Most Powerful Lyricists

Ville is not just a singer/lyricist... He is a true poet. He is a magnet for all the influences, being painfully aware of them all, good and bad, and sensitive to them so much as to become a powerful conduit for them, sharing his own perceptions with the world passionately. Beauty, ugliness, love, fear, hope, despair... The entire rainbow of every emotion, sensation, deepest darkest places upon which humanity in all its loveliness, ugliness, fearfulness, instincts... Strivings to better itself resides is painted, smudged, redrawn, brought to its bare bone structure in the wild love and war of lyrics and brought to pulse like beats of raw reality and nightmare always holding hands with our desires and dreams trough the eyes of the man, the poet, the traveler trough life in all its aspects we fear and covet to learn and be a part of.. The eyes of this unique soul incarnate in the lyricist and so much more that is Ville Valo, the poet who will take you to the simple truth, to your ...more

His lyrics are always heart warming, the best thing about Ville is that he writes from his heart and does not need others to write songs for him the way these commercial artists like Rihanna and Neyo depend on other song writers. Ville is the 21st century Edgar Allan Poe

His songs are made not from hatred, but from love. He never says "I hate love", but "Yes, it's painful, but this is the best thing, that may happen with you"

"Love's the devil counting teardrops in the rain" ("Love the Hardest Way")
"This emptiness I've made my home
Embracing memories of dreams long gone
One last caress from the corpse of love
Is all I want, underneath the cyanide sun.
We've sailed the seas of grief on a raft built with our tears
Looking for a way to disappear for a moment from our deepest fears.
I'll be drowning you in this river of gloom
Forever in my heart, oh, my love"
Ville Valo is poet, musically as well as lyrically. Not to mention vocally :)
HIM are such an amazing band! I'm really looking forward to hearing some news about their newest album.

Serj is not just a songwriter he is a messenger and protestor of the us not recognizing armenian genocide through his lyrics

in 16? I realize some people don't know what a REAL lyricist is

The best! Why'dyouleavethekeysuponthetable? Hereyougocreateamotherfable! (more of Chop Suey! )

Hi music always has a powerful message behind it. Which always made sence and he was very pationate about the way sang it. He could sing the same song a hundred times and it would still sound as good as when he first sang it... love himmm... xoxo MJ

They don't really care about us makes me think alot. I use to get bullied real bad, then I started listening to this song and the lyrics got stuck in my head. And, it was because of this song that I don't get so depressed about is anymore. Thank you mike.. xoxo

Michaels lyrics held powerful messages to the listeners. He was trying to teach his fans and change the world. He made a powerful impact on the world and saved the lives of children with his contributions with his lyrics and the money he donated from writing his powerful lyrics.

He always put something more his songs than the rest. That's maybe why he was (and will be) one of the best singers in the history of music, if not the best. He actually wrote his own songs, so a little part of his magnificence and power we saw in his dancig is in his lyrics too.

He has an uncanny ability to write excellent lyrics about any topic; be it the death of his father, teenage boredom, love, mental illness, politics... His lyrics can be silly, they can be poetic, they can be profound- and they are all extremely clever.

Best lyricist from band Green Day, he's the founder and the lead vocalist of the band. His lyrics are as powerful and meaningful as Jesus of Suburbia but his sound are better.

Intelligent lyrics written by a highly intelligent man

You can pick up any Green Day song and read the lyrics..
He does not write any romantic songs, or songs which have stories(usually considered as good lyric songs), but his songs are such that they force one to think about one self.
They change your innerself, the songs are for mankinds benefit.

Roger Waters is 23th?
Come on.Just listen to The wall,The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here.
Every Song in his albums has a story. His songs is about War,Society,Modern Life and so many other fields.
He is the Most Powerful Lyricist.

His lyrics are powerful, beautiful, poetic, and even cryptic. Art of Life is one of his masterpiece

The lyrics of Amethyst are just so beautiful. And "whith out you" I think it's so soulful.

He can touch my soul with a single song, he is very creative, poetic, haunting, and apocalyptic :P

I just say "Bliss"

Okay... I don't know about you guys but Freddie had THE BEST lyrics you could find. Sure, some songs didn't exactly make any sense but if you looked deeper into it, you'd find much poetry and figured that Freddie was a damn genius.

No, no. He made the most meaningful songs ever, guy with the other comment. But listen: I have found the meaning of Seven Seas of Rhye!
It was a fantasy land Freddie used to dream of as a kid.

Singularly meaningless, psychedelic non-sequiturs.

13th? Really?

Have you heard Fade to Black!? Once you hear that, you'll understand why he's the best... Not to mention countless other songs like Ride the Lightning, Creeping Death, Sad But True, One,... And Justice for All, etc.

This man wrote amazing lyrics like One, Sanitarium, Master of Puppets, etc.

James is an inspiration to me for his incredible vocals

YES, james deserves a place in the top 10, at least in front of mercury, his lyrics are perfect for the guitar and the bass and the drum, which makes him a ledgend of rock

You can listen to Bon Jovi when you are happy and when you are down!
They have a song to every feeling in your life

so much emotions in their songs

His lyrics are just superb
His best song is so far away the pain of losing a friend
He's just superb a7x rocks

M shadows is a great songwriter but so far away was actually written by syn.
Also I don't see axl rose on this list

The meanings of his songs are unbearably amazing and really touch your soul cz they're about Chester's past. LP 4ever.

His lyrics pierce the heart and touch the soul! No that's call lyrics writing!

I believe the majority of the credit should go to Steve Harris since he wrote the majority of Maiden's lyrics. But Bruce is still a great lyricist in his own right

My passion is more into metal scene, but when it come to lyricist.. Eminem is the best while James from Metallica came close. This dude should be place at least in top 3.. Seeing him below those band's lyricist makes me sick... Their lyric are nothing compared to Em's which is so real, full of feelings and so close to the listener.

What they are doing here. EMINEM is the best lyricist, rapper and songwriter of all time. I guess they all are paid by respective singers to vote for them. Eminem is the greatest selling artist of the decade and definitely top selling artist of all time after michael jackson. The way I am, till I collapse, beautiful, not afraid are classics. I think stan is the best written lyrics in human history.

Its seems to be a crime comitted on this list Eminem should be in top3 he is genius lyricist just listen to stan, mockingbird, lose yourself, not afraid ahh let it be just listen his all stuffs and then vote any other else

This man is lyricly insane! Just listen to stan, mockingbird, when I'm gone, cleanin' out my closet, insane, 3 AM, No Love, like toy soldiers, and sing for the moment and you might start to understand.

Just listen to ghetto gospel and wonder why you didn't vote for Tupac Shakur R.I. P :')

It took Tupac only 5 years in the spotlight to build such a legacy. He is the best lyricist ever.

Best forever alive in he's words

RIP

Why Bob Dylan is not at the top of this list is beyond me. He deserves to be at the top with his powerful lyrics. In 2008, the Pulitzer Prize jury awarded Dylan a special citation for... "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power. "

you can kill l7972 kids and eat 5614 ice-creams, Bob Dylan would still be able to kick your ass...

Bob Dylan is one of the best songwriters of all time. When he writes a song it means somthing, not some of these young bloods who are just getting there feet wet.

His lyrics is something special. If you heard his songs once-there's no way back.

In this list - Tim McIlrath is way too underrated in my opinion. Every single song by Rise Against makes you think, makes you aware and makes you want to deal with the issue in the song. There are songs that nearly make you cry, there are songs that make you angry because you realize every single word of it is true. He puts a complicated feeling, a big problem, his anger and much more in a few sentences. In my opinion there is no better lyricist than him.

It's the only time I've written something like this here, but Tim really deserves to be higher on this list. Because his lyrics are about truly meaningful things, many of them might be hard to digest, because yes, you have to be thinking about these issues and that's usually not very comfortable. It's not the riot-inducing punk of the 70s, but the thought-provoking lyrics preserved something of that.

McIlrath, in my opinion, is the only modern song-writer whose work actually means something - every single song Rise Against has performed is useful, not just as a work of art, but in raising awareness and dealing with issues that matter.

Tim McIlrath's lyrics are inspiring. The fact that he so elegantly talks about social injustice, life, love, and everything in between without forcing ideas on anyone is truly genius.