A control freak whose gift for subverting everyday language in surreal cut-up lyrics made him a genuinely radical post-punk voice, Smith was a man who'd rebelled against – but also internalised – the berserk discipline of a bullying father.
The lyrics, by Edward Kleban, are very smart, yet often disarmingly seem like everyday language.
Radio stations had torn up their usual playlists to blare out Welsh favourites from Manic Street Preachers to Shirley Bassey and Catatonia – whose 1990s bilingual song International Velvet, featuring the lyrics "Everyday when I wake up/I thank the Lord I'm Welsh", had a particular resonance on this of all days.
Claudia Rankine's Citizen, an exploration of everyday racism through lyric essays, scraps of film script and photography, might look far more like prose than the traditional definition of poetry, but the innovative work from the acclaimed American writer has made it onto the shortlist for one of the UK's top poetry prizes, the Forward.
Their lyrics make everyday events the starting point for existential ruminations, often dark ones; the tunes can be hymns or foot-stompers.
With his simple, direct lyrics about everyday life, Mr. Tillman helped transform country music from songs about train wrecks and gunfights into the white man's blues.
Larson lived among and loved the people he was writing about, ached for their losses, expressed their fears, dreams and everyday indignities in sharp lyrics and evocative melodies that drew on both Broadway forms and pop and rock sounds.
Nelson's lawyers have done just that, unearthing a 1922 copy of "The Everyday Song Book," containing lyrics to "Happy Birthday". .
While we may never know whether Otonaroid® went to bed with lyrics from Everyday Robots stuck in her head or not, it wouldn't be far off to suggest that somewhere in her memory banks lies a newfound fondness for piano ballads.
On a nearby music stand was a two-page handwritten list of "To Do" items, which included the injunctions "When I do practice bass, practice things directly related to my show"; "Little lyric writing everyday"; "Voice work and agility technique".
