I'll have my votes in soon, once I've gone through my "long short list" and culled it a bit more. It's not an easy job because the quality of entries is so good.

I'd just like to take a minute to agree with Blue in that I found a lot of the lyrics were poems and not lyrics, well written, but not what I'd consider a lyric and some were so long I completely lost interest and stopped reading before the end and probably missed some good things. My votes will go to lyrics which I would expect to hear on the radio and be able to sing along with, mainly because that's where I'll hear songs that I'll want to go out and buy.

During the time that we were posting our entries, I was enthralled to hear Hal David (the lyrical side of the Hal David/Burt Bacharach team) interviewed on the radio one morning as I was driving to work. He was in Sydney for a one only performance by Australian artists of 23 of his biggest hits. He was asked the inevitable question of what he thought were the most important ingredients of a good lyric. His answer was:

1. Simplicity
2. Believability
3. Emotional Impact
4. A chorus that supports the verses

He told the story of when he wrote "What the World Needs Now", it took him nearly a year to get the chorus and it came to him out of the blue while driving one day.

Sorry to go off track a little here but these simple rules will guide my final choices for voting.

And just for the record Brian, I'm not in favour of publishing any kind of performance record of how each lyric rated but I have enjoyed the discussion on this thread (especially from our Indian friend), and the chance to offer my thoughts on how I arrived at my top five. Thanks. Judy

[img]http://www.geocities.com/moody_joody/Lasting_Lyrics.html[/img]