Here is the N.Y. Times’ opinion poll of 25,000 people choosing the best American song writers.
I think it’s about time that the song writers were honored since often the singers who “cover” the songs gain fame but the writers are ignored.
These are all recent song writers. The list ignores song writers from previous generations, such as the great Broadway show lyricists.
Wendy
Criteria requires the songwriter to be living.
Otherwise, the list would be a travesty since Michael Jackson and Prince are obviously not included.
Heck, I call foul for not include Maynard James Keenan - who writes and leads three different bands at the same time. His writing is poetic. I can’t think of another artist that so effortlessly eschews the obvious crutch of rhyming to weave his artistry.
That’s why composers are compensated for every song sold but performers are not (necessarily). And that’s why record companies often demand “publishing” when they sign new artists. Youngsters are chasing fame, while the corporations chase the $$.
Yep. I went through the list and didn’t see John Prine and my head exploded. He’s actually mentioned in one of the NYT notes.
Brilliant song writer and quite funny.
Limiting the list to “living” cut an awful lot of quality out of it.
intercst
John Prine died 5 years ago. The article was specifically for “living” and “American”. That cut out a lot of potentials on the list, including everyone from George Gershwin to Neil Sedaka.
I was surprised to see Billy Joel and Neil Diamond omitted from the list; if “success” is any measurement I would think they would count. Also James Taylor, fer cripes sakes. Nor were Jackson Browne, Tom Waits, or even Randy Newman allowed a number!
Must have been the Idiot Critics Society that made the list.
Billy Joel was 5, Neil Diamond was 23…
James Taylor was 9, Jackson Browne 11, Tom Waits 12, Randy Newman 14…wait a minute…did you forget the
I was originally confused by that, but I think the Goofy was talking about the critics version of the list (Top 30), while the link that Wendy provided above was the readers version of the list (Top 100).