my favorite lyricists

i'm the type of person who can be singing the wrong lyrics to a song for YEARS, so i can't say i always appreciate the lyrics of my favorite songs instantly. when i do focus on them though, there are 4 things i always care the most about. 

1. funniness

2. sadness

3. poeticness

4. weirdness

it must also be stated that the music i listen to kind of all blends together and isn't remotely cultured, esoteric, nor diverse. i like music by lame indie rock dudes. my bad. 

Stephin Meritt (The Magnetic Fields)

i like how he writes very simply, like you get the song on the first listen but then you get why it's hilarious on the next.

(all out of 5 stars)

Funniness: 5      Sadness: 3      Poeticness: 4      Weirdness: 3

"if you don't cry,
it isn't love 
if you don't cry, 
then you just don't feel it deep enough"

'i'm the luckiest guy on the lower east side,
'cause i've got wheels, and you wanna go for a ride."

James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem)

james murphy is someone who i know just by listening to his songs is someone who LOVES talking.  this is totally seen in losing my edge, where he rants for 7 minutes about hipsters. it rules! like meritt, his sad songs are written simply and effectively. 

Funniness: 5      Sadness: 4     Poeticness: 5    Weirdness: 4

"i hear that you and your band have sold your guitars and bought turntables. i hear that you and your band have sold your turntables and bought guitars. i HEAR that everybody that you know is more RELEVANT than everybody that i know. but have you seen my RECORDS?"

"talking like a jerk except you are an actual jerk and living proof
that sometimes friends are mean"

Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse)

modest mouse is a very weird band, not weird as in experimental but weird as in it kind of sounds like trash and i love it. he sings like he's being chased by bigfoot. my favorite album of theirs is called the lonesome crowded west, and the contradiction in the title is totally a theme for the rest of the album's lyrics. 

Funniness: 3    Sadness: 5    Poeticness: 5     Weirdness: 5 

"from the top of the ocean, yeah! from the bottom of the sky, goddamn! well, i get claustrophic i can! you know that i can!" 

"i know now what i knew then, but i didn't know then what i know now"

"i'm on my way to god-don't-know, my brain's the burger and my heart's the coal"

"take 'em all from the sad, sad happiness that comes from hurting deep down inside"

"can't do it, not even if sober! can't get that engine turned over!"

i don't want to spend an hour linking each song into the lyric, so here's a playlist of all the songs mentioned! enjoy!!