Kada se rokenrol i poezija pominju u istom kontekstu, prvi čovek koji uglavnom pada na pamet jeste Džim Morison. Samoprozvani „Kralj guštera“, ovaj čovek je uzdrmao do tada najstabilniji društveni poredak – Sjedinjene Američke Države. Morison je hedonista, njegova poezija, često vrlo apstraktna i potpomognuta narkoticima, je na „ne tako retke“ momente vrlo mračna, i što je najvažnije – terala je na razmišljanje tih davnih šezdesetih:
I found an island in your arms
Country in your eyes
Arms that chain us
Eyes that lie
Break on through to the other side
(Break On Through (To the Other Side), The Doors, 1967. The Doors)
14. Džon Lenon (The Beatles/Plastic Ono Band)

Mother, you had me, but I never had you
I wanted you, you didn’t want me
So I, I just got to tell you
Goodbye, goodbye
Father, you left me, but I never left you
I needed you, you didn’t need me
So I, I just got to tell you
Goodbye, goodbye
(Mother, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, 1970. John Lennon)
13. Tom Vejts

But Romeo is bleeding, but nobody can tell
And he sings along with the radio
With a bullet in his chest
And he combs back his fenders
And they all agree its clear
That every thing is cool now that Romeo’s here
(Romeo Is Bleeding, Blue Valentine 1978. Tom Waits)
12. Peti Smit

Not to hail a barren sky. Sifting cloth is weeping red.
The mourning veil is waving high a field of stars and tears we’ve shed.
In the sky a broken flag, children wave and raise their arms.
We’ll be gone but they’ll go on and on and on and on and on.
(Broken Flag, Wave 1979. Patti Smith Group)
11. Edi Veder (Pearl Jam)

Sheets of empty canvas, untouched sheets of clay
Were laid spread out before me, as her body once did
All five horizons revolved around her soul, as the earth to the sun
Now the air I tasted and breathed has taken a turn
(Black, Ten 1991. Pearl Jam)
10. Pi-Džej Harvi

And this world tonight is mine
A world to be remembered in
Think on a faded photograph
My hair longer than its ever been
And then,the sky lit up
The sky, my friend
(The Sky Lit Up, Is This Desire? 1998. PJ Harvey)
9. Pol Sajmon (Simon & Garfunkel)

And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they’d made
And the sign flashed out its warning in the words that it was forming
And the sign said the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls, and whispered in the sounds of silence
(The Sounds Of Silence, Sounds of Silence 1965. Simon & Garfunkel)
8. Lu Rid (The Velvet Underground)

I’m waiting for my man
Got 26 dollars in my hand
Up to Lexington 125
feelin’ sick and dirty
for a day and a life
Huh, I’m waiting for my man
(I’m Waiting for the Man, The Velvet Underground & Nico 1967. The Velvet Underground)
7. Jan Kertis (Joy Divison)

I could live a little better with the myths and the lies,
When the darkness broke in, I just broke down and cried.
I could live a little in a wider line,
When the change is gone, when the urge is gone,
To lose control. When here we come.
(She’s Lost Control, Unknown Pleasures, 1979. Joy Divison)
6. Morisi (The Smiths)

And if a double-decker bus
Crashes into us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die
(There Is a Light That Never Goes Out, The Queen Is Dead 1992. The Smiths)
5. Džarvis Koker (Pulp/Solo)
Džarvis je čudan tip, knjiški moljac koji na jednoj od fotografija drži francuski rečnik, a reč francuskog ne zna. To je, vrlo sažeto, suština Kokerove lirike – pretvaranje i cinizam. Učio je od Morisija, od života i od svog neverovatno sarkastičnog smisla za opservaciju. Ponekad i previše iskren i „straight-to-the-point“, Koker će vas nasmejati, nervirati i preispitivati u isto vreme, sve uz pomalo dramsku sintaksu:
It’s like a later Tom And Jerry,
when the two of them could talk
Like the Stones since the Eighties
Like the last days of Southfork
Like Planet Of The Apes on TV
The second side of Til The Band Comes In
Like an own brand box of cornflakes:
He’s going to let you down, my friend
(Bad Cover Version, We Love Life 2001. Pulp)
4. Rodžer Voters (Pink Floyd)

Night after night
Going round and round my brain
His dream is driving me insane.
In the corner of some foreign field
The gunner sleeps tonight.
What’s done is done.
We cannot just write off his final scene.
Take heed of his dream.
Take heed.
(The Gunner’s Dream, The Final Cut 1983. Pink Floyd)
3. Leonard Koen
Jedini čovek na ovoj listi koji je uspeo da pobedi svoje demone na dostojanstven način i to nam kaže i pesmom. Autor i čuvene „Hallelujah“ koja je obesmrtila Džefa Baklija. U toj pesmi kaže da stoji ispred „Gospodara pesme“, a šetnjom kroz opus ovog večnog gospodina se stiče utisak da govori o samome sebi, no to nam on nikada neće priznati, jer „svi znaju, tako to ide“:
Tell me again when the victims are singing
And the laws of remorse are restored
Tell me again that you know what I’m thinking
But vengeance belongs to the lord
Tell me again when I’m clean and I’m sober
Tell me again when I’ve seen through the horror
Tell me again tell me over and over
Tell me that you’ll love me then
(Amen, Old Ideas, 2012.)
2. Nik Kejv (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds/Grinderman)
Nikolas je crna ovca na ovoj listi, nije da mu nešto iko zamera, sam je tako došao na ovu zabavu. Sa mračnom senom koja ga prati, pogledom mentalno nestabilne osobe i manirima najvećeg džentlmena. Ova čudna kombinacija je dovela do jednog od najoriginalnijih autora na ovoj listi. U njegovoj poeziji mrak, ljubav, život i (pogotovo) smrt se mešaju toliko sofisticirano da patetika i isforsiranost nikako nemaju udela u krajnjem proizvodu. Valja napomenuti da se Kejv često okreće i crnom humoru, što ga čini egzotičnijim:
And God don’t care for your benevolence
Anymore than he cares for the lack of it in others
Nor does he care for you to sit
At windows in judgement of the world He created
While sorrows pile up around you
Ugly, useless and over-inflated
(As I Sat Sadly By Her Side, And No More Shall We Part 2001. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds)
1. Bob Dilan
Nezvanično-zvanični kralj poezije u muzici. Čovek koji je istog trenutka kada je proglašen za glas i vođu generacije odbacio tu titulu, razbesneo mase pratilaca, zavaravao medije, živeo životom koji bi retko ko mogao izdržati, i usputno, ali samo usputno ostao pribran. U ljubavnim nikada patetičan, u mračnim najveći cinik i baraba, ali uvek nepogrešivo iskren. Najbolja pesma Boba Dilana je svakako njegov život. I All Along The Watchtower. A možda i nije, ima ih mnogo:
I can still hear the sounds of those Methodist bells
I’d taken the cure and had just gotten through
Staying up for day in the Chelsea Hotel
Writing “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” for you.
(Sara, Desire 1976.)