David Johansen is the lyricist of the New York Dolls, and on the evidence of One Day It Will Please Us to Remember even This (from 2006) and 'Cause I Sez So (2009), he may be the most sophisticated one working in rock today. The quality that is the most central in artistic writing is usefulness - the way the best words come back again and again in all the different situations that make up a life. The greatest writers are the ones that have things of import to say and say them in memorable ways. Johansen's lyrics are varied in subject, tone (by which I mean the writer's attitude toward the subject and toward him or herself), diction, and technical content. Sometimes, they show the effect of difficult experience. For example, "I Ain't Got Nothing" is an entirely believable description of the destitution experienced by so many rock and rollers. (This is not an area that many rock lyricists want to explore - it won't sell.) They contain great humour ("Dance like a monkey" opens with the line, "You designed so intelligent/ Ain't no way that was an accident." "Better than You" begins, "My baby, don't talk nasty about her/ You ain't even got no class/ I'm gonna kick your ass." Of course, I'm taking it out of context. You have to hear it to really get it.)
He understands the importance of romance (in its broadest sense). Listen to the awesomely beautiful "Temptation to Exist" for proof. He has the rare ability to juxtapose high and low (or "mean") diction for all sorts of effects: "Better than You" quoted above, also contains lines such as, "My baby got mystical frenzy/ Tempered by an irony/ Verging on blasphemy."
This brings me to the final point of this discussion: Johansen's ability to see events on several different levels at once, i.e. the physical, the emotional, the intellectual, the spiritual. Songs such as "Lonely so Long" or "Maimed Happiness" work perfectly in several ways, simultaneously. They deal with the complexities of life with complete honesty, but in Auden's words, "show an affirming flame". Listening: You guessed it.