Who's your personal favorite song writer

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Jayto
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 02:44 PM

Willie Nelson man I don't know how I forgot to put Willie on here. Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain makes me melt. I heard it when I was a kid and started crying the only other song I can recall that moved me that hard when I was a kid was If you could read my mind by Gordon Lightfoot. Willie is incredible and such an influence on American music in general. Willie gets respect no matter what scene he rolls in (no pun intended) in the US. Such a cool cat man it is impossible to pput it into words.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 03:16 PM

Yeah, I somehow forgot Willie Nelson too. The guy is just incredible, one of the greatest of all time.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: pdq
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 03:29 PM

"Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain" is a Depression era song so Willie did not write it. Kinda like "Miss The Mississippi And You" that Emmylou Harris did such a nice version of. Also Depression era retro.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Jayto
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 03:32 PM

Thanks PDQ I didn't know that. Do you recall who did it originally or wrote it? I swear man this is why I think this site is so great.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: pdq
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 03:49 PM

According to AMG it was written by Fred Rose, as in Acuff-Rose Publishing Company.

Fred Rose signed Hank Williams as a writer in 1947 where he joined Pee Wee King and others. They taught Hank Williams the art of songwriting.

"... Williams signed to MGM in 1947, Rose became his manager and producer, also co-writing classics including "A Mansion on the Hill," "Kaw-Liga," "Crazy Heart," "Settin' the Woods on Fire," "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive," and "Take These Chains From My Heart." Rose also possessed an extraordinary gift for placing Acuff-Rose material..."

So, let's extend the list of Country songwriters to Harlan Howard, Cindy Walker, Willie Nelson and Fred Rose.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 03:57 PM

In no particular order:


Harry Chapin
Bruce Murdoch
Steve Knightley
Ron Bankley
Bruce Cockburn
Martyn Joseph
Loreena McKennitt
Dougie McLean
Reg Meuross
Bruce Springsteen
The Oysterband (collectively or individually)
Jez Lowe
John Tams
James Keelaghan
Oliver Schroer (whose violin sang Oliver's words)
John Denver
Stephen Fearing
Ashley Hutchings
Dave Gibb
Noah Zacharin
Tom Palmer
Mike Silver
Joni Mitchell
Vinnie James
Emmy Lou Harris
Fred Small
Shania Twain
Gordon Lightfoot
Sandy Denny
Richard Thompson
John Mayer


...just for starters..

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: pdq
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 04:00 PM

Slight oops...Fred Rose signed Hank Williams in 1946 and helped him get the MGM recording contract signed the following year. Rose stayed with Hank as manager and co-writer.

Fred Rose was "...(along with Williams and Jimmie Rodgers) as one of the first three inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame."

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Gene Burton
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 04:24 PM

It's probably been said before, but the reality is the best songwriter is most likely somebody whom none of us has ever heard or ever will. I mean, who knows why the breaks fall as they do?

For me, increasingly, the answer is trad.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 04:35 PM

Wolfgang Winterbottom and his much misunderstood solo album, 'Songs you Can Wipe You Nose On.'

Dreadful songs! but what a character! My favourite songwriter.

As they said in Rolling Stone, 'a bar of Winterbottom can bring mucus to the driest nostril.....'

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Peace
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 04:37 PM

The following will take you to a bio of Fred Rose. But be aware there are pop-ups galore, and if you do not have a good firewall, forget it. I couldn't cut and paste. Sorry.

http://www.angelfire.com/me2/kulacoco/rose.html

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Jayto
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 06:00 PM

I did not realize Fred Rose wrote that. That is cool Uncle Tupelo had a great song titled Acuff-Rose it was on thier Anodyne CD. Great song but then again it was Uncle Tupelo they were great anyways. Acuff-Rose you talk about a company that shaped Nashville and Country music OMG.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Peace
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 06:32 PM

Yeah. But that was Nashville then. Then there is Nashville now. I think the worlds are different.

??

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Peace
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 06:35 PM

Soory. What I meant was that today it seems like a commercial venture as opposed to a music venture. I quit even knowing how to spell the name when they turned their collective backs on the Dixie Chicks. I expect however that that's just the side of Nashville I see and that your view is both clearer and more well informed. No offense.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Jayto
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 06:44 PM

Hey I know exactley what you mean Nashville is all about image, marketing, hooks,.. everything but talent. It is sickening to me to see the current shape of Nashville. There is an underground scene that is cool though. I just hope it finds a way to surface. I don't see how it can though. It is so political and all about the charts. I got out of the main stream stuff yrs ago (by choice) I just can't stomach it. You are totally right Peace. It doesn't matter where you are you can see it.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: oldhippie
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 09:06 PM

The late Kate Wolf comes to mind as consistantly writing good material. Another consistant favorite is Carolyn McDade.

Otherwise, most favorites are for a single particular song.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: pdq
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 09:45 PM

Ian Anderson wrote:

          Nothing To Say
          To Cry You A Song
          Inside
          Time For Everything?
          Nothing Is Easy

as well as Aqualung, Bungle In The Jungle, Locomotive Breath and dozens more...wow, what an intellect...

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: balladeer
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 08:58 AM

Memo to Marion: She seems to have disappeared from the Net, but if you're interested in women who write from history, see if you can track down the work of Rosalie Peppard. She's back in Nova Scotia now, but a few years ago she was living and playing in Toronto. Her oeuvre focuses on the lives and historical contexts of mostly unknown Canadian women. She wrote a song called Evangeline that is as good as any song I've heard.

Re Nashville. Lots of talented writers there for sure. Kevin Welch and Kieran Kane to name a couple.

My favourite writers today are Rick Speyer and Garth Douglas.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 09:05 AM

I can't disagree pdg ... Ian Anderson is certainly a genius when it comes to songwriting.

who else could pen such slyrics as this (one of my favs of his) .... "Heavy Horses"

Heavy HorsesIron-clad feather-feet pounding the dust
An October's day, towards evening
Sweat embossed veins standing proud to the plough
Salt on a deep chest seasoning
Last of the line at an honest day's toil
Turning the deep sod under
Flint at the fetlock, chasing the bone
Flies at the nostrils plunder.

biLL

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Folk Form # 1
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 09:37 AM

Too many to mention. Really, too many.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Cats
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 09:46 AM

Jon Heslop [I'm biased], Mike O'Connor [Crowdercref], Barrie Temple, Lucy Burrow [Hawker]

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Mad Spaniel
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 10:28 AM

Neil Young
Patti Smith
Leonard Cohen
Steve Knightley
Nanci Griffith
Joe Strummer
Ian Dury
Elvis Costello
Guy Clark
Lucinda Williams
John Tams
Harvey Andrews

Will that do for now?

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: fat B****rd
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 10:35 AM

Lieber and Stoller, Carole KIng, Lennon and McCartney, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits. Many of the lyricists from the prewar 'popular song' era...and a few I'm bound to have forgotten

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Mad Spaniel
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 11:03 AM

Oh and Tom Waits
Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Springsteen
Townes Van Zandt
Christy Moore
Joni Mitchell
Pete Shepherd

Still thinking

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Skylark
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 11:36 AM

John Tams! Robin Laing!

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: pdq
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 11:41 AM

John Tams! (?)

OK, then here is one you never heard of: Tom Jans

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST,Marymac90
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 01:19 PM

There was another huge one I kept trying to remember
yesterday. I kept singin' to myself "10,00 roads I
went down, down, down, and they all lead me straight
back home to you..." until finally the name of the
late, great GRAM PARSONS percolated through!

Others not mentioned on this thread yet, I don't
think, are Steve Gilette, Charlie King, and Si Kahn.

Marymac

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: mg
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 01:26 PM

adding to the list of women, Rita McNeil ?? Listen to it's a working man I am on you tube (bard of cornwall does a nice version) if you haven't heard it.   mg

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: M.Ted
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 01:45 PM

Most everybody great has been mentioned, as well as some not so great, but I am going to through someone in who should be on the list of the greatest songwriters of the 20th Century, and usually isn't, Vietnam's Trinh Cong Son

Even if you don't understand the language, the soul of a ravaged land pours out-

The page above is a comprehensive collection of recordings, and lyrics are at one of the links at the top--Many are sung by Khanh Ly, whose voice is perfect for his material--

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Lenny's mum (inactive)
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 01:50 PM

My current favourites at this moment in time are Linda Kelly from Hissy Fit and Michael Forsyth from Copper Kettle, both of whom write some really good moving songs. Then, of course, theres George Papavgeris. There are so many great song writers to choose from.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: fumblefingers
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 11:20 PM

Still Living - Tom T. Hall

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 01:16 AM

Dylan for depth and longevity, the Carters, then the Texas songwriters from the 1940's to today.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: BK Lick
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 04:46 AM

Open Mike -- Sally Van Meter is a splendid resophonic and steel-guitar virtuoso, but do you know of any songs she has written?

—BK

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST,Greycap
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 05:12 AM

There's a lot to choose from so I'm keeping this one short.
Living: Norman Blake, Guy Clark
Dead: Hank Williams

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: pdq
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 06:02 AM

"Sally Van Meter is a splendid resophonic...but do you know of any songs she has written?"

Perhaps open mike was thinking of another member of Good Ol' Persons: Kathy Kallick?

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Stewie
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 09:00 AM

Chris Smither, Leonard Cohen, Terry Allen.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Mad Spaniel
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 10:12 AM

Terry Allen, now i had forgotten him thanks for reminder

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: BK Lick
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 01:54 PM

"Perhaps open mike was thinking of another member of Good Ol' Persons: Kathy Kallick?"
Yep, and I'm thinking maybe Marion should give a listen to my own personal favorite song writer.

—BK

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: van lingle
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 08:33 PM

If teams are permitted:
George and Ira Gershwin
Lerner and Lowe
Bono and The Edge
Lennon and McCartney
Brecht and Weill

and seconding Ian Tyson and Townes Van Zandt

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST,Mike Rogers
Date: 20 Aug 08 - 09:12 AM

This is tough. I had to sift through a lot of names, including Messrs
Kristofferson, Harlan Howard,JR Cash, van Zandt, Guy Clark, Hillman, Earle, Silverstein. McDill and Rushing before returning to my first choice: Hank Williams.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Arkie
Date: 20 Aug 08 - 09:41 AM

Terry Allen certainly needs to be in the mix. I do not know how many of his songs were sung by other artists but he does have a way with words and melody. The first time I heard one of his CDs I played it over and over and over and the other guy in my office did the same thing. One of us had it on the CD player constantly for several weeks.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST,KT
Date: 20 Aug 08 - 10:45 AM

Aw, Kendall. Thank you...

KT

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Wincing Devil
Date: 20 Aug 08 - 10:53 AM

Janie Meneely, without a doubt. She is funny, irreverant & witty. I have seen her scribling away at a Sing, I've listened when she askes "what do you think so far?" and I've mangled her stuff myself, and she appreciates it.

};-(

Subject: Lyr Add: THE END OF MY PIRATE DAYS (M C Carpenter)
From: akenaton
Date: 20 Aug 08 - 11:46 AM

Amazed that there's only one vote for Mary Chapin Carpenter(frogprince).
She is, in my opinion, one of the finest writers. Here's two of my favourites.

THE END OF MY PIRATE DAYS.

The night is soft and silent, new moon at my door
There's nothing near as quiet as the light I'm looking for
And last time that it appeared he was lying next to me
Last time I felt this near to whispered ecstacy

And those who need adventure, they can sail the seven seas
And those who search for treasure, they must live on grander dreams

We rose and fell just like the tides, he filled my heart and soul and I
Buried all my dreams for someone else to find in my pirate days

This world is kinder to the kind that won't look back
They are the chosen few, among us now, unbowed somehow
And one day he turned to me, and before I took one breath
I knew I would only see his shadow in what light was left

And those who need adventure, they can sail the seven seas
And those who search for treasure, they must live on grander dreams

And if I've seen his face since then, it's only been in dreams my friend
Since I came to the end of my pirate days
And if I've called his name since then, it's only been in dreams my friend
So I came to the end of my pirate days.


GOODBYE AGAIN.

Every night she sleeps alone
And by her bed she puts the phone
And every morning after that
She takes the phone and puts it back

He's got a wife back home and three kids up and grown
But these are things that go unsaid
He might call her from the road just in time to say hello
And goodbye again

She keeps his picture tucked away
She thinks she'll have it framed one day
And maybe he'll come see it there
Hanging by her rocking chair

In a corner of her room on a Sunday afternoon
When all the world is dull and gray
She might close her eyes and sit, rocking gently for a bit
Till all the bad thoughts go away

Back when children played their games
London Bridge and Jesse James
She captured flags, she bounced the ball
And every time, she beat them all

And now she comes home to a cat in a three-room walk-up flat
And plays a game of solitaire
Well she made a fist last night, and she broke the hallway light
And the pieces scattered everywhere

You see, he's got a wife back home and three kids up and grown
But these are things that go unsaid
He might call her from the road just in time to say hello
And goodbye again.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: C. Ham
Date: 20 Aug 08 - 11:50 AM

All time favorites would have to include:

Tom Russell, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Leonard Cohen, Kate McGarrigle, Anna McGarrigle, Bruce Murdoch, James Talley, Tom Paxton, Ian Tyson, Stan Rogers, Dave Van Ronk, Jelly Roll Morton, Brownie McGhee, Utah Phillips, Rosalie Sorrels, John Stewart, Hoagy Carmichael, George Gershwin and Duke Ellington.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: kendall
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 05:13 PM

Kris Kristofersen wrote the best country song ever, Sunday Morning Coming Down.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Becks
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 05:54 PM

My absolute favourite is Ray Lamontagne, I will never tire of his music, songs or voice.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Dave Hunt
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 06:31 PM

Bill Caddick
John Tams
Kate and Anna McGarrigle
Cyril Tawney
Richard Thompson

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 06:57 PM

Another vote here for Mary Chapin Carpenter to be among those I give 10 out of 10. You cannot be a better songwriter than Mary Chapin Carpenter is.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 05:20 AM

Chris Wood and Hugh Lupton
Joe Strummer
Sydney Carter
Bob Dylan
Neil Finn
Leon Rosselson
John Tams

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 06:25 AM

One of my favourite's on Radio4 now, Randy Newman.

JM