But sometimes, when I have been listening to the radio for too long, I get depressed. I convince myself that there are no good songwriters out there anymore, that popular music is doomed to drown in a shallow sea of head-shaking but impotent tunes and beats. I forget that since the dawn of this new millennium, there have been plenty of great musicians who craft lyrics with care. My list of those musicians include people like Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie, Sufjan Stevens, Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls, and many more.
If you ever have the tendency to get depressed like I do, this post is meant to gather evidence for the lyrical potential of current popular music. In the comments section, post excerpts that you consider to be examples of great lyrics that have been written since 2000. Try to give complete information so that if others are intrigued, we can check the music out for ourselves.
I'll get the list started with a few examples that I think are well done:
"Our stepmom, we did everything to hate her
She took us down to the edge of Decatur
We saw the lion and the Kangaroo taker
Down to the river where they caught a wild alligator [...]
The sound of the engines and the smell of the grain
We go riding on the abolition grain train
Stephen A. Douglas was the Great Debator, but
Abraham Lincoln was the Great Emancipator"
Sufjan Stevens, "Decatur, Or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother" from Come on Feel the Illinoise
"I roll the window down and then begin to breathe in
the darkest country road, and the strong scent of evergreen
from the passenger seat as you are driving me home.
Then looking upwards, I strain my eyes and try
to tell the difference between shooting stars and satellites
from the passenger seat as you are driving me home.
'Do they collide,' I ask, and you smile.
With my feet on the dash, the world doesn't matter.
When you feel embarrassed, then I'll be your pride
When you need directions, then I'll be the guide,
For all time."
Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, "Passenger Seat," Transatlanticism
"Dust in our eyes, our own boots kicked up.
Heart sick we nurse along the way we picked up.
You may not see it when it's sticking to your skin,
but we're better off for all that we let in.
We've lost friends and loved ones much to young,
with so much promise and work left undone,
when all that guards us is a single center line,
and the brutal crossing over when it's time.
I don't know where it all begins,
And I don't know where it all will end
But we're better off for all that we let in."
Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls, "All That We Let In," from All That We Let In
6 comments:
Lyrics are a funny thing. For something that means so much to the listener the process is often quite irreverent. They were typically created by hit machines & tin pan alley writers. It wasn't until Bob Dylan and The Beatles that writing your own lyrics became popular. Sadly it seems the art is once again receding from the individual and returning to the tin pan alley perspective. Gone are the days of Leonard Cohen, Shane McGowan, Bob Dylan, and Frank Black. Thom Yorke typically writes good lyrics, but they're often so confrontational that they don't draw the listener in. They're better mood pieces than anything, almost as if Thom tries more to write with phonemes than words.
If I had to point out good lyrics from the 21st century I'd throw out my friend Dylan Summers of My Life in Black and White. They're a local Americana-Punk band from Portland, and while they're not mainstream, their lyrics hit me in a way that few artists have managed.
"When I woke up there was a bottle lyin' where she had been, a note wrote on a napikin layin' on the nightstand.
She said 'I'm sorry, but I can't stay, there's only so much waitin' I can do. So here's some whiskey to help you forget me, 'cos I've forgotten you.'
This cold, dark wind catches my breath as I choke down my regrets, standin' on the stone on that green hill lookin' over my hometown
as you drag, drag me down, down in the ground. Will you bury me in my grave? Down, down in the grave, yeah you walled me up and walked away, and I'll never ever be the same."
- Coldground/Playground, MLiBaW
"Our love is all of God's money"
-Jeff Tweedy of Wilco
Jesus, etc.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Nonesuch Records, 2002
Oh, one more thing. Mark, since you have an interest in lyrics, perhaps you would like to join the music/lyric throwdown: http://mirthandmatter.blogspot.com/2008/02/musiclyric-throwdown.html
So far we are up to three composers and two lyricists, counting Ruxton as one of the lyricists and not a composer. We need an even balance to start the contest. Of course, you are welcome to join up as a composer as well!
Zach, if you are reading this, put some pressure on your bro or Mr. Menendez to jump in on this. :)
Some of the most tricky, facile lyrics in recent pop music are coming out of hip-hop. While I feel like the contemporary trajectory of a lot of rock music is to move towards denser and denser instrumental/harmonic textures, hip-hop is fundamentally an art of rhythmic lyricism. Of course, like the pop stations you tune in to, the vast majority of radio hip-hop is infantile and offensive. Or just plain bad (for the most telling example of how far hip-hop has fallen in the 00s, listen to Souljah Boy's recent smash hit "Crank That" - I can think of nothing better to demonstrate the utter degradation of a movement that used to be so socially charged and politically explosive)
But enough for elegiac musing. There is a lot of amazing hip-hop out there with thoughtful and provocative lyricism over banging beats. Here are a few examples:
"Yo, yo, lyrically I'm infinite like possibilities / But you don't have the capability like infertility / Cuz opening your mouth to question my validity / Is like trying to contradict the theory of relativity."
- Immortal Technique, "Dominant Species"
"Niggaz with knowledge is more dangerous than than niggaz with guns / They make the guns easy to get and try to keep niggaz dumb /
Target the gangs and graffiti with the Prop 21 / I already know the deal but what the fuck do I tell my son?
I want him livin right, livin good, respect the rules / He's five years old and he still thinkin' cops is cool / How do I break the news that when he gets some size / He'll be perceived as a threat or see the fear in their eyes."
- Talib Kweli, "The Proud"
Not remotely hip-hop, but Bright Eyes's Conor Oberst is a true lyrics master and has often been likened to Dylan. Here's a sample:
"We must take all of the medicines too expensive now to sell / Set fire to the preacher who is promising us hell / And in the ear of every anarchist that sleeps but doesn’t dream / We must sing, we must sing, we must sing.
We must blend into the choir
Sing as static with the whole /
We must memorize nine numbers and deny we have a soul / And in this endless race for property and privilege to be won / We must run, we must run, we must run."
-Bright Eyes, "At the Bottom of Everything"
Thanks for these great examples of quality lyrics. I knew that my narrow list would be expanded in a hurry. Zach, thanks for bringing hip-hop artists into the discussion.
Chris: although I am an admirer of lyrics, my skill at producing them is amateurish at best. But I'll reread that post again and consider it...
Ruxton: this post was created out of the very sentiment you shared, namely that gone are the "good old days" of singer/songwriters. It seems that in the seventies, for instance, even the most mainstream popular music fare was high in lyrical quality. I think of artists such as Paul Simon, James Taylor, Carol King and Billy Joel.
Today, even though the same quality is not seen in much of the music that the industry brings to us, it must be remembered that the state of the music industry is vastly different that it was back then. The digital/technological revolution has changed the love triangle between the musician, recording industry, and listener. Now musicians can cut out the middle man and post their music for all the world to hear, which is a great thing. But on the other hand, that means that there are perhaps millions more artists that listeners have to wade through when searching for good music.
This tangent would perhaps be best for a different post, but the best way I have of finding good new music is through recommendation by my friends. I think word of mouth, though always an important marketing component historically, will become the MOST important.
One last thought. Your description of Thom Yorke was spot on. That's why I was very happy to hear "Videotape," the last track from their new album, In Rainbows. This is one of those Yorke specials, where sparse lyrics combine with engaging and shifting soundscapes. But rather than use the phonemes strategy, he writes tightly packed and meaningful lyrics. These are the complete lyrics to the song:
When I'm at the pearly gates / this will be on my videotape. / When Mephistopheles is just beneath / and he's reaching up to grab me.
This is one for the good days / and I have it all here in red, blue, green. / You are my center when I spin away / out of control on videotape.
This is my way of saying goodbye. / Because I can't do it face to face / I'm talking to you... after it's too late / from my videotape.
No matter what happens now / you shouldn't be afraid / because I know today has been / the most perfect day I've ever seen.
Thom Yorke, "Videotape," In Rainbows
I don't think anyone is still reading this post, but I just had to add part of a Paul Simon song that I am listening to just now:
The boy's got brains
He just don't use 'em that's all
The boy's got brains
He just refuse to use 'em and that's all
He said "The more I got to thinkin
The less I tend to laugh"
The boy's got brains
He just abstains
The boy's got a heart
But it beats on the opposite side
It's a strange phenomenon
The laws of nature defied
He said "Its a chance I had to take
So I shifted my heart for its safety sake"
The boy's got a heart but it beats on
His opposite side
—Paul Simon, "Oh, Marion," One Trick Pony
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