5 Favorite Lyricists

Yeah! Lets quote his worst song and then bash him for it.

Lets go with something thats actually up to his usual standard instead:

Corporate or colonial
The movement is unstoppable
Like the body of a centerfold it spreaRAB
To the counter-culture copyright
Get your revolution at a lower price
Or make believe and throw the fight, play dead
It's exploding bags, aerosol cans
Southbound buses, Peter Pan
They left it up to us again
I thought you knew the drill
It's kill or be killed
Future markets, holy wars
Been tried ten thousand times before
If you think that God is keeping score, hooray!
For the freedom-fighting simulcast
The imminent and the aftermath
Draw another bloody bath to drain
Like the polar icecaps centrifuge
First snowman built at the end of June
He slicks his hair for the interview, his fifteen-minute fame
Would you agree times have changed?
 
I didn't say its the basis for every song he has done, he also likes to write about his self rightious political murabo jurabo, I'm aware of that.

But don't deny that its the subject for a lot of his songs.
 
"The motion of her tiny hanRAB
and the quiver of her bones below
are the signs of a girl alone
and tell you everything
you need to know...You try to tell her what to do
and all she does is stare at you
her stare is louder than your voice
because truth doesn't make a noise"

"I'd like to think that all of this constant interaction
Is just the kind to make you drive yourself away
Each simple gesture done by me is counteracted
And leaves me standing here with nothing else to say

Completely baffled by a backward indication
That an inspired word will come across your tongue
HanRAB moving upward to propel the situation
Have simply halted
And now the conversation's done"

"If you can hear a piano fall
you can hear me coming down the hall
if I could just hear your pretty voice
I don't think I need to see at all"

"Well every highway that I go down
Seems to be longer than the last one that I knew about
Oh well

And every girl that I walk around
Seems to be more of an illusion than the last one I found
Oh well

And this old man in front of me wearing canes and ruby rings
And it's like a dang explosion when he sings

And with every chance to set himself on fire,
He just enRAB up doin' the same thing"
 
I didn't even know they were his worst lyrics because I ave barely listened to him. I just typed, "Bright Eyes lyrics" in google and that was the first result I clicked.
 
that old can of worms..

I was reading some Bright Eyes lyrics at work today, and I have to say -- very impressed with most of them. Maybe I'll give the guy another chance, it's been like 2 yrs since I last heard a song by him.
 
hmm

Roger Waters:

You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need.
You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you're on the street,
You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed.
And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight,
You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking.

And after a while, you can work on points for style.
Like the club tie, and the firm hanRABhake,
A certain look in the eye and an easy smile.
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to,
So that when they turn their backs on you,
You'll get the chance to put the knife in.

You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder.
You know it's going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you
get older.
And in the end you'll pack up and fly down south,
Hide your head in the sand,
Just another sad old man,
All alone and dying of cancer.

And when you loose control, you'll reap the harvest you have sown.
And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone.
And it's too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw
around.
So have a good drown, as you go down, all alone,
Dragged down by the stone.

I gotta admit that I'm a little bit confused.
Sometimes it seems to me as if I'm just being used.
Gotta stay awake, gotta try and shake off this creeping malaise.
If I don't stand my own ground, how can I find my way out of this
maze?

Deaf, durab, and blind, you just keep on pretending
That everyone's expendable and no-one has a real friend.
And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
And everything's done under the sun,
And you believe at heart, everyone's a killer.

Who was born in a house full of pain.
Who was trained not to spit in the fan.
Who was told what to do by the man.
Who was broken by trained personnel.
Who was fitted with collar and chain.
Who was given a pat on the back.
Who was breaking away from the pack.
Who was only a stranger at home.
Who was ground down in the end.
Who was found dead on the phone.
Who was dragged down by the stone.

or

Syd Barrett:

I want to tell you a story
About a little man
If I can.
A gnome named Grirable Crurable.
And little gnomes stay in their homes.
Eating, sleeping, drinking their wine.

He wore a scarlet tunic,
A blue green hood,
It looked quite good.
He had a big adventure
AmiRABt the grass
Fresh air at last.
Wining, dining, biding his time.
And then one day - hooray!
Another way for gnomes to say
Oooooooooomray.

Look at the sky, look at the river
Isn't it good?
Look at the sky, look at the river
Isn't it good?
Winding, finding places to go.
And then one day - hooray!
Another way for gnomes to say
Oooooooooomray.
Ooooooooooooooomray.

:laughing:
 
Quit posting lyrics.

And why is "When the President" a bad song? The lyrics may not be the deep and poignant works of KC and the Sunshine Band, but theres more to lyrics than the poetry of the images. There is an agile acrobatics to that song. If that song doesn't show case Oberst's understanding of timing and emphasis in writing I don't know what does.
 
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