The Greater Conceptual/Lyrical Genius: Waters vs Lennon

[TheGushinRussian]

These two were both remarkable. I can't think of two people who wrote anything more articulatly about such meaningfull things. To be honest Waters impresses me more by the hidden meanings in his lyrics that he makes you search for and the things he writes about life. Death, Time, Money, War, Greed, Lunacy, Comradory, Appreciation of life in general and all earths wonders. It just sparks such introspection and empathy in me that no one else has ever been able to muster up. Granted, Lennon wrote so many beautiful songs about some of the same things. Imagine is the quintessential Lennon track because it deals with coming to terms with differences in people and appreciating the fatc that we're alive and we can love, In My life makes us appreciate all the people and experiences we've ever had with such nostolgia. I could go on and on about either of them and individual songs/albums. He was more impactfull than Waters or anyone else obviously alongside Mccartney and the others, but was he a superior musical mind? I think not. Everyone else?

 

[TheGushinRussian]

Ignore thread title spelling errors.... grrr.

 

[LG]

^^I fixed the title for you GushinRussian.

Waters for me, even though I find him to be sort of depressing at times. I feel his body of work is just more imaginative than Lennon's.

 

[AboutAGirl]

If we're talking conceptually, Waters takes the cake by a wide margin. But it's sort of an unfair comparison since Waters' work is so much more concept-oriented than Lennon's. If we're talking simply lyrical prowess, I believe most would choose Lennon.

Speaking for myself, Waters is one of my heroes. I see him not so much as a musician or as a lyricist, but as an artist; not for his conceptual work but because in all my life I've never heard another person who makes music with such astounding empathy. When he sings, he sounds like he genuinely cares about the subjects of his songs, on a visceral level. His music is, like, throbbing with all this anguish, but he always puts a kernel of hope at the center, it's beautiful. I don't think there's anyone who writes songs with as much love as Roger. I really admire him as someone who wears his heart on his sleeve and rather than appearing weak, he makes it seem like he's the stronger person because of it.

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

I actually find John Lennon to be highly overrated as a lyricist (as well as in general). Concepts and lyrics are really all Roger has on the other hand though. He can't play bass and he is a so-so singer but he was the majority of the brains behind arguably the most successful high concept band ever.

 

[TheGushinRussian]

If we were to compare Lennon lyrics to Waters lyrics, I would have to say Waters is much more clever and sharp than Lennon. Waters hits home and with much more style than John. I feel like he looks at things from such a visual and honest perspective. I actually find him to be an above average, albeit not superb bass player and a pretty good singer. Definitely not the musician or vocalist that David Gilmour was/is, but certainly not sub-par.

 

[LG]

I actually find John Lennon to be highly overrated as a lyricist (as well as in general). Concepts and lyrics are really all Roger has on the other hand though. He can't play bass and he is a so-so singer but he was the majority of the brains behind arguably the most successful high concept band ever.

John had one ability that I did respect, he saw the "Big Picture" and the potential for people to be better than we are, even though he was far from perfect himself.

They are two different musicians, that I listen to for completely different reasons. But I do find John to have a much healthier philosophy about life in general than Roger, I mean his solo albums are about as bleak as it gets. I'd love Waters to do a 'fun' album one day just to show he's capable of enjoying himself in the studio.

 

[tkitna]

Waters took it a little further I think, but John usually spoke through 3 minute pop tunes. They both got their point across. I'll take Roger here though.

 

[Jet]

I picked Lennon because he was murdered before he got a chance to evolve into something more than an ex-Beatle.