Tim Rice has ranked Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger as the greatest lyricist of all time in an article in the Daily Mail. Rice is best known for his musical collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber (such as "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Evita") and songs from Disney animated films (such as "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King"). Rice is one of a few people who have won an Oscar, a Grammy, a Golden Globe and a Tony Award.
Rice's list of top 10 lyricists is eclectic, ranging from a writer of James Bond movie theme songs (Don Black) to Broadway composers (Cole Porter, Alan Jay Lerner) to rock'n'roll pioneers (Jerry Leiber, Bob Dylan).
Rice says of the Rolling Stones front man:
"Jagger's underrated as a lyricist because he's such a brilliant performer. The Rolling Stones, probably because they came from the London area, were much more sophisticated than all the Northern groups in their lyrics. Of course, the others soon caught up. Mick was writing stuff like 'Play With Fire,' about an heiress from St John's Wood, and 'Mother's Little Helper,' all about women taking pills, in his early twenties. His songs were brutally realistic: 'Don't want you out in my world/Just you be my backstreet girl.' More recently he's written a lot of stuff that could almost be described as sentimental, but which still has a cutting edge."
Here is Rice's list of the top 10 lyricists of all time:
1. Mick Jagger
2. Don Black
3. Cole Porter
4. Jerry Leiber
5. Alan Jay Lerner
6. Bob Dylan
7. Herbert Kretzmer
8. Johnny Mercer
9. Michael Flanders
10. Sammy Cahn
Comments