cover image source: Giphy
Happy Monday folks! For this edition, we're focusing on lyricists and I wanna hear who some of your faves are. Whether you're into hip hop, rock, indie, pop, folk, or something else entirely, there are no genre limits here. The main thing is we're focused on the lyrical side more so than the music. Granted the two go hand-in-hand, and I really love it when a song is crafted such that the music fits the lyrics or vice versa... in any case, let's hear it! I'm siked to learn about y'all's favorite lyricists!
How we do
In this weekly series, folks can chime in and drop links to whatever it is they've been listening to recently + browse others suggestions. You can follow the suggested genre if you'd like, but don't feel confined to it; you're free to suggest whatever you wanna. 🙌
If you're interested in having other discussions about music, consider following the aptly named #music discussions organization.
Let's listen to some lyrics! Note: you can embed a link to your song using the following syntax {% embed https://... %}. This should work for most common platforms!
Looking forward to listening to y'all's suggestions! 🎶
Top comments (15)
Music is the most powerful universal language,
so I have a deepes admiration for artist that breaks language bareers by writing songs in multiple languages.
So in no particular order, a big shout from me to artists like
For example here is Andrea Bocelli's original "Vivo per lei" in italian
And here is the duo he made in French with Hélène Cegarra which is beautiful
And here he sings in spanish with almost no accent with Marta Sanchez
And here is the English version with Hayley Westenra
And here in German with Helen Fischer
There are probably others ah ah
Oooo very nice, Jean-Michel!
I absolutely love how you've described music here too. Very much, Agreed!
Well, if my GIF above of Dylan above didn't give it away, I'm a big Bob Dylan fan.
I think the first spark really started when I was 14 or 15 years old in the early 2000s. I'd gotten my first guitar, an acoustic, and had started learning cowboy chords... I was falling deep in love with classic rock, especially the 60's/70's stuff. About this time I saw a documentary on PBS called No Direction Home that was all about Bob... particularly his early influences and move from folk into rock. I was immediately hooked and wanted to be Bob Dylan.
I got into reading his lyrics and along with Jack Kerouac's On the Road, these are probably the things that most influenced me to wanna be a writer, musician, and vagabond.
Dylan has been there throughout my whole life. His writing style, persona, and music have morphed throughout his time and as my life changes, occasionally taking unexpected left turns and molding me into many different versions of myself, seeing Dylan do the same has given me comfort and inspiration to whichever version of myself feels right at the time. The relatively recent Dylan release "I Contain Multitudes" is a great take on this idea.
There are so many great Dylan tunes... from "When the Ship Comes In" to "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" to "Like a Rolling Stone" to "Hurricane"... the list goes on and on. However, my current favorite has to be "Tangled Up in Blue":
Genesis:
Genesis are an English rock band formed at Charterhouse School, Godalming, Surrey, in 1967. The band's longest-existing and most commercially successful line-up consisted of keyboardist Tony Banks, bassist/guitarist Mike Rutherford and drummer/singer Phil Collins. In the 1970s, during which the band also included singer Peter Gabriel and guitarist Steve Hackett, Genesis were among the pioneers of progressive rock.
Oh awesome mention, Vincent!
I really like Genesis... I'm such a huge Peter Gabriel fan. 😀 But, I also still really like their stuff post-Gabriel when Phil Collins was on lead. Side note: it's pretty remarkable how similar their voices can sound!
But yeah, I like Gabriel's solo writing a lot. I know it's one of the poppier tunes, but Solsbury Hill is a phenomenal song if you pay attention to it. The lyrics really moved me — it's about this true life spiritual moment that he had when hiking up Solsbury Hill. Also, it's in 7/4 which is a pretty unusual time signature, but it sounds and feels so natural. Guess that's what happens when a prog rocker writes a pop tune, haha!
Oh yeah. Gabriel is another great lyricist, including Solsbury Hill. Of all of the Genesis members over the years, Gabriel's solo lyrics are probably the most similar to Genesis style lyrics, but musically his solo stuff is rather different. It always amazed me how Genesis always maintained its own distinct sound (obviously evolved over the years) separate from the solo work of all of its members. Mike Rutherford's "Mike and the Mechanics" work sounds absolutely nothing like Genesis. Other than a couple of Phil Collins songs that sound like they could potentially be transformed to Genesis if you swapped out the instrumentation for Rutherford's guitars, and Banks' keyboards, Collins solo stuff is rather different than Genesis. I haven't listened to much of Tony Banks' solo stuff, but it seems like he mostly does modern classical type stuff in his solo work, so also rather different.
I'm listening to the blues today.
Gotta love a good blues jam. This one sorta has a touch of reggae in there too. Cool stuff! Thanks for chiming in with this suggestion, Randell!
Donnell Jones Mix: youtube
Iron Maiden, love the lyrics about literature, movies and historic events. Listening to A Matter of Life and Death today
Great music, great lyrics ...
Finally tuning in here and this rocks. Good ole bluesy, sludgy rock. I'm liking the singer's voice a lot!
Honestly, with these initial listens, I'm just kinda taking in the atmosphere and feel of it all... gonna have to look up the lyrics later on.
Im in love with her:
Oh wow! Never heard her before this, but damn, this is good stuff.
When it comes to folky/alternative female singer-songwriters from the states, I'm a big fan of Ani DiFranco. This performance of her's at Bonnaroo 2004 is so badass and full of energy. Hope ya enjoy it!