Who are today's talented lyricists?

John Lennon once said "say what you want to say, and put a backbeat to it" when asked about his songwriting method.

One will never argue that Lennon was an extremely skillful melody writer, with a unique ability to say so much with so few words. When time permits, read the lyrics to " Imagine", "Mind Games" or "All You Need Is Love" as standard prose. Very simple stuff, isn't it? Now sing those words to the melody of those songs, and see how the lyrics come to life!!

The classic writers of the Brill Building era [e.g. Neil Diamond, Gerry Goffin/ Carole King] employ the same modus operandi to the same effect.

Let's roll it forward to the present day, and let's focus on Top 40 pop music. I'll admit that I'm a little behind the times in being up-to-date with "the latest thing", however I am curious to know as to how today's successful singer-songwriter pop writers compare to previous generations.

Rap & Hip-Hop can be excluded from the comparision, as these genres focus on very "wordy" lyrics to attract the listener's ear.

Folks - it's open forum. Who are today's talented lyricists?