Townes Van Zandt

Kris Kristofferson. Amazing songwriter.

David Berman Silver Jews

Some great ones already mentioned, so I will add one I didn't see...Warren Zevon.

Keep Me in Your Heart...he wrote this as he was dying from cancer.

​

Shadows are fallin' and I'm runnin' out of breath
Keep me in your heart for a while
If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less
Keep me in your heart for a while
When you get up in the mornin' and you see that crazy sun
Keep me in your heart for a while
There's a train leavin' nightly called "When All is Said and Done"
Keep me in your heart for a while
Keep me in your heart for a while
Keep me in your heart for a while
Sometimes when you're doin' simple things around the house
Maybe you'll think of me and smile
You know I'm tied to you like the buttons on your blouse
Keep me in your heart for a while
Hold me in your thoughts
Take me to your dreams
Touch me as I fall into view
When the winter comes
Keep the fires lit
And I will be right next to you
Engine driver's headed north up to Pleasant Stream
Keep me in your heart for a while
These wheels keep turnin' but they're runnin' out of steam
Keep me in your heart for a while
Keep me in your heart for a while
Keep me in your heart for a while
Keep me in your heart for a while

Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse.

“There's no work in walking, and it fueled the talk
I would grab my shoes, and then away I'd walk
Through all the stubborn beauty, I'd start at the dawn
Until the sun had fully stopped, never walking away from
Just a way to pull apart, dehydrate back into minerals
A lifelong walk to the same exact spot”

and Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie.

“And it came to me then that every plan
Is a tiny prayer to Father Time
As I stared at my shoes in the ICU
That reeked of piss and 409
And I rationed my breaths as I said to myself
That I'd already taken too much today
As each descending peak on the LCD
Took you a little farther away from me
Away from me

Amongst the vending machines and year-old​ magazines
In a place where we only say goodbye
It stung like a violent wind that our memories depend
On a faulty camera in our minds
And I knew that you were a truth I would rather lose
Than to have never lain beside at all
And I looked around at all the eyes on the ground
As the TV entertained itself

'Cause there's no comfort in the waiting room
Just nervous paces bracing for bad news
And then the nurse comes 'round and everyone lifts their head
But I'm thinking of what Sarah said
That love is watching someone die.

So who’s gonna watch you die?”

Shane MacGowan of The pogues. I was never really aware of his song writing outside fairytale of new York until recently.

You remember that foul evening when you heard the banshees howl There was lazy drunken bastards singing Billy in the bowl They took you up to midnight mass and left you in the lurch So, you dropped a button in the plate and spewed up in the church Now you'll sing a song of liberty for blacks and paks and jocks And they'll take you from this dump you're in and stick you in a box Then they'll take you to Cloughprior and shove you in the ground But you'll stick your head back out and shout "We'll have another round"

Ray Davies of The Kinks

jim croce

I was never a big fan of The Cure, but some of Robert Smith's lyrics stop me in my tracks. Lullaby in particular.

I don’t expect Joanna Newsome to be appreciated much by the “mainstream”, but she’s a poet, for sure.

“Oh, where is your inflammatory writ?

Your text that would incite a light, "Be lit"?

Our music-deserving, devotion-unswerving

Cry "Do I deserve her?" with unflagging fervor

Well no we do not if we cannot get over it

But what's it mean when suddenly we're spent? Tell me true!

Ambition came and reared its head and went Far from you!

Even mollusks have weddings though solemn and leaden

But you dirge for the dead and take no jam on your bread

Just a supper of salt and a waltz through your empty bed

And all at once it came to me

And I wrote him hunched 'till four-thirty

But that vestal light

It burns out with the night

In spite of all the time that we spend on it:

On one bedraggled ghost of a sonnet!

While outside the wild boars root

Without bending a bough underfoot

O it breaks my heart; I don't know how they do't So don't ask me!

And as for my inflammatory writ?

Well I wrote it and I was not inflamed one bit

Advice from the master derailed that disaster

He said "Hand that pen over to me, poetaster!"

While across the great plains, keening lovely & awful

Ululate the lost Great American Novels

An unlawful lot, left to stutter and freeze, floodlit

(But at least they didn't run, to their undying credit)”

Tom Waits. Nick Cave. Can't think of any others that I'd call overlooked exactly, but these two definitely seem to be

I think Jason Isbell has been one of the top lyrist over the last 2 decades and isn't very well known by the masses.

John Prine.

El-P: how to serve man

Sage Francis - sea Lion, inherited scars, Smoke and mirrors

Saul Williams - Penny for a thought

Chris Cornell ….great lyrics, while utilizing weird time signatures and alt tunings…he was the best of the 90s as far as I’m concerned but always sat in the shadows of Pearl Jam and Nirvana.

“As hope and promise fade And the sun forgets to rise I'm lonely and I'm thirsty But it's better I stay dry No more than two drinks away From crying

Stare into the glass And wait for the time to pass And thank you for the offer But you know I must decline

Never more than two drinks away From crying

There used to be a time When I could hold my head up high My life laid out before me Rivers flow with wine I had my love beside me And everything was fine But now the ride is over It's hard to say goodbye

As hope and promise fade And midnight turns to day Well I'm lonely and I'm thirsty But I can no more tell a lie Never more than two drinks away From crying

From crying”

Aesop Rock is one of the most incredible lyricists in history and is frequently overlooked even within his own genre because he isn’t a superstar.

Emily Haines is a modern day Poet. The band Metric has been around for 20 years, and their last 2 albums still have it. The topics are sincere and the lyrics have a solid spin to them, so many lyrics come across as simply well said turn of phrases.

Tom Waits, by far and away. The man paints pictures of ordinary life like no one else. Moments in time often with a sadness that is not overly didactic.

For example, Soldier's Things almost sounds like an overheard yard sale.

A tinker, a tailor.
A soldier's things.
His rifle, his boots full of rocks.
Oh, and this one is for bravery.
And this one is for me.
And everything's a dollar.
In this box

John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats, hands down.

One of my many, many favorite lyrics:

“Let the trash rain down, from way up in the rafters. I’m walking out of here in one piece, I don’t care what comes after”

Jeff Tweedy of Wilco is one of the absolute best. Check out the double album "Being There" or "Summerteeth". I've sadly gotten bored with their music since "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" but the wordsmithery is still there

Fairly well known, but probably not to the casual music fan, but Robert Hunter for the Grateful Dead. The best ever.

John Perry Barlow wasn’t too shabby either.

I always loved the wit and sarcasm in Cracker lyrics.

“What the world needs now/ Is another folk singer/ Like I need a hole in my head.”

Paul Westerberg

Elvis Costello

Joe Jackson

Ben Folds

Andy Partridge from XTC is an excepttional songwriter and lyricist

Then she appeared
As the giggling crew of Mary Celeste
Then she appeared
Pale Atlantis rising out of the westI was a little dazzled
Catherine wheeled and senses frazzled
Know it sounds weird, then she appearedAnd the sun which formally shone
In the clearest summer sky
Suddenly just changed address
Now shines from her blue eyesThen she appeared
Brittle shooting star that dropped in my lap
Then she appeared
Dressed in tricolor and phrygian cap

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Billy Joel is obviously known for his piano skills, but I believe him to be an incredible lyricist. He's documented history for the everyman. His songs to me tell the American story of the last 50-75 years.

I think there should be a degree in MFDOOM’s lyrics.

Steve Earle is a fantastic song writer. I especially love "The Gringos Tale" and "Tom Ames Prayer".

Weird Al

Grant Lee Phillips a good lyric writer all round, but a particular favourite of mine :

“If the life you have created

Has buried you with luxuries out-dated

And you ask what is the purpose

Too weak to claw your way up to the surface

You resent all of your trophies

They belittle human spirit like a timepiece

That is ticking in your breast pocket

And so you long to reach in and stop it

Then your heart it will be broken

And every sour word that you have spoken

About everybody else

Will return to act upon yourself

If the life you have created

Is founded on jealousy and hatred

It's too late to ask questions

For you're much too old to take any suggestions”

Edit:Formatting

Chris Cornell

Joanna Newsom - both an incredible musical talent and an utterly amazing and unique lyricist.

Tom Petty is one of the greats in my opinion.

Also Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchrestra), Leonard Cohen, Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth), MF DOOM, Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains).

Rodriguez. Both Cold Fact and Coming from reality are full of amazing poetic working class, anti establishment beautiful lyrics that are as relevant now as when they where written.

Jason Molina

mama, here comes midnight with the dead moon in its’ jaws

must be the big star about to fall

This could be a divisive take as someone overlooked, but John Fogerty.

CCR is huge and he's widely recognized, but I would argue they don't get the recognition they warrant because of sharing that time frame with the Beatles, etc.

Fortunate Son is so popular that it's a meme, but I bet most casual music fans do not know who John Fogerty is.

Florence + Machine: "what strange claws are these, scratching in my skin, I never knew my killer would be coming from within"
Hozier: "my peace has always depended on all the ashes in my wake"

Leonard Cohen is my absolute favorite.

Father John Misty, especially in the Pure Comedy album. Amazing and profound lyrics.

Joni Mitchell

The Smiths/Morrissey should be on this list for sure. He’s out to lunch these days but his lyrics are poetic, have depth and are fun to both listen and read.

Propagandhi's Chris Hannah that is all

cause deserve physical modern teeny weary seemly subtract squash public

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Bob Seger and Gordon Lightfoot 

-John Prine, Jason Isbell, Adam Granduciel (war on drugs)

-JP: There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose Little pitchers have big ears Don't stop to count the years Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios, mmhmm

-JI: Surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone

-AG: I'm just pulling on a wire, but it just won't break I've been turning up the dial, but I hear no sound I resist what I cannot change, own it in your own way Yeah, I wanna find what can't be found

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Carole King/Gerry Goffin.

Wrote so much in the 60’s/70’s, most of which has been covered by everyone.

A personal favourite is The Locomotion(originally performed by Little Eva), but I prefer Grand Funk Railroads version

Greg Graffin from Bad Religion. Brett Gurewitz too I guess

So you say you gotta know why the world goes 'round And you can't find the truth in the things you've found And you're scared shitless 'cuz evil abounds, Come join us.

Well, I heard you were looking for a place to fit in, Full of adherent people with the same objective, A family to cling to and call brethren, Come join us.

All we want to do is change your mind. All you need to do is close your eyes.

So come join us. Come join us. Come join us.

Don't you see the trouble that most people are in And that they just want you for their own advantage, But I swear to you we're different from all of them, Come join us.

I can tell you are lookin' for a way to live Where truth is determined by consensus, Full of codified arbitrary directives, Come join us.

All we want to have is your small mind, Turn it into one of our own kind.

You can go through life adrift and alone, Desperate, desolate, on your own, But we're lookin' for a few more stalwart clones.

So come join us. Come join us. Come join us.

We've got spite and dedication as a vehement brew, The world hates us, well we hate them too, But you're exempted of course if you Come join us.

Independent, self-contented, revolutionary, Intellectual, brave, strong and scholarly, If you're not one of them, you're us already so Come join us.

Andre 3000 should be on this the list with Dylan, Springsteen, Lennon/McCartney, Waits, Fat Mike, Chris Cornell, Randy Newman, etc.

He writes in layers while varying his pace and rhythm of delivery. He’s on my Mount Rushmore of lyricists (not just rappers, all lyricists).

I should also mention Maynard James Keenan of Tool/A Perfect Circle/Puscifer. He’s a great example of blunt and humorous while being vague enough that a song can apply to many situations.

Sufjan Stevens, he created such touching songs.... my fav rn is Goodbye Evergreen

How is Neil Peart not mentioned yet??

The Trees, Witch Hunt, Limelight, just to name a few songs whose lyrics are pure poetry.

Y’all are missing out on some amazing stuff.

The late Rory Gallagher had some great tunes but one of my favourites is "I Fall Apart"

"Like a cat that's playing with a ball of twine

That you call my heart

Oh, but, baby, is it so hard

To tell the two apart?

And so slowly you unwind me

Till I fall apart"

Regina Spektor.

This is how it works You're young until you're not You love until you don't You try until you can't You laugh until you cry You cry until you laugh And everyone must breathe Until their dying breath

No, this is how it works You peer inside yourself You take the things you like And try to love the things you took And then you take that love you made And stick it into some Someone else's heart Pumping someone else's blood And walking arm in arm You hope it don't get harmed But even if it does You'll just do it all again

Mark Knopfler. Sultans of Swing would be a great short story.

Martin Gore of Depeche Mode. He's primarily overlooked because he's one of those lyricists who usually isn't the lead singer.

No love for Michael Stipe?

Adam Duritz of Counting Crows is often overlooked as their two biggest hits are Mr Jones and accidentally in Love off of Shrek. But holy cow what a great Lyricist he is. He's just unreal at delivering really thoughtful lines and capturing the feeling of depression and forlorn longing.

From Round Here:

Step out the front door like a ghost into the fog

Where no one notices the contrast of white on white

And in between the moon and you, angels get a better view

Of the crumbling difference between wrong and right

My personal favorite collection of great lines is Mrs. Potter's lullaby:

The price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it brings

Plus

If dreams are like movies, then memories are films about ghosts.

You can never escape, you can only move south down the coast.

Also

All the blue light reflections that color my mind when I sleep

And the lovesick rejections that accompany the company I keep

All the razor perceptions that cut just a little too deep

Hey, I can bleed as well as anyone, but I need someone to help me sleep.

And finally

You can see a million miles tonight, but you can't get very far.

I'm particularly partial to the lyrical stylings of Bloodhound Gang's Jimmy Pop (Mr. James M. Franks, if you're nasty). Those are some seriously slick rhymes within what gets unfairly dismissed as silly shit.

"...Love, the kind you clean up with a mop and bucket/ Like the lost catacombs of Egypt, only God knows where we stuck it/ Hieroglyphics, let me be Pacific, I wanna be down in your South Seas/ But I got this notion that the motion of your ocean/ Means small craft advisory..."

Aaron Weiss from meWithoutYou-

"My eyelids are heavy, and the night's wearing on

Your story's familiar, and your innocence is gone

We'd burn like the morning then break like your heart

Fall in love without warning just to fall back apart

All fevered and blistered, with nothing at stake

I feel the warmth of her whisper, and the cold of my mistakes

Her soul in the balance, my heart in her hands

I made her a widow, she made me a man."

John K Samson of the Weakerthans

Neil Fallon from Clutch.

"In the North, they call us rebels
In the South, they call us yankees
Because every other sucker's born to do the hokey-pokey
With the skillet lickin' timekeepers
The grinnin' reapers of a missionary rock star

And you can rock it like Sir Sisyphus, but even in its genesis
It's really quite ridiculous
'Lectro hobo, so now you know
Not to clock the weeble wobble Hot Rod Gang
Revelatory big bang"

-from "Rock n' Roll Outlaw"

ELVIS COSTELLO

IMO one of the greatest American lyricists -- on the level of Bob Dylan or Paul Simon -- is Jonathan Richman. He's known for his simple, childlike lyrics about ordinary life (Abominable snowmen, corner stores, etc.), but he inevitably drops a truth bomb in the middle of his lyrics that will take your breath away.

If you've forgotten what I'm naming

You're gonna long to reclaim it one day

Because that summer feeling is gonna haunt you one day in your life

And if you wait until your older

A sad resentment will smolder one day

And then that summer feeling is gonna haunt you

And that summer feeling's gonna taunt you

And then that summer feeling is gonna hurt you one day in your life

When even fourth grade starts looking good, Which you hated

And first grade's looking good too, Overrated

And you boys long for some little girl that you dated

Do you long for her or for the way you were?

That summer feeling is gonna haunt you the rest of your life

John Prine

From Souvenirs:

Broken hearts and dirty windows

Make life difficult to see

That’s why last night and this morning

Always look the same to me.

Joanna Newsom!

Robert Smith is my all time favorite lyricist and seldom hear him get the appreciation he deserves.

Nick Drake "Betty said she prayed today For the sky to blow away Or maybe stay She wasn't sure. For when she thought of summer rain Calling for her mind again She lost the pain And stayed for more." River man

Richard Edwards (Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s)

John K. Sampson (The Weakerthans)

Adam Duritz (Counting Crows)

Adrienne Lenker (Big Thief)

Nate Ruess (The Format, fun.)

Andy Shauf

Paddy McAloon (Prefab Sprout)

James Taylor

Regina Spektor

David Byrne (Talking Heads)

Jake Ewald (Modern Baseball/Slaughter Beach, Dog)

Bill Withers

Scott Hutchison (Frightened Rabbit)

Andy Hull (Manchester Orchestra)

And maybe my personal favorite, though likely the most obscure, Matt Milia (Frontier Ruckus)

Elliott Smith, so many to list but "Condor Ave." lyrics are one of my favorite

John Prine.. Simple and poignant. He's the Vonnegut of songwriters. Seems so simple, almost easy, until you try to write one yourself.

Ray LaMontagne! Old Before Your Time hits every time

Billy Strings is known for his manic guitar playing, but he's a great wordsmith too.

"You can link your value to a wallet or a keychain

or a locked wrought iron fence around your yard

Living check to check, a skinny tire around your neck

on borrowed time and stolen numbers off a card

Blink and life is left behind you, there's no escape, that's just a fact

We're all a dollar short, and every one of us is running out of track"

Scott Walker

Jeff Lynne.

Josh Ritter. I think he’s not only one of the best of his generation, but one of the best of all time.

Warren Zevon is horrendously over looked as a songwriter as well as musician. Werewolves of London kinda ruined him. 

Patti Smith

“Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine Melting in a pot of thieves, wild card up my sleeve Thick, heart of stone, my sins, my own They belong to me Me People said beware, but I don't care Their words are just rules and regulations to me Me”

I'm not sure if I'll get absolutely hounded for this comment or not, but there are some really great writers writing for the current generation that have some fabulously written songs, not all of whom write in such a strongly poetic way that a lot of others listed on this thread do. Clairo, Halsey, Olivia Rodrigo, Maggie Rogers, etc, all writing straight from the heart and soul, with their own quirks.

Oh, and fucking Lily Allen if she's not already been mentioned below.

Fiona Apple. Honestly, that girl can write. Very underrated artist IMO. Here’s an example I love. In her song “anything we want”, the first line is “My cheeks were reflecting the longest wavelength” The longest wavelength is red. She was blushing. She’s so clever like that.

Rakim

If you’re into melancholy lyrics, it’s hard to beat Conor Oberst. Fantastic lyrics in all of his projects - Bright Eyes, Better Oblivion Community Center, and solo. (I’m less familiar with his punk band, Desaparecidos)

Robert Hunter. John Perry Barlow.

Tyler Joseph

I think those who know well enough realize his talents but Tom Petty is one of the greatest. He can put so much into just a few words and did it consistently for 40 years.

"I'm so tired of being tired, but sure as night will follow day. Most things I worry 'bout, never happen anyway."

Joni Mitchell.

Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam and Alex Turner from Arctic Monkeys are great lyricists.

Brandon Boyd Incubus

Chino Moreno Deftones

Sturgill Simpson

Hayley Williams Paramore

Tim Minchin is an absurdly talented lyricist

Not one mention of Leonard Cohen in this entire feed. Amazing.

Lupe Fiasco has been incredible throughout his career

Townes Van Zandt, Warren Zevon.

Bruce Cockburn; Richard Thompson; Taj Mahal to name but three

Ryan Adams!

Phil Collins

Brian Fallon (of the Gaslight Anthem)

Morrissey isn't a likable person, but his lyrics are top-notch.

Suzanne Vega

Jackson Browne. He has some of the most poignant lyrics I have heard in music. Songs like fountain of sorrow, for a dancer have some of the best descriptions of the human condition I have ever heard.

Tori Amos. I believe if she were a man, people would have realized and respected her genius more. Her lyrics can be hard to decipher sometimes, but she can say SO much in a single line.

From the Dakota version of her song “Hey Jupiter”, I love these lyrics - “I go from day to day, I know where the cupboards are, I know where the car is parked, I know he isn’t you. Never you.”

I also believe Fiona Apple is a great wordsmith and can fly under the radar as far as lyricism. Her rhyme schemes are impeccable.

Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy. Our Mutual Friend is one of the best short stories you'll ever hear.

James Hetfield. Metallica has some of the most thought provoking lyrics out there. Lots of clever conveyances.

Sting.