The Smiley Smile Message Board

I'm with Mr Love.

seconded, although they're all very good

Jack Rieley is actually my favorite BB lyricist

It' too hard to choose for me, since some have very few examples (Asher, Parks) so there's no real 'bad' to bring it down. Even Rog wrote Don't Worry Baby.

Van Dyke & Tony Asher

His dad  >:D

I went with Tony.  :o

I have to say Mike, just for the sheer quantity of good songs they wrote together.  The others also wrote great songs, but not as many. 

Reggie Dunbar.

VDP, by a very wide margin, but Mike also did some excellent stuff, especially on the earlier material.

Gary Usher, he put some of the craziest lyrics into songs. "Why do we have to gamble just to see who's right / Why can't we arbitrarily resolve a fight?"

If you asked me when I was a kid, I'd say Mike Love.

If you asked me after I REALLY listened to Pet Sounds, Id say Tony Asher.

If you asked me last year after I listened to the old recordings of SMiLE, I'd give it tp VDP.

but in the end, it is Mike Love. his lyrics and Brian's music ultimately make and *are* the Beach Boys.

:)

although i prefer vdp, mike got my vote on the strength of their '60's oeuvre.

Tony Asher. And Van Dyke Parks is a very close second.

Unfortunately, I remain unclear about the extent of Mike Love's lyric contribution on all songs with a Wilson/Love credit.  Otherwise, Mike is the greatest BB lyricist both in terms of quality and quantity.  One thing seems to be for sure, he wrote the lyrics to 'Warmth Of The Sun' and they're just beautiful.

1. Van Dyke Parks. Just the sheer amount of puns, wordplays, references, knowledge and emotion is mindblowing itself. And it wasn´t written by an english/history-professor, but by a 22 year old guy!

2. Tony Asher is a close second. It´s really hard to compare them, because they have a very different style. Everyone who starts a love song with "I may not always love you..." should be praised.

3. Mike Love CAN be an amazing lyricist, but he also wrote a lot of merda. A mixed bag.

In terms of quality of the poetry.....VDP

In terms of ability of the words to move my soul....Tony Asher

In terms of a consistent, large body of good work....Mike Love


It really depends on my mood which I prefer. The cerebral part of me goes for VDP...the sentimental for Tony Asher..and the fun-loving for Mike.

Right now I am thinking Asher...but thats in no small part down to the fact that I was listening th the Pet Sounds DVDA for a obout two hours last night...

The greatest set of lyrics ever for a Brian Wilson/Beach Boys song would be for "'Til I Die", but Mr. Wilson has rarely come close to that quality before or since. Given that, Mr. Parks gets my vote for the evocative images of "SMiLE".

And the winner is:  Tony Asher-- The lyrics to Pet Sounds are perfect.  In my opinion, they simply could not have complimented the music any better than they did.

Van Dyke was the ideal choice for SMiLE, but would have been an ill-suited selection for the remainder of the band's catalog.

Mike Love nailed some of his lyrics ("Warmth of the Sun") and faltered greatly on others ("Let the Wind Blow").  Overall he did a pretty admirable job, at least up until MIU or so.

Jack Reiley-- Basically a second rate VDP.  Some of his lyrics are interesting, but overall they lack the beauty and elegance of Mr. Parks.

Roger Christian added some great car lyrics, but that's basically all he ever did-- so he was expendable as the Boys progressed artistically.

Gary Usher would have probably made for a great collaborator on future Beach Boys albums, but I'm glad he went on to do what he did instead of remaining BW's lyricist.

Brian was simply nowhere near prolific enough.