Who are your favorite songwriters?

[triquee]

I'm just getting started on songwriting and I've been thinking about some of my favorite song writers and what it is that I really love about their work. I'd love to hear your favorites too. Maybe turn me on to some good stuff that I haven't heard before.

A few of my faves:

Peter Gabriel
Jason Mraz
Eminem
Sia
Amy Winehouse
The Civil Wars
Elliott Smith
Fink
Jack Johnson
Shannon Hoon
Ani Difranco

A bunch of others that I can't think of at the moment...

[Greg_L]

I like a song or I don't and I generally don't care who wrote it.

[grimtraveller]

I like a song or I don't and I generally don't care who wrote it.

I'm a bit like that except that there have been so many songs that it turns out were written by the same person or persons that it turns out that there are lots of writers that I do like.
That said, I like writers in particular periods of their lives. For example, I like Bob Dylan's stuff of 1965/66 and '79~83 but not the rest. I love the stuff Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ray Davies, Lennon, McCartney and Harrison came up with at various points in the 60s. I like Bob Marley's stuff circa '77~80 and Stevie Wonder's writing in that '72/73 period. I thought the stuff Syd Barrett wrote in 1967 was marvelous. But not much else he did after.
But there's lots more. I don't really have 'favourite' writers.

[Chili]

Who are your favorite songwriters?

You should ask who is (singular!!), because there is only one... ME!!!!

[jimmys69]

Jellyfish (specifically Andy Sturmer), Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, and Alanis M. Though this goes into more of the fact that Glenn Ballard co wrote Alanis's stuff on her first productive album.

So where do we draw the line at who wrote the songs. I'm not sure it really matters, when it comes to creating.

I have a childhood friend that has co-written a Billboard top 10 hit just recently. It has nothing to do with writing in genre. Nor does songwriting equate to being a hit.

Ok, wait. I just strayed completely from your topic Triquee.

Sorry, I digressed.....

I would probably go with Eminem as my favorite writer, if their were some type of poll here.

[triquee]

Jellyfish (specifically Andy Sturmer), Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, and Alanis M. Though this goes into more of the fact that Glenn Ballard co wrote Alanis's stuff on her first productive album.

So where do we draw the line at who wrote the songs. I'm not sure it really matters, when it comes to creating.

I have a childhood friend that has co-written a Billboard top 10 hit just recently. It has nothing to do with writing in genre. Nor does songwriting equate to being a hit.

Ok, wait. I just strayed completely from your topic Triquee.

Sorry, I digressed.....

I would probably go with Eminem as my favorite writer, if their were some type of poll here.

Fiona Apple!! *swoon* She's such a poetic songwriter. I always feel like I'm hearing a work of prose from her.

Tori Amos, I love. Fell in knock down drag out love with Tori Amos when I was 15 or 16. Sometimes her lyrical choices are a liiiiiittle out there for me, but her composition is always, always, always compelling.

Alanis strikes me as very stream of consciousness and confessional in a way. I wore out both Jagged Little Pill and Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie.

Good Stuff!

And Eminem...I've never heard anyone else turn a phrase like him. The way he pulls social commentary and pop culture references into his lyrics is masterful.

[jimmys69]

Well, you left out my fav, Andy Sturmer. lol!

It's all good. I just loved the timeless devotion to children's songs, that all of Jellyfish tunes seemed to be. Even if they spoke of defying religion, fame and masturbation guidelines. lol!

I'm just a glutton for punishment anyway. If any of my metalhead friends were here on this forum, I would surely be moshed in a bad way.

I really don't care. I like emotion in music. Tragic experiences that move me.


That is what music should be IMO

[triquee]

Well, you left out my fav, Andy Sturmer. lol!

It's all good. I just loved the timeless devotion to children's songs, that all of Jellyfish tunes seemed to be. Even if they spoke of defying religion, fame and masturbation guidelines. lol!

I'm just a glutton for punishment anyway. If any of my metalhead friends were here on this forum, I would surely be moshed in a bad way.

I really don't care. I like emotion in music. Tragic experiences that move me.


That is what music should be IMO

Werd.

Metal is expressive too....

[jimmys69]

Yes, just in a different way. More anger sometimes. Usually in a ridiculously overbearing way.

Aw f**k, I'm either getting old, or just wise enough to realize.... lol!

Either way, good is good. Great is unusual. How we find what artists move us, is just relative to how we hear it.

What moves one, may not another. As a musician, it becomes more complicated, as to what moves us. Usually what others would consider obscure, is what it takes to pull at our hear strings. Then, we tend to write for those who don't really listen.....

Like sands through the hourglass....

I still smile everyday tho.

[triquee]

Yes, just in a different way. More anger sometimes. Usually in a ridiculously overbearing way.

Aw f**k, I'm either getting old, or just wise enough to realize.... lol!

Either way, good is good. Great is unusual. How we find what artists move us, is just relative to how we hear it.

What moves one, may not another. As a musician, it becomes more complicated, as to what moves us. Usually what others would consider obscure, is what it takes to pull at our hear strings. Then, we tend to write for those who don't really listen.....

Like sands through the hourglass....

I still smile everyday tho.

All true....

Hell, sometimes it isn't just how we hear it but WHEN we hear it. Took me a long time to realize what all the Radiohead fuss was about. Didn't really get it the first time I heard them. Then years later I caught a whiff of them and was like, "Who IS that??!!!" Fucking Radiohead. The drums on "Wolf at the Door" make me very, very, very happy.