«Today’s Lyrics Are Pathetically Bad» Rick Beato

In the sixties and seventies there was a measure of musical artists that went "...yes, but do they have anything to say?" This was certainly applied to Dylan and many of the song writers mentioned in this thread. And many of them did. History may well decide that that period was a cultural renaissance and that we were blessed with a lot of music that not only entertained but also spoke to the political times and the human experience on many levels. It seems much of the lyrical content today only seeks to entertain.

In 1970 Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter wrote ‘Ripple’, ‘Brokedown Palace’, and ‘To Lay Me Down’ in a single day! As he himself said: "Oh would that those days would come again. Oh, they will-but not for me."

P.S. I like a lot of Country music too. Just the other day I listened to some George Jones...

Speaking of Jones, I'm of the mind of Quincy Jones who said a record (or album). 'It's like a photo or snapshot in time.'

@tyray

". . .Memories can be friends
they can take you to a place
That you never thought you’d be again
And take you to a place
That you never ever thought
That you would see again. . ."

Jim Croce/Recently

The only place I’ve seen or heard of this guy is from a youtube algorithm. Expert in music? I don’t know?

Beato is just a guitarist musician among others.. I never say that he was more...He does not claim more either.

But i like his video because he had no pretense save saying his mind in a funny way...

And he know  guitar music and a little  more ...

I select this video as start of discussion not because he was an authority but because for me there is truth in what he tried to convey ...

So the gist of this thread appears to be that a Steely Dan-loving YouTuber decreed that "Today’s Lyrics Are Pathetically Bad".

This is such a laughably stupid statement that it was soon amended to "maybe there are good lyricists working today, but they're obscure, they don't sell, and they're all 40 or 60 anyway, while the young ones who sell out arenas all suck".

Billie Eilish is not my cuppa, don't worry. But to be fair, her lyrics are more than passable, her music perfectly serviceable, and at 23 she's more successful than all the nostalgia acts mentioned in this thread put together.