Who was the best song writter?

Overall, I think Freddie was the stronger songwriter, but that's not to Brian's discredit. I like how adventurous he was, being the same person who gave us 39 and then Dancer.

But as the years went by, I think Roger outshined them both. Action This Day, Breakthru, Fight From the Inside, Fun It, More of That Jazz and Radio GaGa are incredible and should not be discounted.

as were ...Days of our Lives, One Vision and Heaven of Everyone

One Vision wasn't Roger alone. Besides, I can't see how most of those songs exceed Brian's lyrics.

Freddie all the way

I'd go with Freddie. Regardless of how dismissive he was of his own lyrics, and regardless of how poor some of them were ('when you pee all over my Chippendale suite'? WTF?), he did have some strokes of genius, from TFFMS (what a way to describe a painting - those lyrics are perfectly fitting to the music and vibe) to something like 'There Must Be More to Life than This' ... in general terms, I love the lyrics of his ballads (Jealousy is another example). They speak about the same things as a thousand songwriters, use a lot of the same words, but they do it in Freddie's unique way.

Brian's a great writer, also with some really poor moments ('some kind of cheese'), and a marvellous storytelling ability IMO. You can really connect with his descriptions. Things like 'All Dead All Dead' or even 'We Will Rock You' have a clear structure, a logic, you know what happens and how. I completely understand and respect those who prefer his lyrics to Freddie's, the same way I completely understand, respect and agree with those who prefer Freddie's to Brian's.

BTW, some of my favourite bits of lyrics on TSMGO are 'behind the curtain in the pantomime' which, coincidentally enough, were amongst the only lines on the song that were NOT written solely by Brian - he and Freddie wrote those parts together (the beginning of the 1st and 2nd verses, the rest was only Brian).

[QUOTE] [b]brENsKi wrote:[/b]
most of Freddies early lyrics are much better than Brian's ...by miles, all of queen I (jesus included) and side black of queen II, chunks of SHA Opera and Races are far superior to anything Brian wrote (lyrically) at that stage
you are forgetting that in this time, Brian gave us the lyrical comedy gems that were:
sweet lady (cheese)
prophet song (all that now i know bollox)
tie your mother down
some day one day
son and daughter
she makes me
good company (blatant beatles rip off)
sleeping on the sidewalk
leaving home ain't easy (another beatles rip off)
fat bottomed girls[/QUOTE]
Whoa, what? I love the lyrics for a lot of those songs.

How are Tie Your Mother Down or Sleeping on the Sidewalk even remotely stupid sounding? They have meaning.

Don't discredit Brian for sounding kind of like the Beatles in a few songs, it's not like Freddie was without his own influences.

Freddie's written plenty of stupid lyrics himself. Liar hardly makes any sense, Fairy Feller's Master Stoke could hardly have taken much work to write, Seaside Rendezvous's lyrics are just silly, and I could go on.

Overall, I still prefer Freddie's songwriting, but I don't see how one could bash Brian's lyrics.

[QUOTE] [b]brENsKi wrote:[/b]
good company (blatant beatles rip off)
leaving home ain't easy (another beatles rip off)
[/QUOTE]
What Beatles songs do they even remotely sound like? And where in the Beatles catalog is there a 30s swing style song, never mind the Dixieland jazz band section with several guitars emulating trumpet, trombone and clarinet?

It saddens me that even some Queen fans do not appreciate the sheer brilliance of Good Company. This is arguably the single greatest arrangement of guitars in a rock song ever created. Brian May is by far the most under-rated rock guitarist of all time.

IMO, that's a very biased comment.

GC has an extraordinary arrangement. The best ever? Hardly.

Brian's an exceptional guitarist. The most underrated ever? Not at all.

Well the question here was lyrics Bob, and there are a few similarities between those songs.
But hey, Sheer Heart Attack and I Saw Her Standing There (Beatles) have two sentences that are the same, and honestly I don't give a damn.
The one that says they're ripping off are taking the piss.

Eh. I don't think most of those are particularly bad, maybe just not as 'serious' as some of Freddie's better lyrics. Granted, 'cheese' is pretty bad. The vocal cannon in Prophet's Song doesn't sound like it was written, I'd guess that it was just Freddie mucking around which produced all the now I know stuff.

And yeah, I don't hear The Beatles at all in either of those songs.. Maybe something in their subject matter that I'm missing

FFS.

"To make sweet cheese, you will need 1-1/2 quarts of milk, 1 dozen eggs, 4 tablespoons of honey, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of salt, and a yard of cheesecloth (or a large, porous dish towel). We sometimes add a handful of golden raisins and/or dried currants, but such "surprises" are optional."

So for those who don't know, yes, there is such a beast as sweet cheese. There are a hundred or more worse lines than the cheese line in Sweet Lady. If you were to look at the line and read it off the liner notes, you'd think it was total crap. But if you listen to Freddie sing it, which he sings from the POV of Brian's "sweet lady", he is singing it as the woman mocking Brian, who I assume is the person in question writing about his sweet lady.

Next, the "now I know" is the descent into madness of the Prophet. The swirling voices are indicative of his perceived lunacy, but in the end, he is the one who is wise. Sure, it's not as clever as "don't drink and drive your car/don't get breathalized" but Brian was trying. Next time I will share where Freddie got the gun, and what kind it was in Bohemian Rhapsody.

Finally, Good Company is one of the most genius pieces of music in rock history. Not the best song, but most genius. It has as much to do with the Beatles as Long Tall Sally has to do with George Formby.

Fat Bottomed Girls is definitely tongue in cheek... Good Company's lyrics are pretty good as far as I'm concerned. I think the story they tell is one of the best in any Queen song.

everything i said is accurate...the topic is lyrically

where i said somehting was a beatles ripoff - it was...lyrically

And how exactly is it a Beatles rip-off lyrically?

I prefer Brian's lyrics

Ref The Beatles (why this has to happen every time) this is stretching it, Honey Pie & When I'm 64 are loosely similar to Good Company but, Leaving Home Ain't Easy sounds nothing like any Beatle or solo Beatle member record ever