And also, honestly i don't see any point having Murder Ballads above Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!... Cave uses his linguistic abilities at a higher level there, working much more with retorical aspects, while on Murder Ballads, the main focus lies on the narrating... As i'd have the Cave albums listed (the ones which may have a chance of actually reaching a list, depending on it's eventual length):

Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Tender Prey
Murder Ballads
The Boatman's Call
Let Love In
Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus
Henry's Dream

EDIT: Also, this may forge some discussing, but i've considered switching "Songs Of Leonard Cohen" with "Songs Of Love & Hate"... SoLC lives long on the greatness of Suzanne and The Stranger Song, plus minor gems like Teachers, but overall i honestly think SoL&H seems to be more consistent... Obviously, SoLC is his greatest album, but when i think about it, i think SoL&H may at least be the better album, lyrically skillwise that is... And seeing that it is probably his second greatest album, i don't think there's any argument for giving the suches of acclaim or influence to SoLC on an instance... May be considered...

Not really relevant to the list, but I'm glad On the Beach is so high. That would be my personal #1. Absolutely incredible album lyrically about moving on with life and Neil trying to find himself. Even though it seems on the face of it a sad record about Neil hitting rock bottom, there's a sense of optimism that he's going to get through it all and come out the other side a better person. Helped me through some hard times that one. Actually, for one example, can vividly remember the night before I came out to my parents when I was 18, lying awake not being able to sleep and listened through that album from start to finish about 3 times in a row, just letting the lyrics seep in. It's amazing how great and personal lyrics like that can be really reassuring or helpful to you at certain times in your life. I know someone on another forum as well who says how much Blood on the Tracks helped him through his divorce.

I've decided to drop Murder Ballads and replace it with Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, thanks to your comments. Also, SfaR>IYM was my bad, sorry.

Here's the revised 31-40
31. The Velvet Underground & Nico
32. Graceland
33. The Wild, The Innocent, And The E Street Shuffle
34. The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society
35. Tommy
36. Jackson Browne
37. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
38. I'm Your Man
39. Excitable Boy
40. The Smiths

Possible inclusion for the next ten: The Who by Numbers. Maybe not his greatest lyrics, but it has some of my favorite Townshend performances.

We should definitely have some Gordon Lightfoot in the top fifty, as well.

Any specific Lightfoot albums you'd want on the list? I don't know much about him, so you'd have to make some recommendations for me, sorry.

Now, i haven't heard very much by him, but hearing Good Old Boys by Ranyd Newman, i figured it seemed worthy of a top 50 spot, 41-50 range... Rednecks, Louisiana and Wedding In Cherokee County are some xamples of its greatness...

I'd probably recommend Summertime Dream

We should also include some rap on here. Eminem and 2Pac would be my top two suggestions.

Such criteria shouldn't be there... They should be all put into an overall criteria called "linguistic ability" or simply "skill", like we've done in the Greatest Lyricists thread... There are so many styles and techniques within writing, that measuring it from "i think he's pretty good at that, but then again not as good as that, but pretty good at that" would be lame... Hemingway wasn't acclaimed for using a lot of techniques, he was acclaimed for inventing and perfecting one certain technique, which granted him a Nobel Prize in literature... And this style was about as naked as non-describing as anything... Judging linguistic ability is, in some way, to judge the writer's ability to express themselves through the tools they use... Elvis Costello has a vocabulary like few others, Springsteen can narrate like nobody else, Keenan can split a lyric into layers and, by these different techniques, each lyricist can express themselves, not necessarily better than the other, but great in their own sense... Dylan and Cohen are probably the only lyricists i believe could do about anything sort of... gracefully...

What are you talking about?

Lol, commending on some post which clearly isn't on this page... wtf never mind...

It's all good mate, just wanted to be sure you weren't looney.

Here's our top 40 as of now:

1. Bringing It All Back Home (Bob Dylan)
2. Born To Run (Bruce Springsteen)
3. Blood On The Tracks (Bob Dylan)
4. Songs Of Leonard Cohen (Leonard Cohen)
5. Late For The Sky (Jackson Browne)
6. On The Beach (Neil Young)
7. Highway 61 Revisited (Bob Dylan)
8. Dark Side Of The Moon (Roger Waters)
9. Quadrophenia (Pete Townsend)
10. Strange Days (Jim Morrison)
11. Imagine (John Lennon)
12. Blue (Joni Mitchell)
13. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, & Thyme (Paul Simon)
14. Armed Forces (Elvis Costello)
15. Songs Of Love And Hate (Leonard Cohen)
16. Darkness On The Edge Of Town (Bruce Springsteen)
17. Blonde On Blonde (Bob Dylan)
18. Rust Never Sleeps (Neil Young)
19. Astral Weeks (Van Morrison)
20. Who's Next (Pete Townsend)
21. The Doors (Jim Morrison)
22. Animals (Roger Waters)
23. Rubber Soul (Lennon/McCartney)
24. Imperial Bedroom (Elvis Costello)
25. Warren Zevon (Warren Zevon)
26. For Everyman (Jackson Browne)
27. After The Gold Rush (Neil Young)
28. Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire) (Ray Davies)
29. Ladies Of The Canyon (Joni Mitchell)
30. Rain Dogs (Tom Waits)
31. The Velvet Underground & Nico (Lou Reed)
32. Graceland (Paul Simon)
33. The Wild, The Innocent, And The E Street Shuffle (Bruce Springsteen)
34. The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society (Ray Davies)
35. Tommy (Pete Townsend)
36. Jackson Browne (Jackson Browne)
37. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (Nick Cave)
38. I'm Your Man (Leonard Cohen)
39. Excitable Boy (Warren Zevon)
40. The Smiths (Morrissey)

Here's my draft for 41-50:

41. In Utero (Kurt Cobain)
42. Revolver (Lennon/McCartney)
43. Court And Spark (Joni Mitchell)
44. Wish You Were Here (Roger Waters)
45. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (John Lennon)
46. Exodus (Bob Marley)
47. Summertime Dream (Gordon Lightfoot)
48. For The Roses (Joni Mitchell)
49. London Calling (Joe Strummer)
50. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison)

???

No, I think SoLC is definitely his greatest album lyrically, because it was made in a point when Cohen was still learning the ropes of recording. As a consequence of that, the music isn't as layered or scintillating as his later albums, when he had already gotten the hang of putting his words to music. Considering this, we must say that SoLC depended on its lyrics more than SoLaH, and the fact that overall SoLC > SoLaH and in production terms SoLaH > SoLC, this implies that lyrically, SoLC>SoLaH.