Who is your favourite songwriter and why?

cerebis · 22-03-2007 11:53pm

well it boils down to two.

Can't quite pick between -

Foster or Allen

? tis tough....

Nah, enough jokes....I've always liked Paul McCartney as a songwriter...some great tunes..Even his solo stuff (not so much wings)..I also think Mr. Noel Gallagher has wrote some classics...I also think that guy from the frames is a decent songwriter too - Glen H.

peanutroad · 23-03-2007 1:37am

Hank Williams. His songs were both poetic and beautifully crafted.

Pat D. Almighty · 23-03-2007 2:24pm

cerebis wrote:

well it boils down to two.

Can't quite pick between -

Foster or Allen ? tis tough....

Nah, enough jokes....I've always liked Paul McCartney as a songwriter...some great tunes..Even his solo stuff (not so much wings)..I also think Mr. Noel Gallagher has wrote some classics...I also think that guy from the frames is a decent songwriter too - Glen H.

Paul McCartney should have never given up LSD. His songs have been downhill ever snince. When he was on LSD, he wrote Helter Skelter. When he went straight...he wrote Mull Of Kyntire....says it all really

mada999 · 24-03-2007 12:16am

depends what you like really...he writes songs with such melody..
Helter Skelter was raw and clangy, but decent none the less..

frobisher · 24-03-2007 1:05am

Hhmm, I'm not so sure about the LSD thing. I mean when you're on it it's near impossible to write! I reckon that McCartney is a bit of a natural soft melodic type writer and as moved from the counter culrue of his 60's youth he moved into that more. Although I'm no Beatles scholar!!

SolMate · 25-03-2007 3:27pm

Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell and the late and almost forgotten Clifford T Ward (Home Thoughts from Abroad...what a beautiful feat of songwriting...the whole album, not just the title track)

Gerry

rcaz · 26-03-2007 12:13pm

Wayne Coyne. He writes about life, love, death, space, animals, science-fiction, just lets his imagination go, I think, but he writes it all with meaning. If I'm sad, I stick on some Lips, it really helps me. I also like the way he sings his songs. He's a horrible singer, so everything sounds so sincere, like it's coming from anyone, not a groomed vocalist.

Of course I love Dylan and Springsteen and the usual suspects, but they don't seem to have the same effect on me as Coyne.

arghh · 30-03-2007 3:19pm

Ray Davies, Paul Simon, Hank Williams and Mick and Keith

squire89 · 31-03-2007 12:35pm

Favourite lyricist = Morrissey

Favourite guitarist/songwriter = Johnny Marr

What good luck it was they happened to write songs together

Steve_o · 25-04-2007 4:05pm

I'd have to say Bob Dylan, the man is a lyrical genius....All his songs have meaning and are not just pointless words with a tune!! Everyone can relate to at least 1 of his songs, he covers so many issues with them, he's brilliant!!

Second favourite is Tom Waits!

potty pete · 25-04-2007 4:06pm

Steve_o wrote:

I'd have to say Bob Dylan, the man is a lyrical genius....All his songs have meaning and are not just pointless words with a tune!! Everyone can relate to at least 1 of his songs, he covers so many issues with them, he's brilliant!!

Second favourite is Tom Waits!

I could go with both of those two. Difficult to say obviously. Besides the forementioned heavyweights and others like Leonard Cohen, Tori Amos and Ryan Adams, an Irish boy, Emmett Tinley is a wonderful songwriter.

potty pete · 25-04-2007 4:07pm

Oink wrote:

I used to think that Fall at your feet was the perfect pop ballad. He used 4 basic chords (that have been used and abused for so long), kept to very simple riffs, and yet the result was fantastic.

Don McLean writes the most amazing stuff as well when he's not busy writing ****e songs. The words are pure poetry, the guitar playing is amazing...

Which brings us to Jim Croce who was also halfway between genius and country crap...

I need to listen to more recent stuff, but I'm currently working my way up from the 60's, and it took me ten years to reach '79.

Fall at your feet - what a song.

potty pete · 25-04-2007 4:13pm

frobisher wrote:

Hhmm, I'm not so sure about the LSD thing. I mean when you're on it it's near impossible to write! I reckon that McCartney is a bit of a natural soft melodic type writer and as moved from the counter culrue of his 60's youth he moved into that more. Although I'm no Beatles scholar!!

Of course it is. That talk repulses me from Almighty. Any songwriter, well, decent songwriter, will say that being out of you head doesn't increase your ability to be creative. Complete rubbish. The sooner this is realised the better. This also came from another talented songwriter in Peter Doherty. He professes that he writes his best most creative stuff with a clear mind(okay, a clear mind is a bit of a stretch for him, but y'know what I mean) A complete myth.

sham69 · 25-04-2007 4:14pm

I quite like some of Chris Cornells songwriting.
Nick Drake without question.
Colin Hay ( from men at work) has some great solo stuff.
Too many to mention..

Steve_o · 26-04-2007 9:46am

sham69 wrote:

I quite like some of Chris Cornells songwriting.
Nick Drake without question.
Colin Hay ( from men at work) has some great solo stuff.
Too many to mention..

Colin Hay did a fair few songs for the scrubs soundtrack, the Song "I Don't think i'll ever get over you" is a class tune!!

Joshua Radin is also a very good songwriter!

Tar.Aldarion · 26-04-2007 9:54am

Bob Dylan.

RAIN · 27-04-2007 11:44am

Besides Dylan for me its Jeff Mangum from Neutral Milk Hotel his lyrics are unbelievable and themes he uses in his songs are WOW bioligy,religion,science,ww2.Brilliant.
The guy from the hold steady is my fav at the mo
i also love james mercer from the shins brilliant.

studio.jk · 14-05-2007 3:30pm

David Bowie (in his earlier guises - some genius song construction - played around so nicely with melody, chord structure, timing etc - great stuff - and a lot of good lyrics, though a touch of obvious pretension didn't help sometimes.) think, 5 years, Quicksand, The Bewlay Brothers, Ziggy Stardust, Station to Station.....classics.

Prince - sort of very quickly forgotten about - but what a prolific songwriter with an incredible ear for arrangement (words not good a lot of the time - still for pure musical invention - amazing)

My current favourite songwriter - Thom Yorke - Reason simply genius.

(I know the people above are all performers and not 'Songwriters' in the Burt Bacharach sense...but alot of writers who write for other people are very commercial - People liek Rick Nowells etc (actually saying that, Rick Nowells has produced some excellent tracks for a shedload of musicians.)

Anyone think the Gibbs are worth mentioning in this thread.

Someone mentioned Dolly Parton earlier - good call there.

Kate Bush, Kurt Cobain, The boys in U2 can't be ruled out!!

(Bloody hell, I just think everyone who writes songs is great!!!)

/Andy\ · 14-05-2007 3:39pm

Ryan Adams is probably my favourite of all time, I especially love that he's so goddamn prolific, and no matter what critics say, the quality of is output is uniformly high. Pete Yorn has to be up there as well musicforthemorningafter is IMO one of the best pop records of the last ten years.

lordgoat · 21-05-2007 4:40pm

The fact that Elliott Smith has not been mentioned in 3 pages is a disgrace. No one can come close to him. Notalbe mentions were. Joni Mitchell (Blue is the most sincere album i think i've heard) Dylan, Jeff Magnum, Nick Drake and of course Tom Waits.

flanger20002003 · 23-05-2007 6:26pm

Rigsby wrote:

One of my favourites is Al Stewart. He tends to keep clear of the usual baby-I- miss-your-love kind of lyrics and tells a story through his songs. Plus the music itself is always top notch and memorable.

Good call! Year of the Cat is one of the most underrated and absolutely mind blowing albums of the 70s, some great songwriting and guitar work on that record.

Bubs101 · 25-05-2007 11:18pm

Jeff Tweedy.
Hands down

MattKid · 04-06-2007 10:40am

Jackson Browne

Ben Nichols (from Lucero)

Adam Duritz

SligoBrewer · 14-06-2007 10:26pm

Personally, I can't look past Bruce or Alex Turner..

Steve_o · 15-06-2007 10:34am

SligoBrewer wrote:

Personally, I can't look past Bruce or Alex Turner..

I'm still on 2 minds about Alex Turner....he's an excellent lyricist but i'm still not sure how long he can last....i hope for a long time, i really like the Arctic Monkeys!

fionated7 · 25-06-2007 12:28am

the gibbs for sure..

dylan, young, lennon..

the woman who writes all those ballads that go straight to number 1 is probably worth a mention too, Diane Warren is her name..

Creamy Goodness · 25-06-2007 12:32am

Pat D. Almighty wrote:

Rivers Cuomo

definitely during the blue album/songs from the black hole/pinkerton eras.

my favourite at the moment would be Simon Neil from Biffy Clyro. The imagery and metaphors he uses are mind boggling.

eg: " Kill your bizarre mindset, ****head, soldered to a three-layered concrete brainwave castration "

fionated7 · 25-06-2007 12:39am

oh end i forgot don henley!!!!

TelePaul · 25-06-2007 9:18pm

fionated7 wrote:

oh end i forgot don henley!!!!

Get out. :mad:

fionated7 · 26-06-2007 12:25am

awh come on, i cant help but love the heart of the matter and the end of the innocence, never mind the stuff he co-wrote with the rest of the guys from the eagles... they are a top selling band for a reason..

Who is your favourite songwriter and why?

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