I think that singer/songwriters should be called what they are, poets with guitars. This whole flood of s/s's is a reaction to Dylan. When he became successful, millions of equaly unattractive non-singers grabbed flattop Gibsons and started grunting, baring their souls and waiting for lightning to strike them too.

Real singer/songwriters dont call themselves folksingers. Jobim, Brel, Lehrer,Matt Dennis, Carol King,Jimmy Webb are called songwriters because they write real songs, finely crafted songs. Mac Davis and Willie Nelson dont have the need or the desire to cloak their work as "folk". Wasn't Hoagie Carmichael a singer/songwriter? You bet he was. We just dont call him a s/s because his songs were commercialy successful and well written. Come to think of it, I never heard Lennon or Mc Cartney called singer/songwriters either. Do I detect a pattern?