I believe that Bob Dylan is the best lyricist in music that I have ever listened to...

I believe that Bob Dylan is the best lyricist in music that I have ever listened to. Are there any other songwriters who you feel can compare to his talents?

Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Joanna Newsom, Elliott Smith, Van Morrison.
They were all inspired by him in some way though

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Why have there been more than usual Bob Dylan threads today?

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cohen>tim buckley>dylan but all are close to me

because hell be fine

this

Ahem.


If you're gonna scream, scream with me
Moments like this never last
When do creatures rape your face
Hybrids opened up the door

Ooh baby when you cry
Your face is momentary
You hide your looks behind these scars

Peter Hammill, Robert Wyatt, Peter Gabriel and .

Leonard Cohen is the closest i've heard.

Guy, I really really wish I was 1965 era Dylan. I wish I was the pinnacle of American cool. I wish I was in New York when it was the Mecca of art and yet inexpensive. I wish I wrote Highway 61. I wish Edie Sedgwick had a crush on me.

I want to die :^)

Then do it.
Or do that other thing. You know, being the pinnacle of American cool.
Either would be better than whining.

Morrissey, Captain Beefheart

Beefheart isn't really known for his lyrics.

OP didn't specify notoriety
Also I'm pretty sure he IS known for his lyrics, but that's beside the point

Lou Reed and Cohen

1) thank you for the shoutout to joni mitchell--that's good taste on your part

2) I can see the argument for why you'd say she was influenced by Bob Dylan; he kind of repopularized the whole wandering minstrel thing

3) nevertheless, I'm gonna say it: Joni Mitchell wasn't really inspired by Bob Dylan--she has more in-common with classical musicians than folk musicians. And now I'm going to get racy: Bob Dylan is not in the same artistic league as Joni Mitchell. I know that's a popular hot take, but I believe it, and it's one that Joni Mitchell shares.

I just watched No Direction Home and realized Bob Dylan is that guy in your friend group who immediately pinpoints who the most popular/successful guy is, gloms onto him, and uses him to find another, cooler friend group where he repeats the process.

Really dulled the shine on him for me.

If you've ever been part of a hipster friend group, you know the guy--the king balls hipster. The hipster social climber.

I'd say he really only did that in his early years in the Village folk scene, my dude. I mean, who was he gloming onto in '66?

Fair point. I only watched the first part.

I think that's an easy way to interpret Dylan's early years, but I don't think that was the case. I think he just genuinely had an extremely deep, almost unfathomable appreciation for music. When he met someone that he considered great, he couldn't help but hang around them and sort of soak in their influence -- they were his formative years after all.

If you ever listened to his radio show on Sirius, Theme Time Radio Hour, you'd know that Dylan is and has always been a walking music encyclopedia. When you hear him talk about the stuff he plays, his love for it really comes across. He just takes his music very seriously, which makes his music good and gives him a very deep appreciation for other musicians he encounters.

the crow was a cool movie, shame he died

It's easy to be a good lyricist when you have little to no regard for the rhythmic or melodic flow of the shit you write.

>It's easy to be a good lyricist
Stopped reading there. No, it isn't.

When I look into your eyes
it feels like a disguise
I'm sick of all your lies
But you make my penis rise
When I come between your thighs

that was freestlyle. Yes it's very easy to make good lyrics just rhyme shit

Scott walker is one of the greatest singer songwriters.
Another god tier singer song writer is milton nascimento

Damn I didn't know he has a talk show on Sirius. That's cool

I don't know about "comparing" to Bob Dylan, but here are some great lyricists anyway :

Nick Drake
Robert Hunter (check out the annotated Grateful Dead lyrics)
Anton Newcombe (BJM)
Sixto Rodriguez
Tommy Hall (13th floor elevators)

Why no love for The Man in Black Sup Forums? Dude wrote some incredible lyrics.

(((Robert Zimmerman)))

Don Henley, Notorious B.I.G

I hate the practice of comparing any good pop/rock/folk lyricist to Dylan because I think it's a little reductionist. That said, I think Dave Berman of the Silver Jews is a shoe-in for being the Dylan of the 90s. He's got a similar surreal tone, while also delivering either unexpected emotional gut punches or jokey one liners.

those are... really, really bad lyrics lol

Robert Hunter is definitely up there, I think he's the only person to write a full album with Dylan.

Nick Drake
Jackson C. Frank
Paul Simon
Richard Buckner
Neil Young
Townes van Zandt
Mark Kozelek
Mark Lanegan
Jeff Mangum
Karen Peris

Good lyrics for people who listen to music as a pleasant background noise.

Lyrics in his avant-garde period are truly something else. Not exactly memorable, but experimental and perfect for his songs and style.

True.

Lol shes no more artistic than any other singer songwriter you nonce. Go back to pretentious land.

Pedant

Lets be honest. Anyone xould have come up with those lyrics. Just no one had the bollocks til then.

man I just think there's other good lyricists out there, and dylan's got things that he does, and other people have things that they do. It'd be like comparing War and Peace to Harry Potter.

Thats not a good comparison since harry potter is considered shittier and is essentially (reads like) child fiction.

>those coke nails

On that note, the same could be said for the Pop Group.

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Yes exactly. Whats your point. The beatles are just the first pop group. Now fuck off.

What are you even talking about?

What are you talking about? Why mention pop group. Im just replying to a post.

Is everything alright buddy? Doesn't seem like it.

An example of predictive coding whereby people impose emotion onto peoples written comments. Due to the unseen nature of hidden states and uncompleted notion of sensory input, people easily make mistakes on their assumptions and inferences as part of bayesian approximation.

Dylan is amazing. Easily my biggest musical inspiration.

post ur tunes

This guy gets it, Hurt is a masterpiece

John Prime is the only songwriter who's really comparable to Dylan imo as far as lyricism and stuff like that is concerned.

t. nu males

I'm gonna get a lot of shit for mentioning this in a Dylan thread but.
Paul Simon was legitimately a great lyricist, but he worked in small quantities. A poem on an underground wall is really fucking good for how simple the scene is set. A hazy shade of winter was wrote on one afternoon. Blessed is a damn good song for what's it's worth and he gets a lot of hot water because his more popular songs are simpler lyrics.

No doubt about that, it's evident even in their most well-known song - The Sound of Silence.

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Jude Quinn is better

Has anyone here watched pic related? The film itself was just okay but worth watching for Cate Blanchett's GOAT performance
heath ledger and christian bale gave good performances as well, in that order of quality, but not the same league as Blanchett

I can't even imagine him dying. He'll just keep shrivelling until he looks like one of those shrunken voodoo heads

How is Neil young or Elliott Smith a good lyricist?

This guy right here. He uses phonetics so he can use his voice as an instrument and still somehow finds a way to write lyrics that can paint a picture or feeling without out right saying it to your face giving the listener the benefit of the doubt. Cobain was also a very good rhythm guitarist.

underrated

Various rap artists can compete with him, but I guess comparing the two styles is difficult.

Lou Reed. VU & Nico had groundbreaking lyrics

I want to wholeheartedly recommend Bill Callahan to everyone in this thread who has not heard of him. Easily my favorite lyricist of all time.

Jacques Brel is arguably better than him.

Yup

>He hasn't heard Condor Ave.

Elliott is a GOAT lyricist. Neil Young codified how rock lyrics are written from 1970 onward with After the Gold Rush.

Also OP you need Leonard Cohen on that list. I think he has them all beat, honestly.

Elliott Smith
George Harrison
Leonard Cohen
Townes Van Zandt
Morrissey
Mark Kozelek (pre-ramble core, but even his rambling is head and shoulders better than most people's lyrics)
John Lennon
Wesley Eisold (Cold Cave / American Nightmare)

The Best from this list being Townes, Cohen, Elliott, Eisold, the Koz and Morrissey

- Nick Cave
- Leonard Cohen
- Tom Waits
GOAT trinity

>I am the captain of my pain

Can't believe I forgot Nick Cave hereNick is also GOAT. Even though he just tries to be Leonard Cohen (and admits that openly)

Beefheart's a great lyricist because he considered how is lyrics sounded as well as what they meant... if that makes sense

Came here to post robert hunter
Rodriguez is great too

I'll add Beck as well, mainly his early stuff - heard him described as a 90s type Dylan which i think is pretty apt

Not all of Don's lyrics are devoid of meaning. Far from it.

No not at all, thats why i think hes a particularly great lyricist, he maintains meaning while harnessing his words like instruments

Song like Ashtray Heart, The Spotlight Kid, Nowadays a Woman's Gotta Hit a Man and Ella Guru could've only came from him.

had a hearty laugh

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What's it called? Is she playing as Dylan lol?

Lol

>mfw Dylan, Nas and Doom make a super group

unironically

Who?

cringed

cant belive his not dead
feels good man

>DOOMlyan

I mean yeah, but that's hardly the whole story. One thing I learned from No Direction home was that Dylan clearly knew how to network and work with the right people. A guy like him forced everyone to play by his rules.

Say whatever you want about Dylan, but his career is his own creation, and no one elses.

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There are plenty of songwriters on the same level as him, but that's kind of missing the point on why he's so incredible. I think Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt, Joni Mitchell, Joanna Newsom and Bill Callahan are at least comparable to him if not better, but they all grew out of a tradition that Bob Dylan basically singlehandedly created.

>Bob Dylan is not in the same artistic league as Joni Mitchell.

Yes he is. Joni's just a cocky lil bitch, which isn't entirely undeserved, but she similarly dismisses Leonard Cohen, which is obviously ridiculous.

Morrissey. I'm not saying he's better, but he's up there.

Mr. Tambourine Man is Dylan's best work, just so ya know.

>Tom Waits started his career by being a Bob Dylan tribute act
I think it's funny he used to cover him all the time but he's never recorded a Dylan song (to my knowledge anyway)...I'm sure with the style he used in his early career, they weren't that interesting but I would have loved to hear his versions of some of his favorite Dylan...I imagine he was pretty excited when the complete Basement Tapes came out a couple years ago

lel

who wrote the lyrics in pink floyd? i always thought their lyrics were pretty good

I did.

Paul Simon

PATGOD is written by Syd Barrett, the rest are by Roger Waters

i can't believe you're on this board and you didn't already know

im about to quite literally morph into bob dylan's body in 1965 thanks to this sage advice thank you so much user