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KermitTheArgonian t1_jdga2aw wrote

Unbreakable tie between Pete Townshend and Roger Waters. Both are brilliant composers, too, but their liner notes read like poetry even without the music playing.

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attention21 t1_jdga919 wrote

I’m bias: myself with the parodies I’ve written and the ones I’m working on.

It’s a hobby and I enjoy writing and pleased with the finished product.

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bungmunch t1_jdgb5zg wrote

Frances Quinlan! most of her songs feel like stories

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Lethophobia t1_jdgb93u wrote

Laugh at me but Billy Joels Captain Jack is fucking nuts.

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ivthreadp110 t1_jdgbnp6 wrote

So many... Maybe E (The Eells), Slug (Aesop Rock), Cake, definitely Watsky ranks in there

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Droogie502 t1_jdgc9xj wrote

Warrel Dane

Devin Townsend

Lemmy Kilmister

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DrownMeInCheetos t1_jdgdkyd wrote

Obviously recency bias is setting in cuz of their new album but Pete Wentz has always written some beautiful stories.

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JakeyBGoode t1_jdgfeb0 wrote

Probably the most generic answer possible, but Bob Dylan. He wrote SO MANY good songs, and most had amazing lyrics. Still blows my mind that he wrote “Don’t Think Twice” at 21

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SugarSlutsAndCumDrop t1_jdgglyb wrote

Leonard Cohen, Elliot Smith, The Smiths’ Morrissey, Thom Yorke (Radiohead), James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem).

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Counting-Trains t1_jdgqp7n wrote

adam duritz from counting crows.

-adam’s words in song are just far too incredible to not fully acknowledge:

“all at once you look across a crowded room / to see the way that light attaches / to a girl” - a long december

“if dreams are like movies, then memories are films about ghosts” - mrs potters lullaby

“and the price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it brings” - also mrs potters lullaby

“and I keep thinking tomorrow is coming today, so I am endlessly waiting.” - st. robinson in his cadillac dream

“step out the front door like a ghost into the fog where no one notices the contrast of white on white” - round here

“all the regrets you can’t forget / are somehow pressed upon a picture / in the face of such an ordinary girl” - hard candy

“some chick yells Jesus loves me more than I know but less than I need” - John Appleseed’s Lament

“in beds in little rooms / in buildings / in the middle of these lives / which are completely meaningless” - perfect blue buildings

“at seventeen, had a better dream, now I’m thirty-three and it isn’t me,” - all my friends

“and he seems so close as he reaches out his hand / but we are never quite as close, as we are led to understand” - when I dream of michelangelo

“the color of anything, fades in the air, / she is the film of a book of the story, of the smell of her hair.”

-these aren’t even close to all of adam’s incredible lyrics through the years with CC. just truly remarkable as a lyricist/songwriter; def one of the greatest of all time and most under appreciated/underrated of those individuals imo.

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Cho42 t1_jdgthyv wrote

I like Neko Case and Ben Folds.

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NinjaFaery t1_jdgukbf wrote

Theo Katzman and Justin Hawkins. Both genius lyricists in my opinion.

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NukeHand t1_jdh23ax wrote

Jared Louche of Chemlab. Without a doubt.

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Bugslugs47 t1_jdh3b23 wrote

Randy Newman not just the songs but the humour and sarcasm. Also Dylan. In essence, someone who has the ability to write songs that are not all about love. Morrissey is another facts of life writer as well as some of Cohen. I’ve lost count of the CD’s I’ve trashed because all some ‘artists’ do is gush about love - it’s all been done before morons and it makes me puke! Sing about something we don’t know.

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Charming-Twist-7514 t1_jdh3sqo wrote

I like Josh Ritter’s lyrics a lot. I don’t know about choosing a favourite :)

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Timstunes t1_jdh9xl0 wrote

Dylan, John Prine, Jackson Browne, Bob Marley, Hank Williams, Stevie Wonder, Brian Wilson, Smokey Robinson, Neil Young, Curtis Mayfield, Townes Van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen, Carol King, Thom Yorke, Connor Oberst, Paul Simon, Jeff Tweedy, Robbie Robertson, Alex Turner, Willie Dixon, Jason Isbell, Merle Haggard, Nick Cave.

I’m old. ;)

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hullo421 t1_jdhb5qe wrote

Greg and Tom from the Menzingers.

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MrBoyer55 t1_jdinsox wrote

Dan Campbell from the Wonder Years, Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties.

Blends flowery metaphor and imagery with straight up relatable and heartwrenching honesty in the most beautiful ways. He's only improved with each record he's written.

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Original-Estate4398 t1_jdirj46 wrote

Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes)

Most hear the name and associate him with his 17 year old incredibly emo self, with lyrics that sound like you're reading from an angsty teenage diary.

The guy grew up and it's reflected in every one of his albums. Was about as good as an angsty 17 year old could be as a sad emo singer, and became about as good as you can be as a 40 year old folk singer and everything he's done in between.

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itsanothanks t1_jdisw8h wrote

Taylor Swift has always been a favorite of mine. I also really love Brandon Flowers of The Killers. Also, Lyle Lovett.

Edit: grammar

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