I feel like the overarching variable in this entire thread just has to be pot.
I was in awe of many of these lyricists … well … y’know … when… 
This great video accompanied the closest thing Wire had to an American hit.
Can’t believe we’ve gotten this far in and no one’s mentioned A Horse With No Name
The ocean is a desert with its life underground
And a perfect disguise above
Under the cities lies a heart made of ground
But the humans will give no love
But my all-time favorite is the Association’s Along Comes Mary, which combines pretentiousness with with the oh so clever trick of jamming as many words into the meter of the song as you can.
And when the morning of the warning’s passed
The gassed and flaccid kids are flung across the stars
The psychodramas and the traumas gone
The songs are left unsung and hung upon the scars
Even the lyricist has admitted that it is a song about…
Add me to the list of Yes fans. I think I remember reading in some article about Yes that there is a term for lyrics that sound good to the ear (al la Kenobi_65) but don’t necessarily make sense. At one time I could sing all (well, almost all) the lyrics of Tales from Topographic Oceans. Along with the album, of course. Completely clueless as to meaning.
And did somebody besmirch Jethro Tull? 
I’ll go with the “least pretentious” option.Still one of my all time favs. They just don’t make 'em like they used to.
More America (Sandman):
I understand you’ve been running from the man
Who goes by the name of the Sandman
(Fine so far)
He flies the sky like an eagle
(Ok, a little cliché, but we’ll go with it)
in the eye of a hurricane
(I’m not a expert in eagles or hurricanes, but this seems like a bad place for an eagle to be. This seems like a dead eagle)
that’s abandoned.
(A hurricane that’s abandoned? What is an abandoned hurricane? How does one abandon a hurricane? WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?)
Nice tune, but that chorus always leaves me shaking my head.
I’m not sure if this qualifies - probably more glurgy than pompous
Sting’s “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free” lyrics based a phrase that was on thousands of dorm room walls. And he was an English teacher,
I’m not sure how it scores on the pretentious meter but I’ve always gotten a chuckle from one particular line from Uriah Heep’s Circle of Hands: “Today is only yesterday’s tomorrow”.
You must be psychic! I was just about to post those lyrics myself. That chorus is repeated four times at the end of the song. It’s a damn good hook, if completely nonsensical. I’ve always found this verse to be interesting:
Ain’t the years gone by fast
I suppose you have missed them
Oh, I almost forgot to ask
Did you hear of my enlistment?
Funny, I’ve been there
And you’ve been here
And we ain’t had no time to drink that beer.
Then…I understand you’ve been running from the man
Who goes by the name of the Sandman. Et cetera.
I have that album and haven’t listened to it in years. I must admit, however, that “Sandman” is a guilty pleasure of mine. I almost feel like dusting off the old Pioneer turntable, turning it up and singing that chorus. Again and again and again.
There’s this one that was written because Lou Reed liked the way the words flowed together
This one’s more of a parody. Pretentious, moi?
Stereolab, “Ping Pong”
It’s alright, 'cause the historical pattern has shown
How the economical cycle tends to revolve
It commonly and inexplicably finishes around 10th in typical Rush fan song polls tho, note. [I am with you, worst song of theirs by a mile]
Pretty much anything from Neil Peart’s “I just read this book called Atlas Shrugged and it was REALLY deep” era is pretentious to the core. “2112” would be unforgivably pretentious if it didn’t rock so hard.
I like that they name-check Phil Ochs (‘I’m as Bob Roberts to your Phil Ochs,
Talking political’), the left-wing folkie who of course wrote the original song they’re taking inspiration from.
There’s only one verse in that song that really bothers me.
Your mind tricked you to feel the pain/
Of someone close to you leaving the game [short pause] of life/
It just wasn’t necessary to clarify that we’re talking about the death of someone. We knew what was meant by someone leaving the game. My apologies, but I’ve needed to get this off my chest since 1991.
Getting back to Sting: gotta give him credit for rhyming shake and cough with Nabokov. 
They blew it with the institutional, bureaucratic phrase “senior citizens,” so wrong for the tone of the piece.
I love maps and geodesy (duh), but I’ve never heard this. Thanks for the tip.
There’s also a good shoegaze cover of it by My Bloody Valentine, if you’re interested.
I’ll check it out. (I had to remind myself what the “shoegaze” subgenre referred to).
I’ll see your The Trees and raise you one Virtuality and one Tai Shan.
I saw Yes perform Tales. From the second row. Tripping my ass off. The lyrics were deep, man. Deep.