Electric Six- Danger High Voltage
Echo and the Bunnymen- Thorn of Crowns
But seriously, Glen Phillips (who used to be in Toad the Wet Sprocket) is my favorite lyricist.
I’m kind of shocked that it’s gotten this far into the thread and no one has mentioned Dylan. The Bob is the best rock lyricist of all time. There’s a reason it’s a cliche.
Of course, there’s also Lou Reed, whose lyrics have always been witty, wise, and wonderful, but I don’t think he ever really mastered phrasing like Dylan did.
And no, Ianzin, Cole Porter isn’t the best lyricist of all time. That honor falls to Lorenz Hart, IMHO. Especially when coupled with Richard Rodgers’s music.
As far as more modern stuff goes, I’m partial to Stephin Merritt of, among other things, The Magnetic Fields. He’s sort of a throwback to the old days of Porter and Hart but with more modern music.
I just figured people didn’t bother to state the obvious. 
I love the Magnetic fields as well, I just purchased “69 love songs” and it has been spinning repeatedly in my stereo. Absolutely wonderful, and such a lovely voice Stephen has!
Snips only
Especially beans or celery.
jeff beck - last goodbye, and his version of cohen’s hallejuah(Sp wrong im sure), and dylan - tangled up in blue, like a rolling stone, shelter from the storm.
Porcupine Tree’s “Collapse the Light Into Earth.” The second verse (below) especially.
I won’t heal given time
I won’t try to change your mind
I won’t feel better in the cold light of day
But I wouldn’t stop you if you wanted to stay
Also verse 2 of “After Me” by Marillion (to the best of my memory):
There’s a stray dog she feeds
That she found in the street
And he loves her to hold him
But he won’t let her keep him
And he claws at the door
To be let out at night
And she makes do without him
And she worries about him…
They Might Be Giants - Fingertips
The lyrics to this song have to be my favorite of all time. They seem like utter nonsense untill you consider them to be the life of a person. Then, it all falls together perfectly. From the baby being conceived inside a womb, “Everything is catching, yes, everything is catching on fire” to the person dying “Finger tiiiiiips” to him actually being dead “I walk alone, darkened corridor”; it just is awesome. I would consider it the apex of TMBG lyrical style, and they are some of my favorite lyricists.
Actually, I would consider them to be the best lyricists of all time, for all of theirs has in outlet in someone.
Also, I am very fond of some of Sparklehorse’s lyrics, my favorite would go to More Yellow Birds . It not only fits the music, they seem so multi-layered that it is amazing. I tend to feel the lyrics are about a guy going off to war, but that is just an idea.
A whiter shade of pale - Procol Harum.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb9u05.html
All Along the Watchtower - Dylan.
http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/watchtower.html
“Just call… and tell them how you feel. About muffins… pumpkins… wax paper… Caledonia mahoganies elbows… And soon, a new rapport… You and your new little green and yellow buddies, grooving together, oh no! Maintaining your coolness together! Worshipping together in the church of your choice! Only in America…”
From “Electric Aunt Jemima”:
“Holidays
And salad days
And days of moldy mayonnaise
Caress me,
Caress me, Aunt Jemima”
Or from “Flakes”:
“Well, the toilet went crazy yesterday afternoon
The plumber he says, “Never flush a tampon,”
This great information cost me half a week’s pay,
And the toilet blew up later on the next day-ee-ay-ee-ay!”
“Dumb All Over”:
“Listen, people, we can’t really be dumb, if we’re just following God’s orders! After all, He wrote this book here! And in the book, it says He made us all to be just like Him! So if we’re dumb, then GOD IS DUMB… And maybe even a little bit ugly on the side!”
For more serious lyrics, I like Paul Simon’s lyrics in a lot of S & G songs, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, and the Kinks (although all of them have some humorous lyrics as well).
Definitely the best lyric writer was Cole Porter. Everything he wrote was brilliant, and way ahead of anyone else.
But for the single best lyric, I’d go with Ira Gershwin’s lyrics to “They Can’t Take That Away from Me.” No matter how many times you hear it, the word choices are still a surprise.
If you want to limit things to rock, I’d pick Bruce Springsteen’s “Rosalita.”
crooked fingers fronted by Eric Baughman of Archers of Loaf fame is worth a try. These guys write incredible lyrics, and many who have heard them compare the songwriting to Cohen and Zevon. Check them out, you won’t be dissapointed.
moejuck
Gotta go with Warren Zevon. For instance, we have this from Desperadoes Under the Eaves:
*I was sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian hotel
I was staring in my empty coffee cup
I was thinking that the gypsy wasn’t lyin’
All the salty margueritas in Los Angeles
I’m gonna drink 'em up
And if California slides into the ocean
like the mystics and statistics say it will
I predict this hotel will be standing
Until I pay my bill
Don’t the sun look angry through the trees
Don’t the trees look like crucified thieves
Don’t you feel like desperadoes under the eaves
Heaven help the one who leaves.
…
Still waking up in the mornings with shaking hands
And I’m trying to find a girl who understands me
But except in dreams you’re never really free
Don’t the sun look angry at me
*
etc.
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday dear (name here)
Happy birthday to you.
ok so I like em simple…and when I was a little kid I loved this song.
Whats the over-under for when the warning about reprinting copyrighted lyrics comes up? 
The Matthew Good Band has my favorite lyrics, my favorite song being “Apparitions”.
“I need my conscience to keep watch over me
To protect me from myself
So I can wear honesty like a crown on my head
When I walk into the promised land
We’ve been too long American dreaming
I think we’ve all lost the way
Fear long somnambulistic maniacal in the dark”
I’ll toss another vote to Vincent. One of the most beautiful songs ever sung.