Greatest Songwriter of all time


I was reading the Dylan post and it got me thinking. There are many great songwriters that come to mind, my expertise/knowledge is primarily with rock music. If you could only pick three, what would they be? My vote for best lyrics goes to:

Jim Morrison
Bruce Springsteen
Elvis Costello

Best music goes to:

Mark Knopfler
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Frank Zappa
jeffloistarca

Showing 4 responses by cornfedboy

of course bob and bruce rule. i'm surprised,tho, that no one's put any female singer/songwriters on their lists (but for joni mitchell). how about: carole king, ani defranco, shawn colvin, iris dement? and on the male side, how can pete seeger, jackson browne, james taylor, warren zevon, loudon wainwrigth III and greg brown be left off all the lists thus far? -cfb
john_l: for a great intro to guy clark, i'd suggest one of his latest, "cold dog soup." wonderful stuff.-cfb
mes: thanks for your second on guy clark's "cold dog soup" but townes van zandt didn't write any of the songs on that cd. sure you're not thinkin' of "poet-a tribute to TVZ." guy's on that one, too. -cfb
most depressing band? easy. fred and patti smith. try "it takes time" from the sountrack of "until the end of the world." an excellent disc and better lp, BTW (gotta get the german lp). -cfb