Hah....I know I'll regret this given I'll forget some and be reminded by y'all.

1: macca
2: john lennon
3: paul simon
4: andy partridge
5: shawn colvin
6: neil finn
7: jimmy webb
8: burt bacharach (sic?)
9: harry Nilsson?
10: fagan/becker

Okay, let me have it.

Neil Diamond wrote all his own lyrics and melodies...and Billy Joel is or was amazing....
Who is Macca...? Leonard Cohen......

Macca is Paul McCartney

Gotta watch the Yankees Mets and the Tonys,between commercials but I'll be back

My Rays Suck.....and I'd love to be involved in writing songs for musicals....Oh well maybe my next life....

Fugg, joel and diamond, godammitt!

We had a list like this before, always hard to agree on 10. All those guys are great.

I really think a list has to be in categories, and eras. Without
categories it's more personal likes. You can't compare Merle Haggard with Prince. You can't compare Pete Seeger with Smokey Robinson. Even decades are hard...

Can you compare Ray Davies with Jack White, I gues you could, but i think we all realize that modern songwriters are not in that league, but they can still be great

You can't compare Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift, even.

But my personal list....id have any easier time coming up with 50 and breaking them into categories and eras but....

Beatles, all of them, Mic and Keith, Ray Davies, Smokey Robinson, Pete Townshend, The Boss, Billy Joel, Neil Young, Tom Waites,
Paul Simon.

There's so many though in so many cats and eras

Joni, Lucinda, Happy Rhodes...girl power...WHAA-WHAA!!!

Gahhh, prince and joni.....

How bout...

Graham Parker, Warren Zevon, Tom Petty, John Prine,
Mark Knopfler.

So many people that ALMOST make the list, but we're glad they are there.

Elton John and Bernie Taupin and of course
Barry Butler......At least I think so anyway....LOLOLOL....

Yes, we can't omit the Butler.

The Butler did it!

FORGIVE ME...Carole King and James Taylor!!!

Twelve posts in and no one has suggested Dylan?

Yikes

Scott

I know Scott, this has come up before. He is THE singer songwriter, but I'm more a fan of the people he influenced more than himself.

I can't like a singer songwriter because I'm supposed to, I have to actually like the music. I like a handful of Dylan's songs very much, but I don't listen to him for entertainment...aside from like a rolling stone

I think these lists show how biased we are too.

No r&b songwriters mentioned. No metal songwriters, no reggae songwriters, no classical songwriters. No garage or punk singer songwriters.

no dance singer songwriters. Few if any folk singer songwriters

Imagine this was a mostly metal site, they'd be listing Ozzie!

Ahhh jeez, dylan....king.....taylor.....okay top fifty.

Well,
Couldja put some songs to these "Greatest" songwriters?

Lol Ray.

Cmon no Marty Robbins El Paso, or Hank Williams I'm so lonesome I could die, lol

Ray hasn't seen any good songwriters yet gang....

Our goose is cooked!

Well Lessee "Fido",
Why don't you go find that song I'VE FORGOTTEN MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW by the Davis Sisters! Or, ALL THE MONKEYS AIN'T IN THE ZOO by Tommy Collins, or PHILADELPHIA LAWYER by Maddox Brothers and Rose or YONDER COMES A SUCKER by Jim Reeves or SMOKE ALONG THE TRACK by Stonewall Jackson, etc., etc., etc. Great songwriters? Too many to count.

Well lessee "Strodeo"

Nobody agrees, but you are the worst...u wont even credit McCartney and Lennon.

But bring it its fun...

Um Wow,
Didja know those Beatles were influenced by Slim Whitman and many other Country Artists who toured regularly overseas?

Well, to your point, that is why it's so hard to come up with a unified list.

There are folks like you who only listen to 1950s Country, how could you possibly cover it all. You wouldn't even be able to come up with an unbiased country list. All we can do is write a favorites list.

Nobody is gonna mention a....Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder

Nobody is gonna mention a Bob Marley, or a Joe Strummer or an Ozzie Osbourne

It proves that lists are biased based in age, genre, and likes.

What might be good, is have people give reasons why they think their guy or gal is one of the best, maybe we could learn from it

For me it's plural, and when I think Fuggs, I think Sanders and Kupferman. Brilliant!

[i][/i]
I think that's the point. It IS personal. To know people, know their music. In a way, it's a more meaningful snapshot than a demographic profile.

Aw, Gee, Shucks,
I have all kinds of music in my collection. Today I broke out a 4 CD collection, THE EARLY 30's, Those were our songs. I will mention one song in the Collection. PAPER MOON. you heard it "Fido"? If not it is probably posted on youTube.

Ray,
So explain to me why Paper Moon is a great song. I don't want you to copy and paste it off of some site, I want you to tell me why it's a great song.

I don't have a problem with the song, that's when songwriting was precise and not a wasted word. But you lead the way....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TvnnOLjHHNI

It is only a paper moon
Hanging over a cardboard sea
But it wouldn't be make believe
If you believe in me
It is only a canvas sky
Sailing over a muslin tree
But it wouldn't be make believe
If you believe in me

Without your love
It's a honky-tonk parade
Without your love
It's a melody played on a penny arcade
It's a Barnum and Bailey world
Just as phony as it can be
But it wouldn't be make believe
If you believe in me

Without your love
It's a honky-tonk parade
Without your love
It's a melody played on a penny arcade
It's a Barnum and Bailey world
Just as phony as it can be
But it wouldn't be make believe
If you believe in me

Why not?

Someone asked Dylan who the greatest poet of the twentieth century was, and he said Smokey Robinson.

That's a great answer. I love Smokey, but it's not a question that has a right or wrong answer. Ray will probably tell you what's great about "Paper Moon." But all songs are paper moons - great only if they're great in the eye of the beholder.

Eh, Well, Fdemetrio,
Why is Paper Moon a great song? Well maybe that is like trying to explain why the sky is blue. The song is not too complicated, has that something that gets your attention. One of the biggest hits of all time was IN THE JAIL HOUSE NOW. Written by Jimmy Rogers and made a huge Hit by Webb Pierce. Very simplistic but had something that got your attention.

Tons of great songs out there written by many people over time. You may not be able to explain a great song, but you will know one when you hear it.

Holland, Dozier and Holland...MO Town...

Without looking at the previous posts I shall name some of my candidates:

Bob Dylan
Gordon Lightfoot
Kris Kristofferson
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Lucinda Williams
John D. Loudermilk
Joni Mitchell
John Prine

I now have eight; guess I'll let the rest of you have a crack in who should round out the top 10.

Oh snap, lightfoot and prine.

Delmont, it's funny Dylan said that about Smokey. I don't consider Smokey a great poet, but i do consider him one of the best pop songwriters of all time, but I'm not gonna argue with Dylan either, not unless he shows up here and starts something.........lol.

But nobody ever mentions the smokester

Ray, your answer seems more like "I don't know, I just like it"

I listened and read the lyric and found a number of things I thought made it good.

But Mick Jaggar sang "I know, it's only Rock n Roll, but I like it"

But I thought if u picked it apart u might give us something we could use....

It's funny how pop songwriters get overlooked....

How bout Hall and Oates, one of the most successful, and great, pop songwriting duos of all time, an endless string of hits.

And they are the real deal musically and vocally.

This one always makes me feel good, but they have at least 20 great songs

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YoFJgLmbYZE

This was fun came on right after the above video

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WPHetGFUHqI

Tough, but here goes:

1. Bruce Springsteen
2. Tom Petty
3. Mark Knopfler
3. Elvis Costello
4. John Lennon
5. Graham Parker
6. Nick Lowe
7. John Martyn
8. Neil Young
9. James Taylor
10. Carol King

Yeah Gocart, I forgot about Elvis Costello.

Glad some people recognize The Boss as one of the best. I dont think he has to take a back seat to anyone, but he was NOT a hit songwriter

Petty, parker, young....yep, killin' me with after thought.

And I'm more interested in the people who influenced him. Too bad Woody Guthrie doesn't count as the past fifty years!

PS -

No, no, no! Aretha Franklin and Mick Jagger are THE songwriters. Dylan is A songwriter. (He does turn some pretty fine lines, though.)

Well that's true Delmont. Dylan and Guthrie deserve their place,but when we say songwriter, what are we saying?

Dylan's lyrics are the only reason people consider him The G.O.A.T

But songs are more than lyrics. There are hundreds if not thousands of artists who write better melodies, and better music in general, than Dylan and Guthrie

He gets elevated cause of his social context, and commentary. and his poetry which he managed to make into songs, and even into pop

Don't get me wrong, Dylan is still talented musically and very artistic, I just think his legend preceeds him In these conversations.

I think you just did.

How come you didn't?

Because I didn't post a list.

We know.

That's one of the things that makes this an entertaining question. It doesn't leave room for teams - Lennon and McCartney, Garcia and Hunter, John and Taupin, Leiber and Stoller.

well lets see your list, mine was written already....

I have no idea. I'm not even sure I get the question. My ten favorite? The ten that I think are the most popular? The top ten in sales? The top ten on the Hit Parade? The ten most prolific? The ten that critics like best?

And - past fifty years? Martha Reeves is still alive, but her big hits were all pre-1968. So would she count or not? And, shoot, what's the fun of a top songwriter list if you can't name Woody Guthrie, Aunt Molly Jackson, Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, or Florence Reece?

Anyhow, to answer one of your questions, I didn't name any of the ones you did because I wouldn't have thought of them. You did.

Here are ten I can think of offhand. I'd include Garcia/Hunter, Jagger/Richards, and maybe Lennon/McCartney, but the question specifies individuals, not teams. Anyhow:

Ry Cooder
Aretha Franklin
John Hiatt
Tish Hinojosa
B.B. King
Lyle Lovett
Mike Scott
Nina Simone
Tom Waits
Frank Zappa

PS -

Actually, not Lennon/McCartney. I never put them on.

Frank Zappa, absolutely deserves mention, although he was always critical of rock and pop songwriters.

I am, too. A dismal lot.

But as I say, it's an impossible question. Just thought of John Sebastian, Laura Nyro, Gil Scott Heron, Carol King, Willie Nelson, Ani DeFranco, Chris Stapleton, Willie Dixon, Richard Thompson, Shane MacGowan, and Cheryl Wheeler.

I rest my case: It can't be done!

On youtube "WOKE UP DREAMING " Joe Bonnamassa and a Japanese Chelloist---

----don't know who wrote it--KILLER, KILLER----HOTEL CALIFORNIA, HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN.................

many many...........



Mackie