Who are your favorite songwriters?

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grimtraveller said:
David Bowie has written some fantastic songs at various junctures of his career. He's done crap too, but right from '66~'67, he had a dazzling sense of melody and a personal if at times bizarre lyrical gift, mixed with very catchy, often simple and subtly clever music.
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You know I've tried a bunch of times but I just can't get into Bowie. Not sure if I've heard the '66 to '67 stuff you're talking about, and for sure I like the older stuff better, as cliche as that is...Man Who Sold the World and Hunky Dory are my faves, but even those I rarely listen to....he just always seemed really stiff to me...like some uptight privileged art-school kid. And his lyrics often seem too self-conscious to take to heart..."The return of the thin white duke throwing darts in lovers' eyes..." ugghhhhhh... But I also have similar blocks against such alleged greats as Elvis Costello and Tom Waits

grimtraveller said:
I always thought Suzanne Vega was a fantastic writer. Her first three albums guarantee her songwritng immortality ! And not just her superb lyrics. The way the words, instruments, music and mood fit just does my head in.
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I really loved that first album with Small Blue Thing etc but she lost me with Tom's Diner, which was still pretty early on for her I guess. And then when she allowed that hip-hop song to me made, that made me sad.
 
None are even in the same playing field as the one and only RYAN TEDDER!!!
 
fat_fleet said:
I really loved that first album with Small Blue Thing etc but she lost me with Tom's Diner, which was still pretty early on for her I guess. And then when she allowed that hip-hop song to me made, that made me sad.
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Yeah, her debut album is pretty fantastic. It took me about 2 years to get into Suze's first two though. A mate of mine used to play her stuff all the time. We'd be at his place doing fundraising and planning and he'd have those two on in the background. So it crept in by osmosis but by '89 I was well and truly hooked. Still am.
I think the hip hop version of "Tom's diner" was done without her knowledge. I remember when it came out, a whole generation of kids got off on it, but they got off on the beat rather than Vega. You didn't really get swathes of kids deciding to check out Suzanne Vega's music in the aftermath, same as you didn't get loads of kids checking out Elvis after those guys put sampled drums to the vocal track of one his 50s hits and sent it to number 1 a few years back. I like the accapella "Tom's diner" but the Arabic instrumental version that closes the album is sensational !
When I heard Vega's 3rd album, "Days of open hand", I thought it was rubbish. I was so into the first two that the third was such a disappointment. But over the next 4 years, it really grew on me and now I love it !
fat_fleet said:
You know I've tried a bunch of times but I just can't get into Bowie. Not sure if I've heard the '66 to '67 stuff you're talking about, and for sure I like the older stuff better, as cliche as that is...Man Who Sold the World and Hunky Dory are my faves, but even those I rarely listen to....he just always seemed really stiff to me...like some uptight privileged art-school kid. And his lyrics often seem too self-conscious to take to heart...
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I love that "Hunky dory" album. I just saw a great documentary last week about how he put together the Ziggy Stardust persona and they very briefly touch on "Hunky". It's always the album that seems to get skimmed over because of the album and general excitement that followed. I like his lyrics even though I rarely have a clue what he's going on about.
 
David McDonnell of The Sand Band is an amazing songwriter. Id urge anyone to check them out! Their debut album All Through The Night is amazing!
 
I'm really digging the work of Chris Cornell at the moment, particularly in Soundgarden rather than his solo work (although that is good too)
 
Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, Dave Grohl, etc... You can't go wrong with the Grunge Scene.
 
JBoucks said:
Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, Dave Grohl, etc... You can't go wrong with the Grunge Scene.
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You certainly can not :D

On a side note, I don't know who does the main songwriting in Mastodon, or if all of the guys contribute somewhat equally, but that band knows how to craft a kickass metal song.
 
JBoucks said:
Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, Dave Grohl, etc... You can't go wrong with the Grunge Scene.
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I'm not a fan, but they certainly wrote better songs that that vapid hair shit that came before them.
 
Lady gaga and kelly clarkson and pink write very inspirational stuff :)
 
Chris McCaughan is my favorite song writer. His songs are like mini novels!
 
Gordon Lightfoot,Jackson Browne,James Taylor,Cat Stevens,Justin Hayward,David Gilmour,Duane Allman,Greg Allman,Dickey Betts,Eric Johnson,Jeff Beck,Jim Cuddy,Joni Mitchell,Neil Young,David Crosby,Steven Stills,Grahm Nash,Bernie Taupin,Elton John,All 'The Beatles'members,All 'The Band' members,John Fogerty,Beethoven,Brahms,Mozart,Bach,Chopin,Handel,Wagner,etc,etc.,Pete Townshend,Marvin Gaye,Pat Simmons,Tom Johnston,Robert Johnson,B.B. King,Albert King,Jimi Hedrix,Hank Williams senior,Willie Nelson,Aretha Franklin,Waylon Jennings,Anne Murray,The Everly Brothers,Jerry Lee Lewis,Elvis(you know),Bill Hailey,buddy Holly,Nat King Cole,Patsy Cline,Tony Bennet,Etta James,Paul Anka,Roy Orbison,Bob Dylan,Bruce Springsteen,Paul Simon,Van Morrison,U2,Carole King,Lorreta Lynn,John Hiatt,Sam Phillips,Tom Petty,Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller,John Prine,Wilson Pickett,Sammy Cahn,Cole Porter,John Mercer,George & Ira Gershwin,Harry Chapin,...and that's just scratching the surface.

There are so many great songwritters from,...well,... when the first person(whomever it was) beating on a hollowed out log on the forest floor to the present day,...I just try to learn a little something from all of them.
 
Awww... Cat Stevens was a great one! Why didn't I think of him.



To be fair, when I like musicians, there is something unique to each of them. Obviously there is, as I wouldn't want to listen to the same style constantly.

I could name pretty much everyone on my ipod for this question. If there is a full album of an artist on my ipod, they should probably belong to my list.
 
Here are the artists on my ipod. :D


Amy Whinehouse
The Beatles
Bob Dylan
Bob Marley (and The Wailers)
Cat Stevens
The Civil Wars
Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
The Crows of Fritz :D
The Features
Fleet Foxes
Funkadelic
Grisha Goryachev
Hoots and Hellmouth
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
John Frusciante
John Mayer
Mumford and Sons
Radiohead
Rage Against the Machine
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Ravi Shankar
Regina Spektor (eh.)
Simon and Garfunkel
 
RollTape said:
There are so many great songwritters from,...well,... when the first person (whomever it was)
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According to the book of Genesis in the bible, it was a guy called Jubal. :D
 
Hunky Dory is SUPERB as are TMWSTWorld & Diamond Dogs. I'm particularly keen on DDogs - partly due to a barely managed Orwell obsession and alos the playing. I found a vid of DB doing a track from the album live whilst still in Alladinsane attire. Sadly he was morphing into the Philly Soul diva when he toured DDogs so the songs from the album don't bite as much as the could. David Live isn't too bad an album just not DDogs Live.
Vega I started to enjoy after I saw her live. Good gig & good intro to her music. Still pretty much a case of her mid 80's greatest hits (?) album being enough for me.
Costello, soooooooo clever cloggs but soooooooooooooo good at it too. UNtil the last couple - basically anything even remotely in the time from before & everything during & since the TV show is as suspect as that show. All the bile & passion has become elder statesman & hobnobberism.
 
Hip Hop

Biggie
Jay Z
Rick Ross
TI
Andree 3000

Soul
Alicia Keys
Lauren Hill
Kesha Cole
 
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