Who's your favorite songwriter?

[max]

and patti smith

[Wicked49]

Hi y'all, I'm new here so I'll be brief.

David Crosby has top be on any list of brilliant songwriters. I'm also fond of several Brazillian composers like Milton Nacimento, Gilberto Gil and Joao Gilberto. I think Don Henley writes as well as anyone in pop and the late Waylon Jennings sent goose bumps up my neck when I first heard him.

[whitefang]

Someone said to list their FAVORITES, and some went and listed almost everybody in one post! Who could I possibly add? Oh, all the ones I like best were mentioned many times; Dylan, Joni (not just one album, like some mentioned, but just about ALL of hers!), Hank Williams Sr., Simon, Taylor, Cat, etc. etc....

 

So here goes...

Cole Porter, Otis Blackwell, Gershwin Bros., Chris Smither, Louis Jordan(Caldonia!), Josh White and Sylvester Stewart.

 

Just to name a few.....

 

Whitefang

[D_dup3]

For those who might still peruse this topic (& in light of Tedster's suggestion in this regard), I'd like to offer these two lesser-known & under-appreciated writers:

 

(1)Don Van Vliet/Captain Beefheart

Justly celebrated for his startling musical constructions (though these were often shaped by his bandmembers, most notably John French, Bill Harkleroad/Zoot Horn Rollo &, later, Gary Lucas), DVV's lyrics were his true forte, Generally of a truly surrealistic style (fully the equal of Dylan, & much less verbose) only hinted at by his imitators, he frequently broke through this to plainly state notions as philosophically thoughtful as any of our more celebrated lyricist heroes.

Suggested examples: "Dachau Blues", "When Big Joan Sets Up", "Wild Life" & "My Human Gets Me Blues" (all from TROUT MASK REPLICA); "Clear Spot", "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles" & "Too Much Time" (all from CLEAR SPOT).

Most of Beefheart's recordings are available in various reissue formats.

 

(2)William"Bootsy"Collins

Best known for his party personae & electronic "lead bass" stylings, Bootsy's ballads showed him to be a romantic song stylist surpassing Prince, Marvin Gaye & Al Green, maybe even Paul McCartney.

Want proof ? Check out his early Warner Bros. catalog (available on various reissues) & dig these specific tunes: "I'd Rather Be With You", "Vanish In Our Sleep", "Very Yes" & "ExCon of Love"

[Griffinator]

Originally posted by coolhouse:

I had once contemplated starting a thread with a similar theme on SSS(who writes most of their own material & is successful but isn't thought of foremost as a songwriter).

 

Tom Petty

Sheryl Crow

Todd Rundgren

 

Butif you want to know my favorite songwriter,it's Jackson Browne.

 

later,

 

Mike

Whoa! Let's get one thing straight. If you're basing Sheryl Crow's songwriting ability on that first album, forget it. Her ex-boyfriend wrote the entire goddamned album. He killed himself about two years later (he also didn't get any of the songwriting credits)

 

Back to the topic at hand.

 

For pure poetical skill, I gotta tip my hat to Kurt Cobain. The depth of his simile and allusion was amazing. Lines like "I travel through a tube and end up in your infection" - the imagery was immense! Too bad he couldn't play a guitar to save his life (unintentional irony there, folks)

 

As a pure and unadultered songwriter, it's gotta be Paul Simon. No one questions the reality that he was the strength of Simon&Garfunkel - as evidenced by his positively brilliant solo career. This man wrote spectacular works, and pursued his own personal musical flavors while still retaining pop sensibilities sufficient to hook his audience and reel them in like so many trout from a river.

 

From a compositional standpoint, it's gotta be Neil Pert (Rush) - a drummer who not only writes brilliant lyrics, but complicated arrangements that we all still very much drool over years after the original recordings.