Ian Brown
Damien Rice
Primal Scream

Absolutely. Jeff Tweedy is probably the best lyricist of his generation, the way he twists words and phrases until they acquire meaning is quite amazing. Mike Skinner is class too, yeah.

Other great lyrics - listen to the Wrens. I dunno the name of their songwriter (in fact I think songwriting is shared around the whole band) but they do a great line in bitterness and poignancy. Look at the lyrics for 13 Months In 6 Minutes or Everyone Choose Sides for an example. Ex-Girl Collection too, that's one of the wittiest and yet most affecting songs of the millennium.

Brand New's Deja Entendu album is a masterclass in how to write GOOD emo lyrics, which is something almost no other band can do. Yeah, it's whining and bitter but it's so damn sharp you can't resist it.

If you're looking for something a little weirder, try Modest Mouse ("are you dead or are you sleeping? god, i sure hope you are dead!") or Xiu Xiu ("cremate me after you cum on my lips"). Both excellent.

The Streets are fantastic...

And without sounding biassed, the lyrics on the thisGIRL album are really lush and create little worlds which unfold around the riffery.

It was me who said lyrics had gone downhill. Perhaps I was exaggerating. There's plenty of people out there who write good lyrics, but the whole new rock revolution and its style over substance attitude seems to ignore that in favour of whether they've got the right jackets. The Streets, The Libertines, The Flaming Lips, Sufjan Stevens, Devendra Banhart...there's plenty, just no-one ever fuckin' talks about 'em. Except in this thread.

Ben Gibbard, whether Death Cab or Postal Service is a brilliant lyricist

Ben Kweller
Simple Kid
the White Stripes

You guys probably aren't going to take me seriously because I exaggerate everything about Bad Religon but Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz are two of the best songwriters ever, if not the best. But other good writers are Black Thought (The Roots), Kanye West, Dave King (Flogging Molly), whoever the hell writes for The Hives, and OutKast, although personally I likes Big Boi's lyrics are better.

Bill Callahan is a lyrical master in my view.

Mozzer - obviously.
The libertines - definitely.

Hell yes! McClusky! "All your friends are cunts and your mother is a ball point pen thief". Geniusssss.

Also responsible for the best song and album titles ever. How can you not love 'The Whole World Loves Me And Is My Bitch'?

Wayne Coyne

Oh, you are! Let's see, William Shakespeare, Lord Byron, Chris_undereducated, David Bowie (cos it's my post!), Shelley. Pass the Bushmill's:

I met a girl from Kansas City
She had gumballs on her titties
She could sing and she could dance
She had a mustache in her pants.

"Bartender, either it's me or my friend Chris here--but one of us needs a cab!"

oh and of course the shins. coner oberst is over rated, just high school whining really