Reading their lyrics sucks. They are not even as good as Bob Dilan, Lou Reed or Leonard Cohen. But gladly, we listen to them.
Reading their lyrics sucks. They are not even as good as Bob Dilan, Lou Reed or Leonard Cohen. But gladly, we listen to them.
I beg to differ. Lennon/McCartney is one of the greatest, and most well-known songwriting teams ever. Yes, some of their songs were nonsense: even they admitted it. But the majority are beautiful, and quite frankly genius.Originally Posted by JCamilo
Personal favourites of mine are 'Fool On The Hill', "Eleanor Rigby" and "Strawberry Fields Forever". As well as "Working Class Hero", by John Lennon.
'Strawberry Fields, nothing is real. Nothing to get hung about, Strawberry Fields forever', it is obvious that John Lennon's past had an impact on his songwriting. The man was brilliant.
I'm with Camilio. They weren't that great as poets. If you are reading them, you must judge them as what you are reading, not what you are listening to. Would you choose to read the Beatles over Tennyson? You bias the music by using the term songwriter, when Shakespeare wrote songs 1000x better.
Oh Mistress Mine
O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O stay and here your true love's coming
That can sing both high and low.
Trip no further, pretty sweeting,
Journeys end in lovers' meeting
Ev'ry wise man's son doth know.
What is love? 'tis not hereafter
Present mirth hath present laughter,
What's to come is still unsure.
In delay there lies no plenty
Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty
Youth's a stuff will not endure.
In truth, Homer himself was sung, as was poetry for a long time. The Beatles were hardly great writers, outside of the fact that their music went well with their lyrics, and therefore are catchy.
I always liked "I am the Walrus"
Haha, put it this way... Lennon wrote masterpieces such as Jealous Guy and Imagine; McCartney wrote the Frog Song.
(And yes, I know I'm referring to song writing as opposed to lyrics in particular - couldn't help myself.)
I'm probably being a little harsh on account I don't particularly like Paul. In fact, I think a big part of why people hate Heather Mills is because they love him so much.
I don't know about poetry... but they produced some fantastic lyrics. I don't know, I never really got that; I always saw poetry and songs as different because sometimes it's the way in which you put the words across through the song.
"Then I feel, Harry, that I have given away my whole soul to someone who treats it as if it were a flower to put in his coat, a bit of decoration to charm his vanity, an ornament for a summer's day"
Oscar Wilde [The Picture of Dorian Gray]
David Sylvian's lyrics are good, better than Beatles or Dylan.
And Duran Duran!'Don't say you're easy on me/You're about as easy as a nuclear war' Immortal brilliance!
many of the Beatles songs are poetic, I love Norwegian wood and blackbird, elanor rigby and so many others...
but Ringo is my favorite, maybe not as a songwriter but my favorite...
Leonard Cohen's songs are very poetic, I think he has written some books of poetry too...
some of David Grays lyrics too...
I hope death is joyful, and I hope I'll never return -Frida Khalo
If I seem insensitive to what you are going through, understand it's the way I am- Mr. Spock
Personally, I think that the unique and supreme delight lies in the certainty of doing 'evil'–and men and women know from birth that all pleasure lies in evil. - Baudelaire
Guitar solo here
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
El adjetivo, cuando no da vida, mata- Huidobro
You’re right that “Taxman” wasn’t George’s first song for the Beatles — that was “Don’t Bother Me” on With The Beatles. So on that point, agreed.
That said, the original comment might have been getting at something slightly different. “Taxman” on Revolver is often seen as Harrison’s first major statement as a songwriter — more confident, more biting, and stylistically on par with Lennon–McCartney at that stage.
Also worth noting:
On Help! and Rubber Soul, his songs are solid but still developing
By Revolver, he’s writing things like “Taxman”, “Love You To”, and “I Want to Tell You” — a clear jump in originality and influence
On the “two songs per album” point — that’s broadly true, but it wasn’t just Lennon and McCartney blocking him. Early on, Harrison was still finding his voice, and the Lennon–McCartney partnership was incredibly dominant in both output and quality.
By the late period (White Album, Abbey Road), once Harrison’s writing fully matured, he started to push through standout tracks like “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Something”, which shows he wasn’t being held back in the same way anymore.
So yeah — not his first song, but arguably his first big leap as a songwriter.
I believe it was my junior/senior year in high school that we studied Eleanor Rigby & Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone & others... once I heard the comments from others, as urged on by Ms. Korman, I started thinking more of the poetry in lyrics, which is funny because when I 'listen' to music I rarely get the nuances as opposed to reading them... Songfacts has helped me quite a bit. https://www.songfacts.com/
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
Last edited by tailor STATELY; 04-28-2026 at 01:46 PM. Reason: link
tailor
who am I but a stitch in time
what if I were to bare my soul
would you see me origami
7-8-2015
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