OYE Lyrics

[BlankReg]

Does anyone know who the principle lyricist for OYE was? Since the songs were mostly Chris & Billy tunes, did they write the words, or did Jon? They seem very Jon-ish, but I tend to think Chris wrote most of it.

Reg.

[haroldthebarrel]

Jon almost always re-writes lyrics if he didn't write them. I'd bet some songs were 100% Jon, and some were already done, but Jon probably changed them to his liking.

[Trooper1129]

I agree HTB, Jon has to put his stamp on things. You can definitely hear his influence on some parts of OYE, most notably, Universal Garden (who else could write wonderous cosmical tapestry?) a little bit on Now Way We Can Lose and Fortune Seller. He and Steve worked up From The Balcony one afternoon in a hotel room and Somehow, Someday (I do believe) borrows some old Jon solo album lyrics, but I can't pinpoint from where.

New State of Mind, Open Your Eyes (Wish I Knew) and Man in the Moon are all Billy and Chris works. Jon may have reworked a few lines here and there but they have a certain stamp that just screams Squire and Sherwood.

Wonderlove and Love Shine are 2 poppy numbers that are a toss up here. I think S&S did the music and had the idea and some lyrics and Jon may have tried to punch them up a bit. It's a tough call because they have that lovey dovey Jon feel to them but Jon doesn't always like to rhyme so much. But then again, the whole album was rushed so ya never know what comes out when you are working under a deadline....