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
Bencampbell, I agree. Onhwy61, what about the music of Blonde on blonde and Highway 61. Is this not some of rocks greatest and original tunes? Yea, a bit taken from here and there, but still some of rocks greatest and original tunes. No?
Forever an Onhwy61 fan.
Oh ya..Hank of course I mean who hasn't done his songs? Cold cold heart has everybodies name on it.
Townsvanzant personal choice. Guy Clark is amazing the words are ...perfect?Three is not enough
Gram Parsons ,Leonard Cohen,Proffessor Longhair
I mean these guys wrote and could sing?Many more are out there ...these are in my head at the moment
Teams
-Fagan/becker
-Rogers/Hammerstein
-Lennon/McCartney
-Davies/Hodgson
-Waters/Gilmore
Solos
-Brian Wilson
-Sting
-Frampton
-Brothers Gibb
-Maurice White
-Christopher Cross
-Stevie Nicks
-Peter Cetera
-Harry Nilson
-Don Henley
-Robbie Kroger
Duke Ellington
Jelly Roll Morton
Cole Porter
Scott Joplin
Irving Berlin
George Gershwin
Richard Rogers
Jerome Kern

The following guys were good, but in no way come up to the level of the previous songwriters:

Lennon & McCartney
Bob Dylan
Woody Guthrie

You know, we should all try to get out of our own era and geography a little bit. Nearly all of us have only picked from the twentieth century and most, only from a 30-40 year period within the twentieth century. What about foreign songwriters? What about music from other cultures? What about those from other centuries? Where do Bach, Beethoven and Mozart stand in this list? Remember, although we consider their music classical, it was the popular music of their time and 300-400 years later, we still listen to it. The name of the thread is greatest songwriter of all time, not greatest American songwriter from the last 20, 30, 40 or 50 years who wrote a couple of songs that I like a lot.
Rayhall,.. could not agree more. My post further up had zip impact on people thinking beyond their own time. It is a bit too bad since most of the late 20th century writers that most above are speaking of..were greatly impacted by those that came before them.

Seems that most are in the 30 to 50 year old range...I guess this same thread a few years from now will bring answers like:

InSync
Madonna
Boyz To Men
Faith Hill
etc...
You guys have a good point, but, while I acknowledge the greatness of the composers listed by Rayhall, still Buddy Holly was the best composer since Bach, and the best songwriter ever.
Paul,..guess I was eight, or so, when Mr. Holly's plane went down..being from Iowa, we all remember it like people in Madison, Wi. remember Otis and his plane going down in Lake Monona. Anyway, Buddy was one of the very few to have his impact great enough to have a group name themselves after him..ie: the Hollies. Wonder if Bobby Vee would have had a career without sounding like Mr. Holly?

Seems like Buddy Holly song's are so good that no matter who(m) does their cover....it still sounds good.
Obviously, we're just talking about ourselves when we join in these "greatest" lists. For all we know some Calabrian peasant in the pre-electronic age was the "best" songwriter ever. As you said way up there somewhere, most of us are talking about the best (in our opinions) in our lifetimes.

But it is fun to celebrate the genius of those who have impressed or influenced us. We are about the same age, but I really had no appreciation of Buddy Holly until I was an adult. I knew about him primarily from the crash that also took the life of local hero Richie Valens, a minor singer-songwriter not in the same league at all. As a teenager, I heard the Stones doing "Not Fade Away," and that was a revelation, but it was only years later, after a lot of classical music exposure and listening to lots of singers that I really came to a full appreciation of Buddy Holly.

I thought it was a lot of fun when then-VP-candidate Lloyd Bentsen said he liked rock and roll. When the reporter asked him to name a rock and roll artist he liked, Senator Bentsen answered, Buddy Holly.
Listening to the new one titled "Used Songs" by Tom Waits, a compilation of songs from the early years, reminded me what a great songwriter he is, so I'll add him to my list.
I second Van Morrison,also John Lennon,Joni Mitchell,Paul M.,Steve Winwood, and several others.
Philefreak, How dare I over look Van the man Morrison. I agree 100%. Love the MAN VAN.
PINK FLOYD they made some of THE best music IMHO. But i like more of the stuff after syd barrett left the band
Lots of great choices so far, and I agree with some of them; but I guess we're not sticking to Rock. So, for something different I nominate Franz Schubert and Ernesto Lecuona.
Kate Wolf, Folk Singer. She was a great-singer/writer. Also,
Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe, & Oscar Hammerstein II.
To be the greatest songwriter of all time, one must be able meet the highest ranking for the following criteria:
1. Write songs with words and melodies that are popular, easily recognizable, and easily sung by masses.
2. Write songs that influence other songwriters or
create a whole new trend in music.
3. Write songs that have a strong influence on society.
4. Write songs that become classics (songs that remain popular for decades or centuries).

While most of the nominations so far are popular, only a handful have met the above criteria. But the question originally proposed was who was the greatest songwriter of all time. OK, OK, let's narrow it to the past century. The clear cut winner in my opinion is George M. Cohan. What other songwriter has received the U.S. Congressional Medal Of Honor for writing songs that positively influenced so many people during both world wars and the depression?
Redwood . . .
Your criteria points to Paul McCartney as much as anyone, doesn't it? Paul was definitely good, but most of his post-Beatles stuff was a bit too bubble-gumish for me.

This brings up another interesting topic. What happens to some songwriters? Do they wake up one day and discover they have lost their creativity? Right now, McCartney (the song writer with more #1 hits than any) couldn't write a good song if his life depended on it and hasn't for the last 20+ years. There are others: Elton John, Dan Fogelberg, etc, etc .

On the other side of the coin, Brian Wilson's, Christopher Cross's, last albums were, in my opinion, their best.
I have looked through this thread and can't find Billy Joel's name...not even once. I find that weird. I know these things are driven as much by personal taste as anything but you'd think once? Well, now it has. I don't know if I would put him in MY top 3 but he is certainly competitive with many of the names in this thread.

anywho...

Beatles music/lyrics/infulence/melody/classics...who could claim more in our lifetime in popular music? How many top 10 hits and classic memorable tunes...too many to number.
Dylan, genius but not popular like Beatles or Elton or Elvis etc. but obviously the musical community thinks he is the beat all to end all
Springsteen -energy/emotion/the story/rock/song

That isn't enough because the creativity of musicians and their unique personalities can't be captured in a one two three...but it is fun thinking about it.

happy listening
cd
No mention of David Bowie? He has been one of the biggest influences on rock/pop of the last 30 yrs. And XTC, the greatest underrated act of recent memory.

BUT, nothing has ever touched my soul like a Mozart aria. God sang into this man's ear as he wrote down the notes.
This is an impossible question!
Who is the most beautiful woman ever?
' depends what day you ask me.
But I will put forth a few names that I believe that by any objective evaluation can not be denied. One of the primary factors I consider essential to be on my list is the songwriters influence on other songwriters and their continuing influence on newer, younger generations of songwriters.

The Gershwin brothers - A great organic blend of lyric and music.
Hank Williams - Heart on his sleeve. Great songs to cry in your beer to. Heartache incarnate.
Bob Dylan - The Picasso of songwriters. How many "periods" has he gone through? Songs about everything in the human experience...and beyond.
Bob Marley - Voice of the voiceless.
Puccini - Soars and pulls the heart strings. Beautiful drama.
Cole Porter - Elegant, smart
Antonio Carlos Jobin - Smooth, sexy, beautiful
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On - An inner-city symphony of 1971 America. Young man back from the war. Strung-out. People,the earth abused.
The songwriter of the love song you hear on your car radio Saturday night when your crusing with your girl by your side. And that song is saying everything that is inside you.

Smokey Robinson
Becker and Fagan
Jesse Winchester
Tom Paxton
Donovan
John Prine
Gil Scott Heron
McGarrigle Sisters
Stan Rogers

Some others for your consideration.
How can there be more than one "greatest?" If the question is 3 greatest, or 5 greatest, then lists are OK.

The Greatest: Dylan
Runners Up: Richard Thompson, Nick Cave, Iris DeMent
How about,

Pete Townsend
Paul Simon
Elton John & Bernie Taupin
Rogers and Hammerstein
John Philip Sousa
Burt Bacharach and Hal David
Sting
Lennon and McCartney
Irving Berlin
Glen Miller
Benny Goodman
Lou Reed
Paul Anka
Prince: Aka Unpronouncable Glyph guy with large head
Laura Nyro-maybe not the greatest, but a true original & one that helped considerably in widening the arena for women in music. I think her lyrics strike this uneasy balance between music and poetry
Caveat; I seem to prefer music without lyrics. The names that immediately jumped to mind, and interestingly (maybe not?) in this order:
Tom Waits
Bob Dylan
Bruce Springsteen
and maybe Jackson Browne
oh, John Fogerty could sure lay down a hook
Mind you, I don’t listen to much of the above. Well, maybe Waits and CCR.
Lots and lots of great nominees already mentioned, most of my favorites. To which I will add Holland/Dozier/Holland and Boudleaux & Felice Bryant.
Different categories but let me second:

Leonard Cohen
Warren Zevon

Billy Joel and if no one mentioned them

Steve Winwood
Cat Stevens


Joni Mitchell
Difford and Tillbrook
Bryan Ferry
Lots of others...Let me think...

"In fact occassionally one tune would be so good he'd use on about 6 or 7 different songs....."

 

That's funny. I've heard it said that every band just writes the same 7 songs over and over. I think that might be true.

Three best of all time is a pretty high bar, but I certainly appreciate the lyrics by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen,  Steve Earle.  But that leaves so many out, such as Townes Van Zandt & so may more that if I thought about it might be in my top three.

Jack White.

Muddy Water.

BB King.

John Lee Hooker

Ray Charles.

Johnny Lydon 

Johnny Cash

Joe Strummer

Bob Marley 

Toots Hibbert. 
Robert Fripp

Willy Nelson

 

 

I always thought John Prine did some pretty good song writing, and I like Josh Ritter's lyrics a lot. 

@acefactory  ,  it was "Girl In The War" that got me paying attention to him.

\I fully agree - Josh Ritter is an outstanding wordsmith!

 

 

@backwash  , unfortunately I am not too familiar with Lyle Lovett's work, but

You can't talk about song writes without Steve Earle or Lyle Lovitt

I am in total agreement with you as related to Steve Earle's song writing--so much so that I previously felt compelled to talk about him on this thread.

I have a great deal of respect for Jackson Browne's writing creativity, and I've always thought that Michael Timmins wrote some interesting lyrics. 

Impressive lists. I agree: Leonard Cohen, no one else even close. But I’m shocked no one has mentioned Mary Chaplin Carpenter.