Being a pure lyric writer ie: no musical input, no performing

[Nice Relaxing Poo]

Yer Jerry Leibers, Hal Davids and Bernie Taupins of this world. What a fucking great job eh? Let some musical hot shot do all the difficult stuff, you just write something over their latest ditty and wait for the cash to roll in.

Any others you can think of?

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

My dream job.

Bernie Taupin couldn't even bother to get his lyrics to match the music, what a life!

[wosl]

Keith Reid doing all of/vast majority of Procol Harum's lyrics is one of the best known ones.  Betty Thatcher did likewise for Renaissance.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Richey Edwards. Hats off to James Dean Bradfield for managing to craft catchy rock tunes around those torrentially wordy lyrics. Sure, you could never really make out what JDB was singing during the Richey era, but he somehow managed to make them fit.

Also, Tony Asher must've become a very rich man off the back of Pet Sounds. No shame in that, his lyrics were a vital part of what made it so special, but Brian Wilson wrote, arranged and produced the music.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Bernie Taupin couldn't even bother to get his lyrics to match the music, what a life!

But that's because he'd never heard the music before giving his lyrics to Elton. The latter composed tunes around whatever Bernie sent him.

[Sin Agog]

That paedo dude from The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band- Bob Markley I think his name was.  To think his paedoey ways used to be considered novel and eccentric.

[boki]

Any others you can think of?

Peter Sinfield, best known for his work with King Crimson and, err, Bucks Fizz

[The Culture Bunker]

Richey Edwards. Hats off to James Dean Bradfield for managing to craft catchy rock tunes around those torrentially wordy lyrics. Sure, you could never really make out what JDB was singing during the Richey era, but he somehow managed to make them fit.

Unlike others mentioned in the thread, though, Edwards did presumably go out on tour with the band and do other promotional duties.

[daf]

Edwards did presumably go out on tour with the band and do other promotional duties.

Including appearing in the Two Ronnies famous "Four Eels" sketch *


- - - - - - - - - - - - -
* too soon?

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Unlike others mentioned in the thread, though, Edwards did presumably go out on tour with the band and do other promotional duties.

He did, but his musical contributions were non-existent. You're absolutely right, though, he was a visible member of the band. Practically the focal point. A unique case.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

That paedo dude from The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band- Bob Markley I think his name was.  To think his paedoey ways used to be considered novel and eccentric.

Funnily enough (sort of), I was listening to Transparent Day by that lot earlier. Such a beautiful shimmer of jangling hippie pop-rock. Obviously, while listening to it, the high Summer of Love spell was instantly broken when I reminded myself that the lyricist was a massive nonce.*

* The lyrics to that particular song aren't dubious, though. So... that's nice?

[Rizla]

Clive James wrote lyrics for/with Pete Atkin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Ka6e8hPSk

[magval]

An English guy named Simon writes all of Norwegian black metal icon Abbath's lyrics, these days. They sound lovely and mean nothing like so many great metal lyrics.

[Sherman Krank]

Including appearing in the Two Ronnies famous "Four Eels" sketch *


- - - - - - - - - - - - -
* too soon?

Richey is alive and well and living in Sidcup. Calls himself Malcolm now, works a 9 to 5, wife and kids, self-cleaning oven, the whole bit.

[lankyguy95]

Richey Edwards. Hats off to James Dean Bradfield for managing to craft catchy rock tunes around those torrentially wordy lyrics. Sure, you could never really make out what JDB was singing during the Richey era, but he somehow managed to make them fit.

My first thought. I actually think JDB was able to create some really interesting melodies/vocal lines partly because of that 'limitation'; I was listening to 4st 7lb a while back and there's just no way someone could come up with those vocal lines without the lyrics already existing. The way he's forced to cram them in at times creates a unique feel that somehow just works.

[Jockice]

Latin Quarter. Mike Jones wrote the lyrics. Don't know if he had anything to do with the music but he certainly didn't perform with them.

[Noodle Lizard]

Someone wrote the majority of lyrics to all of Cradle of Filth's first decade or so. I know that doesn't sound very impressive, but they're actually remarkably competent, with complex rhyming schemes and verse structure, and demonstrate an intricate familiarity with literature and mythology from throughout the ages. While Dani Filth is credited as the writer, there's nothing about his general writing style or speech that supports this being true, especially since even within the songs he's sometimes incapable of pronouncing a lot of words properly, often reading them phonetically (i.e. "fiery" is not pronounced "feary") - not to mention the fact that there was a severe drop-off in lyrical quality around the early 2000s, the latter set of lyrics very much seeming like someone with a fraction of the education or vocabulary trying to emulate the former.

As a fan, it's a conspiracy theory I'd held entirely on my own for a while, until I finally met Gian Pyres, one of their bassists from the late 90s, who more or less confirmed it. He said Dani would just turn up with a book full of ready-to-go lyrics long before the music had been completed, although he didn't know quite who was actually writing them. Some have suggested it was Gavin Baddeley, others have suggested it was his mum (who supposedly had a Masters in literature) - I'm more tempted to believe the latter, since I don't think Baddeley would have known them in their early days.

Still, whoever wrote the lyrics to the Cruelty & The Beast album deserves a lot more praise than they got.

[Famous Mortimer]

Fella called John Barlow is listed as "nonperforming lyricist" for the Grateful Dead, 1971 (the year Pigpen left the band, I think?) to 1995, when Jerry Garcia died. Nice work if you can get it, I suppose. 

[magval]

Someone wrote the majority of lyrics to all of Cradle of Filth's first decade or so. I know that doesn't sound very impressive, but they're actually remarkably competent, with complex rhyming schemes and verse structure, and demonstrate an intricate familiarity with literature and mythology from throughout the ages. While Dani Filth is credited as the writer, there's nothing about his general writing style or speech that supports this being true, especially since even within the songs he's sometimes incapable of pronouncing a lot of words properly, often reading them phonetically (i.e. "fiery" is not pronounced "feary") - not to mention the fact that there was a severe drop-off in lyrical quality around the early 2000s, the latter set of lyrics very much seeming like someone with a fraction of the education or vocabulary trying to emulate the former.

As a fan, it's a conspiracy theory I'd held entirely on my own for a while, until I finally met Gian Pyres, one of their bassists from the late 90s, who more or less confirmed it. He said Dani would just turn up with a book full of ready-to-go lyrics long before the music had been completed, although he didn't know quite who was actually writing them. Some have suggested it was Gavin Baddeley, others have suggested it was his mum (who supposedly had a Masters in literature) - I'm more tempted to believe the latter, since I don't think Baddeley would have known them in their early days.

Still, whoever wrote the lyrics to the Cruelty & The Beast album deserves a lot more praise than they got.

You ever see Seinfeld? You know how Elaine would push Jerry and say "get out!". That's how I would react to this if you told me in real life.

Never even thought about this once and they were my favourite band of all time for like ten years.

Wee correction, but - "Gian"/John wasn't their bassist - Rob Eaglestone played bass the whole period John was in the band. He was one of their guitarists. Stuart Anstis maintains John never recorded anything and was just a live guitarist.

Could be possible Dani's just not as good at expressing himself in person as he is when he's had time to get it all down. Mind you, even in his box-outs in the Gospel of Filth there's an awkwardness to his writing. That book was written by Gavin Baddely too.

Aw man. I'm going to be thinking about this all fucking week.

[Noodle Lizard]

You ever see Seinfeld? You know how Elaine would push Jerry and say "get out!". That's how I would react to this if you told me in real life.

Never even thought about this once and they were my favourite band of all time for like ten years.

Wee correction, but - "Gian"/John wasn't their bassist - Rob Eaglestone played bass the whole period John was in the band. He was one of their guitarists. Stuart Anstis maintains John never recorded anything and was just a live guitarist.

Could be possible Dani's just not as good at expressing himself in person as he is when he's had time to get it all down. Mind you, even in his box-outs in the Gospel of Filth there's an awkwardness to his writing. That book was written by Gavin Baddely too.

Aw man. I'm going to be thinking about this all fucking week.

Sorry, no idea why I said "bassist" - the reason I got to hang out with him was that he was teaching my friend guitar!

I was more than prepared to accept that Dani's just not eloquent in person, that'd hardly be surprising, but there are too many other factors that come into play - the fact that he can't pronounce a lot of the words the lyrics competently use, the fact that he doesn't seem to understand the meaning of some songs when he discusses them in interviews - but most importantly, it's impossible for me to believe that the same person who wrote the lyrics to Thirteen Autumns And A Widow also wrote Tonight In Flames or pretty much any of their post-2003 output. It's one thing to run out of ideas, but I've rarely seen someone run out of basic technical competence or knowledge (earlier lyrics would confidently reference Sumerian mythology and non-canonical Biblical texts, in a manner which would require actually having read them, but later ones would reference Disney movies at best).

My theory is that he "ran out" of lyrics that someone else had provided sometime during Damnation And A Day or Nymphetamine. Everything after that is about what you'd expect from Dani Filth trying to copy them.

[magval]

I've always felt that the band has felt that way musically since then too, especially after Paul Allender left. With the drummer writing the music now, there's no getting past the fact he was a fan before he joined. They're in a permanent cycle of tribute.

I'm going to do a bit of digging on this.

[Noodle Lizard]

I've always felt that the band has felt that way musically since then too, especially after Paul Allender left. With the drummer writing the music now, there's no getting past the fact he was a fan before he joined. They're in a permanent cycle of tribute.

I'm going to do a bit of digging on this.

I dunno if I'd give Allender that much of a pass. I think his absence on arguably two of their best albums (and leading presence on all of their worst) tells you something. I also had various online interactions with him back in the day and he struck me as a very petty wanker.

Please do dig into it though, especially if you have any connection to former members. I've had this theory for over a decade, but I've only managed to get any sort of confirmation from Gian and the only other member I've spoken to in any depth is Martin Powell, who practically refused to talk about his time in Cradle!

[DenzilHolles]

Never knowingly heard a Cradle of Filth song in my life but I'm enjoying this greatly. Especially the theory that his mum wrote them.

[thecuriousorange]

I think David Gilmour's wife wrote the lyrics to the nineties Pink Floyd album.

[Fr.Bigley]

I'm horny
Horny, horny, horny
So horny
I'm horny, horny, horny
I'm horny
Horny, horny, horny
So horny
I'm horny, horny, horny tonight.










Not hard mate.

[popcorn]

Well there was the King of Rock, don't forget him.

[Nice Relaxing Poo]

Whilst listening to some Carol King the other day I discovered another one of these: Gerry Goffin.

He wrote the lyrics to some absolute classics

Will You Love Me Tomorrow
Take Good Care of My Baby
The Loco-Motion
He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)
Up on the Roof
You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

[smudge1971]

Yer man Gordon Ogilvie wrote many Stiff Little Fingers lyrics. Don't know if Ian Ogilvy wrote any words for The Ruts but he possibly co-wrote a few with Chris Bailey and Ed Kuepper.

[markburgle]

He did, but his musical contributions were non-existent. You're absolutely right, though, he was a visible member of the band. Practically the focal point. A unique case.

Ahem...

https://youtu.be/PEGP87LKNYA?t=40

He contributed for those 20 seconds!