Red Mosquito

From Yield through Riot Act Eddie wasn't the sole lyricist in the band. Avocado (except 'inside job'), Backspacer and Lightning Bolt were entirely done by Eddie again. Consider what he has done with some songs on BS and LB I'm not sure he's should be the only one anymore. I still think that Eddie is the best lyricist in the band, but Stone and Jeff have done some good work on that Yield<>Riot Act run and on their solo records (Jeff especially). Songs like: Pilate, No Way, Lowlight, Thin Air, All or None. Matt and Mike are so-so, but that's only a handfull: Get Right, You Are and Inside Job.

So how do we view lyrics by the other band members? And did that perspective changed over time?
And should Jeff and Stone have more lyrics on upcoming records?

Other than an occasional strong individual lyric I dislike the other guys as lyricists.
There are a quite a few songs on binaural and yield I like quite a bit less due to the lyrics.

"Mankind" has some of my favorite lyrics in PJ's catalogue.

Some of the lyrics written by others are great. I would admittedly hope that Mike doesn't take a run at lyrics, but Jeff and Stone have certainly written some great stuff. Provided a good song comes out of it, Boom can write the lyrics for all I care. I think something that helped me was that I didn't really know that there were different lyricists, or when I did I didn't understand that it was a change of pace for PJ until some time after I first heard all their records. I never had reason to view those songs as being separate from the Ed-penned songs.

It would bother me less today since Ed is no longer the end all/be all of lyricists to me, but at the time it really pissed me off when he wasn't writing, which has almost certainly impacted my initial (and possibly lingering) reactions to those songs.

Digester, which lyrics do you think are great? The best non Ed effort I wouldn't classify as much beyond decent

stip wrote:Digester, which lyrics do you think are great? The best non Ed effort I wouldn't classify as much beyond decent

There are an awful lot of lines by other people on Yield that are better than most of Wishlist or In Hiding.

Here's a token
of my openness
of my need to not
Disappear.

Stunned by my own reflection.
It's looking back,
sees me too clearly,
and I swore I'd never go there again.

Not unlike a friend that politely drags you down...

What are you running from?
Taking pills to get along.
Creating walls to call your own.

Two birds is what they'll see, getting lost upon their way.

"A night bird is following you all the time"

Kevin Davis wrote:"A night bird is following you all the time"

stip wrote:It would bother me less today since Ed is no longer the end all/be all of lyricists to me, but at the time it really pissed me off when he wasn't writing, which has almost certainly impacted my initial (and possibly lingering) reactions to those songs.

Digester, which lyrics do you think are great? The best non Ed effort I wouldn't classify as much beyond decent

All Those Yesterdays, Low Light, No Way, Nothing as it Seems, Fatal, Rival, All or None, Strangest Tribe, off the top of my head. I'd use the word great in context of the catalog; there's no Tom Waits-esque lyrical master in PJ, nor do they really need one. But those are all lyrics that co-exist just fine with anything else on those records. Some of them are highlights of their records. I think I'm pretty surprised that of all those songs, there's not one you'd say is better than decent?

Yeah, "Fatal" has wonderful lyrics.

I also really like the lyrics to "Anchors" on Stone's first solo album.

I also think "Digester" is a great user name -- makes me think of a large intestine.

Kevin Davis wrote:Yeah, "Fatal" has wonderful lyrics.

I also really like the lyrics to "Anchors" on Stone's first solo album.

I also think "Digester" is a great user name -- makes me think of a large intestine.

...It's "digster"

I know, Stip mistyped it above

Way to go LV you big dummy

I don't read stip's posts

Everyone reads stip posts. They just don't admit to it. The indignation has to come from somewhere


Rival has really good lyrics. I forgot that one. Best of the bunch

I was just kidding stip, i have nothing against you

Too late, LV. You just made the list

stip wrote:Too late, LV. You just made the list

pfft, i'd like to see jeff or stone just try to pen a composition like dirty frank

Ed wrote the words to All or none, yea?