favourite songwriters

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No. But I was impressed that before that stint with Purple he played on one of Billy Cobham's Lps. He was certainly a better writer than Cobham, who was an immense drummer.
 
Terry Wetzel said:
Bob Dylan is a shoe in. Lyrics are great but his voice sucks!
John Lennon & Paul McCartney,(together or seperate).
Jerry Lieber & Mike Stoller.
Jerry Fuller.
Sonny Curtis,(formerly of Buddy Holly & The Crickets.(Song writers hall of fame)!
Felice & Beadeleaux Bryant.(hope I spelled it right,they wrote all the Everly bros. big ones)
Doc Pomous & Mort Schumer.
Chuck Berry.
Johnny & Dorsey Burnette.
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I'd go along with every single one of these. Plus I'd add the chaps from Abba, Gerry Goffin and Carol King, Albert Hammond, Dianne Warren, and even Nikki Chinn and Mike Chapman - wrote mostly for Mud, Sweet, Suzi Quatro etc. Big names in the UK anyway.
 
This is the kind of tune someone will probably be remaking 25 years from now (no that's not Chrissie Hynde at the first)

 
The Beatles; then Noel Gallagher; and Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys; the latter also for his lyrics ("With folded arms you occupied the bench like toothache, stood and puffed your chest out like you never lost a war"... just perfect).
 
For me the top songwriter (of these times) is Steven Wilson from Porcupine Tree. His music sounds simple but is so dynamic and complex at its core that its quite mind bugling. But where he excels, in my opinion, is in his vocal melodies and harmonies. It's reminiscent of CSNY and a few other folk bands, but has a life all on its own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCkRG8IBaAo - In minutes 2:54 you have a clear example of his vocal harmony power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tRAS_yi5xQ&feature=related - The chorus in this song has very complex vocal harmony lines (the guy in the comment explains why there is so much echo in the verse).

Of course, I love other songwriters such as John Mayer, which I find genius in a lot of the things he does, and the compositions of Harrison in The Beatles were amazing. There are countless others, but this is just from the top of my head right now.
 
Townes Van Zandt
Steve Earle
Guy Clark
Elliott Smith
Neal Peart
 
Glad to see some props for:

Ian Hunter
Robyn Hitchcock
Black Francis
Bob Pollard

Would add:

Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick)
Andy Partridge (XTC)
Amie Mann
Bryan Ferry (particularly Roxy material)
Joe Jackson
Holland/Dozier/Holland

Generally agree with all the heavyweights listed (Lennon/McCartney, Dylan, Bowie et all)

-small
 
The 3 best songwriters (who can produce a beautiful song, never mind lyrics and all that crap) are Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson and Burt Bacharach
 
First off cant believe no one listed clapton but whatever.
Then i dont know if you guys listen to any modern music
Maynard james keenan from tool
Jesse hasek from 10 years
Brent smith from shinedown
 
Southern stoner said:
First off cant believe no one listed clapton
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Maybe none of the contributors thus far have rated him as a favourite songwriter. I like his live guitar work a million years ago with Cream. But I simply don't rate him highly as a writer. And he probably feels the same way.....(about me, that is !).
 
Where to begin....hmm.

Marc Byrd, Derri Daugherty, Steve Hindalong, Steve Taylor, Peter Furler, Dave Matthews, Bono, David Crowder, Ed Kowalczyk, are just a few whose lyrics move or inspire me.
 
Dan Fogelberg. To me nobody is even close. This guy lifts you up and carries you into each and every song. If all you've heard are his pop hits you haven't scratched the surfac and should take some time to drill down deeper. Listen to Ghosts off the Innocent Age album. Loose Ends off Netherlands. The Minstrel off River of souls. Soooo many more. And so diverse. Ballads, rock, Bosa Nova, jazz, bluegrass and even classical. Try Paris Nocturne off Twin Sons of Different Mothers. Lyrically and musically he is genius. How this guy never got more notoriety is beyond me.
 
The big ones for me are pretty familiar, Dylan, Bowie, Morrison and Lennon/McCartney. Though I found Paul McCartney had a huge capacity for schmaltz than Lennon never did.

Adding to that, I've always liked Pete Doherty's songs, and I've always appreciated the way Kurt Cobain could turn a phrase, and the odd way he would use language.
 
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