# Bands that have the best lyrics?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-have-the-best-lyrics/505963>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 10, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-have-the-best-lyrics/505963 "2009-08-10T19:30:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![zoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7ea924/32.png) [@zoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoog)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-have-the-best-lyrics/505963/61 "2009-08-22T18:46:43Z")

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Not bands, but:

Patty Griffin  
John Hiatt  
John Prine

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**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-have-the-best-lyrics/505963/62 "2009-08-22T19:16:16Z")

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Probably not everyone’s cup of tea, but I always thought **Cannibal Corpse** was occasionally capable of penning violently vivid and imaginative lyrics. Their songs take a variety of viewpoints, from the perspective of a maniac stalking a victim, to that of the victim himself experiencing some gruesome end. The lyrics to Rotted Body Landslide is typical:

> [@](#):
>
> Climbing the mounds to escape from death  
> Ten thousand left to rot  
> In this gorge
> 
> Bodies lie  
> Putrefy  
> I wont die

Horrifying, right? Nevertheless, I appreciate that they could come up with such a macabre scene and describe it from a first person POV while brutal metal music plays.

Other “stories” they tell include:

-Pit of Zombies: Describes POV of victim, the captive of some evil priest, being slowly lowered into a dark pit and consumed by the zombies residing therein, starting with the feet.  
-Devoured by Vermin: First person account of victim being swarmed and consumed by a large number of rodents.  
-Disposal of the Body: Describes a man as he attempts to remove evidence from the scene of a murder and hide the remains of his victim.  
-Raped by the Beast: Tale of some monster, possibly demon possessed, savagely attacking some hapless woman who wandered into its domain.  
-Severed Head Stoning: Story of a condemned man, buried up to his waist and bound, stoned to death by the severed heads of his dead family.  
-Blunt Force Castration: Describes the comprehensive mutiliation of some man’s genitals by a deranged woman.  
-Submerged in Boiling Flesh: First person account of man hung upside and dipped into a vat of boiling flesh, thus becoming a part of the stew.

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-have-the-best-lyrics/505963/63 "2009-08-22T20:17:48Z")

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Please remember our policy on lyrics and don’t quote more than a verse, or five lines. For a longer section, consider linking to a lyrics site. I’ve shortened **MOIDALIZE** ’s quote accordingly (and gave a break to make it six lines).

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