Who's your personal favorite song writer

Subject: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Jayto
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 08:54 AM

Who would you say is your own personal favorite song writer? I know this one can get sticky so it is just about your own personal favorite. Why are they your fav. I love a great lyricist and I love discovering new ones (new to me).

Townes Van Zandt and Steve Earle are 2 of my faves for Folk and Country.

Tom Waits is one of my all time favorites

Nick Cave, Gordon Lightfoot, John Prine,

There are more but I have to jump off of here and feed my little boy.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Mr Happy
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 08:56 AM

Mr Happy

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Will Fly
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 08:57 AM

Richard Thompson, Randy Newman. Both able to create whole, believable lives in 5 minutes.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 08:59 AM

Vladimir Vysotsky.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Jayto
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 09:08 AM

Mr.Happy I was going to put that and you beat me to the draw lol

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Mark Ross
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 09:26 AM

Woody Guthrie, Utah Phillips, Hank Williams, Paul Siebel.


Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Jayto
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 09:33 AM

OMG I feel like I have commited a major sin on my behalf. Hank Williams was not on my list. My coffee must have not kicked in yet lol I love Hank. I love Woody as well but i cannot believe I left Hank off my list. Utah I am not that familiar with I know the name and that is about it.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: frogprince
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 09:34 AM

Put a gun to my head and demand just one name, and I guess it would have to be Tom Paxton. But I woulddn't want to live in a world without the songs of Woody, Utah, Hank, Townes, and quite a few others.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: jacqui.c
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 09:41 AM

Utah Phillips, Mike O'Connor, Jeri.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 09:47 AM

Top of my head?

Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen.

Dani

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: pdq
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 09:50 AM

Gordon Lightfoot, Robert Earl Keen, Jr. and Guy Clark are some of them. Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter collaborations will be around as long as will Hank Williams and Bob Dylan songs.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Jayto
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 10:05 AM

AH man Robert Earl Keen Jr. yeah he rocks. Did you ever hear his song Christabel? I love that song can't remember off the top of my head what cd it is on No Kinda Dancer maybe. He is great Bigger Piece of Sky was like the soundtrack for my brother and me back when we were always on the road. I wore out 4 copies of that cassette.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 10:14 AM

Trad & his brother Anon

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST,Puck
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 10:20 AM

I very much admire Dave webber.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Wesley S
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 10:32 AM

A few would be Guy Clark, Tom Paxton, Lennon and McCartney, Tim O'Brien and Jimmie Rodgers.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Jayto
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 10:36 AM

Sailor Ron who is Trad and his brother Anon? That is a total new one on me. Thanks for your post this is why I wanted to post this.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: open mike
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 10:42 AM

Laurie Lewis, Kate Wolf, Nanci Griffith, Christine Lavin, Kristina Olsen,
(equal time for the distaff side!) and Tom Russell.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: pdq
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 10:43 AM

I think all folkies should try to get a copy of Bob Gibson's last recording "Making A Mess...The Songs Of Shel Silverstein". It has the most perfect Country backup musicianship (thanks to Shel) and a diversity of songs that is hard to believe.

Steve Goodman's songs maybe be best when done by Steve Goodman. Same with John Prine. But I prefer Dylan songs done by someone else, at least after 1975 when his voice became an instrument used to inflict pain.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Marion
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 11:06 AM

Stan Rogers, Jed Marum, Bill Gallaher, James Gordon, Utah Philips.

Aside to Open Mike - it genuinely pains me that the distaff side isn't represented on my short list. But I simply haven't yet found a woman songwriter who I deeply admire for a large number of songs or who inspires me to emulate her, although there are several individual songs written by women that I admire. Oh well, at least there's some national loyalty in my tastes, in that 3 of the 5 above are Canadian.

Marion

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 11:10 AM

Got several here: in no particular order.

Paul Simon: while his excessive cleverness turns me off on occasion,
             So many of his lines stick in my head: "Everybody loves
             the sound of a train in the distance," "Still crazy
             after all these years," and countless others. I love
             his stuff from Graceland (of course) but his career
             spans much of the history of rock and roll.

Randy Newman: Newman creates a whole short story in three or four
             verses. His songs are often visual, which is a special
             gift. Greate melodies and arrangements that sound Turn-
             of-the-Century.

Gordon Bok: Gordon is one of those songwriters who is very much of
            a time and place. Gordon brings you home, in his
            songs. His voice and guitar are mesmerizing, and an
            important element of the song.

Bob Dyer:   Not well known, from Boonville, Missouri. We lost Bob
            this year, and it was a sad loss, indeed. Bob was
            another writer who created a believable universe. Most
            challenging, his songs mostly created vignettes and tall
            tales from a time before any of us were born. No one
            captured life on the Mississippi and the Missouri
            River like Bob did. And most likely never will

I'd go along with many other names listed above, but these are personal favorites, as requested.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: PoppaGator
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 11:11 AM

Can't argue with any of the above.

I'll mention that I agree with pdq about Hunter and Garcia, which is probaly a minority opinion hereabouts; I think too many old-fogy folkies dismiss the Grateful Dead out of hand, without ever bothering to listen. (Not everyone, of course, but too many.) Jerry was an extremely accomplished bluegrass picker before electrification, with a vast knowledge of tradtional song, and Robert has always exhibited a unique ability to rework time-honored phrases and images in new patterns, creating original songs with very deep roots reachng back through centuries of English-language balladry.

No females mentioned except in that one post by a woman (one I had thought was a guy for years because of her psudonym). I'm kinda surprised she didn't include a personal favorite, and perhaps the greatest of them all, Lucinda Williams.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Jayto
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 11:15 AM

Yeah you can't leave out Lucinda she is great. Thank you PoppaGator for adding her in the mix.

Subject: Lyr Add: YOUR MIND IS ON VACATION (Mose Allison)
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 11:23 AM

One of my all-time favorites is Jazz/Blues performer and composer Mose Allison. Some of the most pungent and clever lyrics I've heard are his. Once example:

YOUR MIND IS ON VACATION

You sittin' here and yakkin' right in my face,
I guess I'm gonna have to put you in your place.
You know if silence was golden,
You couldn't raise a dime,
Because your mind is on vacation and your mouth is workin' overtime.

You quotin' figures and droppin' names,
You tellin' stories about the dames
You're over-laughin' when things ain't funny
You tryin' to sound like you're big money,
You know if talk was criminal,
You'd lead a life of crime,
Because your mind is on vacation and your mouth is workin' overtime.


You know that life is short,
Talk is cheap;
Don't be makin' promises that you can't keep.
You don't like this little song I'm singin'
Just grin and bear it,
All I can say is if the shoe fits wear it,
If you must keep talkin'
Please try to make it rhyme,
Because your mind is on vacation and your mouth is workin' overtime.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: MMario
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 11:28 AM

PopaGator - I saw at least 5 women mentioned.

Personal favorites: I'd have to go with
Mike Campbell
Jed Marum
Jeri
Andrew McKay

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: john f weldon
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 11:34 AM

Good answer, Sailor... ...I like the guy wrote "Twa Sisters" around 800 AD.
Also Alan A'Dale who was clearly a real person, even if Robin Hood wasn't.

I'll put in a word for the funny folk...

Noel Coward
Gilbert and Sullivan
Tom Lehrer
The Berrymans

...I usually prefer a good laugh to a lot of angst.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Marion
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 11:36 AM

Poppagator, Jacqui C. also listed Mudcatter Jeri, who is a woman. Do you know if Lucinda's songs can be heard online anywhere?

Or for that matter, can any of Jeri's songs be heard online?

Marion

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Jayto
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 11:40 AM

www.myspace.com/lucindawilliams

Here is her myspace link.

www.lucindawilliams.com

That is her website

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Marion
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 12:00 PM

Thanks Jayto. But, are you able to hear any of the songs on her homepage? I clicked on about a dozen song titles at random and just got "N/A" written beside them. I don't know if that's because I don't have some player installed or if they're not meant to be playable files.

I did find the four songs that she has on myspace.

I think the difficulty that I've had in finding a female songwriter to add to my favourites list is that I have a strong preference for songs that tell stories about other people, preferably real people. The five guys I listed above (Stan Rogers, Jed Marum, Bill Gallaher, James Gordon, and Utah Phillips) all concentrate on other people's stories, mostly based in real history, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of women writing on these topics. The women writers I've heard seem to concentrate more on their own feelings and relationships - that's true of most male songwriters, too, but then most male songwriters aren't on my favourites list either.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 12:02 PM

My personal favorite songwriter?

Bruce Murdoch

See this post for examples of verses from Bruce's "Matters of the Heart" CD that I consider to be skillfully, and beautifully crafted.

thread.cfm?threadid=112880&messages=285#2412361

There are other Bruce Murdoch songs from his other recordings that are my favorites. Among them are "Plains of Jericho", "Maximeline", "Come Across To You", "If I Had Wings", and "My Country Tis Of Thee".

Switching genres, I also believe props should be given to these two great gospel songwriters:

Thomas Dosey {I particularly love Precious Lord, Take My Hand
and Peace In The Valley}

and

Rev. James Cleveland {my favorites are Peace Be Still and I Stood On The Banks [of Jordan].

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: open mike
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 12:08 PM

http://www.lucindawilliams.com/
her collection Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is a classic.

oh, and Wendy Waldman, and Carol Elliot, and Mary McCaslin,
and...Sarah Elizabeth Campbell...and Anne Hills, Cindy Mangsen,
Kathy Mattea, Joan Baez, Julie Gold, Dolly Parton, Sally Van Meter,
Dar Williams, Lucy Kaplansky.....

Karla Bonhoff and Julie Miller and Tammy Fassaert and k.d. lang

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 12:28 PM

Wendy Waldman ... I went to a songwriter's workshop of hers .. a wonderful person and yes a damned good songwriter.

On the female side of songwriters I'll put in a plug for Patty Griffin and the late Laura Nyro.

biLL

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Jayto
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 12:36 PM

I used to play guitar for Patti Griffin. She has one of the strongest voices live I have ever heard. I remember the first time I met and heard her. It was in a little club in South Nashville called Jack's Guitar Bar. Steve Earle was part owner for a while it was a cool little place with a ton of good writers and musicians always hanging out. I had a standing Monday night gig with a buddy of mine Chris Knight. Patti had came to town working on her first CD. She liked Chris's writing (all I did was play guitar at the time) and she came out to catch us live. In between sets she got up and did a few songs and I was blown away. She pretty much pinned me against the back wall with her very first note. Her voice is powerful live really strong and rich. I remember I would always get her to do The Cat's Out of the Bag. I used to love to hear her do that song. I remember she was so shy it was funny. Everytime anybody would say something to her she would look like she was about to crawl under the table but when she took the stage she owned it and the crowd. She is amazing.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: PoppaGator
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 12:42 PM

Jayto:

Your clickable links didn't work for me, but they did work when I copied-and-pasted them into my browswer address line. That means they're correct as far as they go, but are incomplete.

It took me a while to learn the correct procedure for Mudcat "blue clickies." The trick is to copy the COMPLETE web address, including the "http" prefix. If you start off with the "www" part, it doesn't work. I now always actually go to the desired site to highlight and copy the entire address that appears on the address line.

It's been a long time since I learned to work it properly, so I don't remember all the details of my early failures to create working links. I think some of my efforts used to link to incorrect pages within Mudcat. I believe inclusion of the full "http://..." is necessary to get outside Mudcat and onto the World Wide Web.

Thanks for the research, at any rate, and for making the effort. You already seem like an old-timer around here; it's a bit difficult to realize you're still a "newbie," at least in some regards, and could use a little help here and there, learning to navigate the small details...

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Jayto
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 12:45 PM

Thanks for letting me know. Yeah I am still trying to get the hang of the site. This is the first community site I have ever really been active on. So this is a new experience all the way around for me.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 12:52 PM

I like Bob Dylan the best of all, but I also like a whole lot of others and I think they're all absolutely wonderful, such as...

Gordon Lightfoot
Leonard Cohen
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Jackson Browne
Joni Mitchell
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Shawn Colvin
Ian Tyson
Al Stewart
Jagger and Richards
David Bowie
Van Morrison
Loreen McKennit
Enya
Chris Smither
Carly Simon
Joan Baez



Really, the list goes on and on. There are a lot of great songwriters out there.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Arkie
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 12:57 PM

Many good ones listed already. Several who will get my attention whenever they have a new recording are:

Iris DeMent
Beth Nielsen-Chapman
James Keelaghan
Charley Sandage (a local writer, musician, educator, who frequently writes many songs about actual events or real people.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: SouthernCelt
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 01:23 PM

Just off the top of my head:
Ian Tyson, Gordon Lightfoot, Jed Marum, Robert Earl Keen, Jr., Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, Slaid Cleaves, Dan Fogelberg, Pat Sky, John Prine...

Better stop before I fill up the page...

SC

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 01:23 PM

Me!

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 02:25 PM

Add 2: Travis Edmonson and John Stewart

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 02:32 PM

Lots of my favorites already listed. Certainly John Prine and Guy Clark will always get a listen from me. Just wanted to add Tim Wallace from out Ohio way. I've only heard one tape of his work, but the man can right a very funny song with a great imagination.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Acorn4
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 02:35 PM

Roy Harper in his heyday.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST,cStu
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 02:48 PM

Gillian Welch
Mike Scott
Leiber and Stoller

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Mark Ross
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 02:48 PM

Haywire Mac McClintock, Hank Snow, Pete Seeger, Bill Monroe, Sara Carter, Wilf Carter(Montana Slim), Rosalie Sorrels, Anne Feeney, Hell, the list could go on forever.............

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: frogprince
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 02:56 PM

On the distaff side? Mary Chapin Carpenter, Cindy Mangsen, Anne Hills, Kitty Donahoe...plenty more there, too.

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: olddude
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 03:02 PM

For me it just seems to move day to day based on the music I am listening to. My taste goes all over the field. Some of my favorites

Lightfoot absolutely

Joni Mitchell

Tom Waits, Oscar Brown Jr.

Phil Ochs

John Prine

Also like country like Hank Williams

LeadBelly

Murdoch without a doubt


list just goes on and on depending on the mood - what I am playing or listening to

new one is Dave Van Ronk (thanks to Ditty)

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Spot
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 03:04 PM

Allllooo everybody...
   

      Favourite songwriter...?   Dave Walmisley (ex -Risky Business UK!)   Bloody excellent writer, first class player,ace singer and a real nice guy!! Not recognised half as much as I think he should be....   :-)

                Regards to all, as ever...Spot

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST,Joe G
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 03:37 PM

Robb Johnson
Jez Lowe
Tom Bliss
John Tams
George Papavergis
Roger Waters (the Pink Floyd years)
Jim Boyes (for Jerusalem Revisited)


I'm sure I have forgotten some

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST,Joe G
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 03:39 PM

I knew I'd forgotten someone

Roger Davies

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: GUEST,Mike in DC
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 03:55 PM

Attention must be paid to Dave Carter, perhaps in the "most outstanding body of work written in a relatively short period" category. Sort of the Sandy Koufax of songwriters.

Mike

Subject: RE: Who's your personal favorite song writer
From: Francy
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 03:58 PM

Woody Guthrie...Hank Williams......Merle Haggard........Townes Van Zandt....Tom Russell......David Olney....Kris Kristofferson...Joni Mitchell......Eliza Gilkyson........Silvia Frickett........Marty Robbins.....Frank of Toledo