're very new, but their lyrics are incredible:

Mumford and Sons- After the Storm

And after the storm,
I run and run as the rains come
And I look up, I look up,
on my knees and out of luck,
I look up.

Night has always pushed up day
You must know life to see decay
But I won't rot, I won't rot
Not this mind and not this heart,
I won't rot.

And I took you by the hand
And we stood tall,
And remembered our own land,
What we lived for.

And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there,
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.

And now I cling to what I knew
I saw exactly what was true
But oh no more.
That's why I hold,
That's why I hold with all I have.
That's why I hold.

I will die alone and be left there.
Well I guess I'll just go home,
Oh God knows where.
Because death is just so full and man so small.
Well I'm scared of what's behind and what's before.

And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there,
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.


 
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Nigel Blackwell (Half Man Half Biscuit)

Twenty Four Hour Garage People

I fancy I’ll open a stationer’s
Stock quaint notepads for weekend Pagans
While you were out at The Rollright Stones
I came and set fire to your shed
‘Cos you probably work at an all-night garage
You probably work at an all-night garage
You probably work at an all-night garage
With Talk Radio on

And you curse my soul if I don’t want petrol
Curse my soul ‘cos I don’t want petrol
I only came down for a tube of Pringles
…Sour Cream and Chives

Because you gotta get up off your fat arse to go and get my crisps and you gotta go around the counter and it’s really inconvenient; and when you come back, you toss them into that sliding metal tray device thing that separates us and you say: “One pound thirty-five”, as opposed to: “That’ll be one pound thirty-five please, sir”. This is of course done to annoy me but has the opposite effect of amusing me no end, because suddenly I’ve got other things to buy…

“I’ll have two Scotch eggs and a jar of Marmite,
Two Scotch eggs and a jar of Marmite
Two Scotch eggs and a jar of Marmite
…what sandwiches have you got?”

Well now you become quite irate and your voice becomes louder, and you start to sound like Leadbelly at the Depot…

“I got ham, I got cheese, I got chicken, I got beef,
I got tuna-sweetcorn; I’ve got tuna-sweetcorn…”

“I’ll have ten Kit-Kats and a motoring atlas
Ten Kit-Kats and a motoring atlas
And a blues CD on the Hallmark label
– that’s sure to be good”

Oh he went to play golf on a Sunday morn’ just a mile and a half from town
His head was found on the driving range and his body has never been found

I'm ashamed I missed this guy out. A poet and a genius.

Peter
 
Marc Almond.

You beat me to it - I was just about to post this:

Marc Almond - The Sea Still Sings

I remember the sea I remember
How I thought she would sing forever
Though her voice it became a whisper
But the sea still sings in her heart
To the furthest shores of Alaska
From the bow of a floundering tanker
Her shores in eternal winter
But the sea still sings in her heart
She waits for the moment
So still and alone
On her shoreline a necklace of feather and bone
No laughter of children
Where nothing will grow
But the sea still sings
The sea still sings
The sea still sings in her heart
I remember the sea, I remember
How she rose in a terrible temper
On a stormy night in September
How the sea still sings in her heart
Taking back all her stolen treasure
Giving back all our waste with a pleasure
Hand in hand with a furious weather
How the sea still sings in her heart
No longer distraught and no longer alone
She took all our shorelines and made them her own
Drowned all the people asleep in their homes
The sea still sings
The sea still sings
The sea still sings in her heart
The mermaids were singing a warning
The mermen were teasing and taunting
The sirens a song that was haunting
Tearing each ship from its mooring
And the sea shed her black coat of mourning
I remember the sea I remember
The stillness and calm of the water
And a song that went on forever
The sea still sings
The sea still sings
The sea still sings
The sea still sings in her heart


One of my favorite songs of all time, one that I cannot forget.
 
Green Gartside?


do comedic songs count? If they do i'd suggest John Shuttleworth (AKA Jilted John/Graham Fellows) and Craig Ferguson.:thumb:


.
 
I am experiencing a sense of tranquil joy from the fact that no one has so far mentioned whoever writes the lyrics in the Kaiser Chiefs. Nor any Hip hop artist.

Incidentally, I should make some additions:

Simon Hew Jones
John Balance
Edward KaSpel
Lloyd Cole
Nick Drake
Shane MacGowan
Paddy McAloon
Jarvis Cocker


cheers
 
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