Music has many devices that can draw your ear in for a listen, but I think the most subtle way is through the lyrics. While a great guitar riff or a pounding beat can catch your interest immediately, it takes time to draw you in with lyrics. If lyrics are really great, they can pull you in with their imagery, their story, their statement about our world, and sometimes with their wit and humor.
Tom Waits is an amazing lyricist, especially when it comes to creating imagery. He seems to effortlessly paint a picture with his words. A perfect example of this is the song "Time". The entire song is brilliant, but here is an exerpt from it: "You're east of East St. Louis and the wind is making speeches, and the rain sounds like a round of applause. Napoleon is weeping in the Carnival saloon, his invisible fiancee is in the mirror. The band is going home, it's raining hammers, it's raining nails. Yes, it's true, there's nothing left for him down here."
Kris Kristofferson is probably not someone that immediately jumps to mind as being a gifted writer, but one of my favorite story-telling songs was penned by him. He wrote the song "Sunday Morning Coming Down" as popularized by Johnny Cash. Take a gander at these lyrics: "Well, I woke up Sunday Morning with no way to hold my head that didn't hurt. And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad, so I had one more for dessert. Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes and found my cleanest dirty shirt. Then I washed my face and combed my hair and stumbled down the stairs to meet the day."
Ani Difranco is a great example of someone that can write lyrics as a commentary on the world around us. In the song "Fuel" she points out how ridiculous a world we live in: "And I wonder who's gonna be president, Tweedle Dumb or Tweedle Dumber? And who's gonna have the big blockbuster box office this summer ... Except all the radios agree with all the TV's, and all the magazines agree with all the radios, and I keep hearing that same ****** song everywhere I go."
One artist that can certainly turn a witty phrase is Paul Westerberg, former frontman of The Replacements. He has made an art form out of turning a phrase on its head and is one of my most favorite lyricists. Some examples of Westerberg's extreme genius:
"A person can work up a mean, mean thirst after a hard day of nothin' much at all."
- Here Comes a Regular by The Replacements
"Jesus rides beside me, but never buys any smokes." - Can't Hardly Wait by The Replacements
"Psychopharmacology works wonders, wonder will it work on me?" - Psychopharmacology by Grandpaboy
"If being wrong's a crime, I'm serving forever, if being strong's your kind, then I need help here with this feather; if being afraid is a crime, we hang side by side, at the swingin' party down the line" - Swinging Party by The Replacements
The artists listed above are just a few of my favorite lyricists. There are many others like John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Leonard Cohen, and many more I'm sure I'll think of later that have blown me away with their words.
What kind of lyrics make you perk up your ears and listen? What are some of your favorite song lyrics and song writers?