Lyrix

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I've always thought of the Kinks as being founding fathers of a lyrical strain in British pop - wit, "character songs", satire gentle and vicious, etc etc.

I wonder if this is just received wisdom though - not that the Kinks didn't do it and weren't good at it but their peers often did it too, so maybe it's the way they delivered the lyrics vocally or the melodies they set them to that give me that impression.

Anyway, I'd like to know what you think about lyrics - when you notice them, how highly you value them, and so on.

Or actually, let's make this more concrete: what recent records do you think have good lyrics?

Comments

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

Marit Larsen of course gets my vote - some of her best are devastating. There are some great Robyn lyrics too. Umbrella is wonderful. In hip hop I like Killer Mike at times, and Lyfe Jennings in modern soul or whatever we call it. Tom Waits is still going well, and he's one of my four or five favourite lyricists ever (um, Dylan, Hank Williams, Jarvis Cocker...).