100 Greatest Living Songwriters

Originally posted by brennser:
no Billy Bragg??
no Matt Johnson??

Or Paul Heaton

Or Mike Scott

Joe Jackson….Difford and Tilbrook???

Moz at 57?? Bowie 16?? :roll:

I'm going out on a limb and guessing this is a US compiled list because 8 out of the top 10 are doodles? (If you include canucks as doodles for this list) So your saying that McCartney and Costello are the two best Brit songwriters! That's just fucking insulting

Come on already.

Well most good music IS written my Americans.

Originally posted by Chaz Nakatestes, Breaststroking Guy:
Well most good music IS written my Americans.

I completely agree, but ALL GREAT music is written by Brits and Canadians.

BTW…..

Shane MacGowan?

Morrissey and Marr?

Ok, I'm a fan of REM just like the next guy/girl…..But #26? How many of their songs actually make any sense? It's just a bunch of blabboring, if that's even a word, I'm sure REM would use it though.

Eminem has more song writing talent then 90% of the people/groups mentioned on that list. But I guess rap isn't considered song writing.

Originally posted by Rob_Gee:
Ok, I'm a fan of REM just like the next guy/girl…..But #26? How many of their songs actually make any sense? It's just a bunch of blabboring, if that's even a word, I'm sure REM would use it though.

I disagree strongly. R.E.M.'s lyrics are very dense and rich, and, yes, they make plenty of sense. The fact that you can't make sense of them is perhaps a comment on your limited attention span and/or intelligence. Refer to the R.E.M. Lyric Annotations FAQ and the Complete R.E.M. Lyrics Archive for enlightenment.

Leave Rob alone; he's gets plenty of deep lyrics:

American Girls and American Guys
We'll always stand up and salute
We'll always recognize
When we see Old Glory Flying
There's a lot of men dead
So we can sleep in peace at night
When we lay down our head

My daddy served in the army
Where he lost his right eye
But he flew a flag out in our yard
Until the day that he died
He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me
To grow up and live happy
In the land of the free.

Now this nation that I love
Has fallen under attack
A mighty sucker punch came flyin' in
From somewhere in the back
Soon as we could see clearly
Through our big black eye
Man, we lit up your world
Like the 4th of July

Hey Uncle Sam
Put your name at the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty
Started shakin' her fist
And the eagle will fly
Man, it's gonna be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom
Start ringin' her bell
And it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Brought to you Courtesy of the Red White and Blue

Justice will be served
And the battle will rage
This big dog will fight
When you rattle his cage
And you'll be sorry that you messed with
The U.S. of A.
'Cause we'll put a boot in your ass
It's the American way

Hey Uncle Sam
Put your name at the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty
Started shakin' her fist
And the eagle will fly
Man, it's gonna be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom
Start ringin' her bell
And it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Brought to you Courtesy of the Red White and Blue

Originally posted by Darth Ed:
he fact that you can't make sense of them is perhaps a comment on your limited attention span and/or intelligence.

Florian Schneider & Ralf Hütter rate at least 52 spots below Pubic Enemy? Professor Griff must be at 101.

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
Hi! My name is.. (what?) My name is.. (who?) My name is.. {scratches} Slim Shady Hi! My name is.. (huh?) My name is.. (what?) My name is.. {scratches} Slim Shady

he moves efficiently
beyond security.
great opportunity awaits.
airport fluorescent
creature of habit
labored breathing and sallow skin
recycled air
moving sidewalks
great opportunity blinks.
great opportunity blinks.
discounted.

the people mover
the people mover
discounted.

Originally posted by Darth Ed:
The fact that you can't make sense of them is perhaps a comment on your limited attention span and/or intelligence. [/QB]

I really hope we meet in person someday. I just made an opinion, something that me and a bunch of people had agreed with over the years (sorry we're not rocket scientist like you, since you obviously have to have a Harvard degree to listen to the same music as you). You should have just stopped after the first sentence. Then I would have respected your response.

Loretta Lynn? WTF? It must be because of the Jack White Experience.

Hey that's a good name for a band: The Jack White Experience.

"Yes, this was done in an effort to generate discussion/debate, and it's been fun to see that happen on a lot of different blogs. So far, I've just quieltly read. But since Stereogum is one of the few places I go to regularly, I had to chime in and give a little more context. We at Paste came up with this list by polling 50 folks–staff members, rock writers (should have thought to include you, Scott), and a handful of musicians themselves. They're all people we trust, so I'm pretty pleased with the list that we came up with, though quite a few of my favorites didn't make the list either. Here's the editorial that lead off this issue:

100 Best Living Songwriters

Dear Paste,

Looking through the issue for which Iâ??m currently writing this editorial, I noticed several omissions from the 100 Best Living Songwriters list. I realize I organized this feature, gathered the voters and cast a ballot myself, but apparently that wasnâ??t enough. I mean, how could you ignore Rodney Crowell? With songs like â??Sheâ??s Crazy for Leaving,â? Crowell was the master cartographer of those dark places of loss where once lived â??love that runs through your heart with a pleasure so close to pain.â? Decades after his biggest hits, heâ??s given us some of the best ruminations on aging ever penned.

And Mike Scott? Number 30 on my list, but apparently not good enough for you. The Waterboysâ?? Fishermanâ??s Blues alone should have secured him a spot in the Top 100, but he also put out two solo albums filled with gems. And then thereâ??s Mark Knopfler, proving himself yet again with his new duets album with Emmylou Harris (p. 22). Our readers were smart enough to put them on their list (p. 96), but heâ??s conspicuously absent from ours. Robert Smith, Jim James, Billy Joe Shaver, Todd Snider, David Hidalgo, Fiona Apple, Matthew Ryan, De La Soul, Taj Mahal, Ben Gibbard, Neil Finn, Jeff Mangum, The Cowboy Junkies, Rufus Wainwright, Peter Gabriel, Guy Clark, Greg Brown, Isaac Hayesâ??they all got the shaft.

Iâ??d consider canceling my subscription if I wasnâ??t the editor of this damn thing, so instead, just let me say that this was an amazing experience. The hours spent arguing the merits of Leonard Cohen versus Neil Young (an arbitrary and academic exercise, no doubt, but an always entertaining one). Dueling our managing editor, Reid Davis, in computer volume as we searched out the best R.E.M. songs (and impossibly tried to narrow it down to three). The late, late nights matching 100 different writers to 100 songwriter essays and hunting for just the right lyrics. Itâ??s all been worth it to more fully appreciate the merits of Carole King, Chuck Berry and Jimmy Webb; to read Clyde Edgerton on John Prine, Paul Hemphill on Merle Haggard and Jack Pendarvis on Berry; and to see the parade of greats and remember the songs that have had the biggest impact on my life.

I had 3,088 songs from these 100 songwriters on my iPod, and I put them all into a playlist and set it to random. One of the most striking things was how seldom I had an urge to press the skip button and how often I wanted to stop what I was doing and just listen. Much like Hollywood thrusting star-power and jaw-dropping special effects upon shallow, unbelievable scripts, the record industry has been pouring money into beautiful people with beautiful voices (or at least beautiful people with Auto-Tune) without giving them songs with any kind of lasting impact. But Iâ??ll take a Leonard Cohen album (despite not loving either his voice or the production on most his songs) over just about anything getting Top 40 airplay today.

So I know that everyone reading Paste will have his or her own opinion of who shouldâ??ve made the list and that this is just the first letter Iâ??ll receive. I certainly hope this feature sparks much debate, but I hope even more that it leads people to check out the songs from these 100 gifted songwriters, reconnecting with old standbys and discovering many new favorites along the way.

Yours Truly,
Josh Jackson (Decatur, Ga.)
Editor-in-Chief, Paste"

(I think it's legit. Source: http://www.stereogum.com/archives/002670.html_

I stand by Glen Phillips over Outkast.

I have 28 – knew I'd do badly with a list like that. Of course the list is shit because Joe Jackson is not even on it. That, coupled with no Bob Mould, negates any value of the list at all to me.

Why is it inevitable that when a list like this comes out, people must focus on a handful of omissions of their personal favorites and thus dismiss the list completely?

I, for one, think it's a pretty damn good list, even if Rhett Miller didn't make it. I mean look at all the great songwriters who ARE on the list.

Originally posted by Chaz Nakatestes, Breaststroking Guy:
I, for one, think it's a pretty damn good list, even if Rhett Miller didn't make it. I mean look at all the great songwriters who ARE on the list.

Author/Songwriter Rhett Miller
Five Rules of Good Composition

1. Donâ??t overthink your plot: â??I used to pore over every last aspect of my protagonists, but now I donâ??t think about it so much,â? cedes professorial Old 97â??s frontman Rhett Miller, whoâ??s simultaneously releasing a short story (â??Weakest Shade Of Blue,â? inspired by a Pernice Brothers song) and his second solo set, The Believer, in late February. â??I had a big epiphany,â? he says, â??wherein I realized that a short story is a lot like a songâ??you go from vignette to vignette, and each vignette is like a verse, with recurring characters that are sort of like the theme or the melody.â?

2. Find inspiration in the commonplace: The â??Make up your ma-ma-mindâ? chorus in Believerâ??s opening anthem â??My Valentineâ? had its genesis in the pre-verbal babble of Millerâ??s two-year-old son, Max, and the gentle â??Meteor Showerâ? was a collection of observations made from the singerâ??s rural Hudson Valley property. â??When I sit outside at night,â? Miller says, â??I see shooting stars all the timeâ??all youâ??ve gotta do is just look up and try not to blink for a minute.â?

3. Thereâ??s tragic eloquence in societal misfits: In the Old 97â??s, Miller used to hotdog like a brainy brat. Now, he fires off brilliantly understated lines like â??She drove a blue car around Bloomington / She was a thin girl, but she had substance.â? Whether real or imagined, his subjects, he says, â??represent that dichotomy that exists within all of usâ??real beauty and some really tragic stuff, too, because I never like the cut-and-dried.â?

4. The hero doesnâ??t have to save the world: While briefly attending Sarah Lawrence College, Miller constantly argued with his writing teacher over â??this feeling that in the course of a short story, the main character has to go through some life-changing event, and I just never really bought into that. People donâ??t really change, but maybe they grow a little bit. And thatâ??s the thing I look for, that little bit of growth.â?

5. Prepare for your characters to take on a life of their own: Miller conceived â??Fireflies,â? his duet with Rachael Yamagata, as a breakup postmortem. â??But oh my God, what Rachael did with that song!â? he says proudly. â??I got choked up on the middle breakâ??when she sang â??I mustâ??ve had a reason for leaving,â?? I say, â??It mustâ??ve been me,â?? and then she comes in with, â??It mustâ??ve been me.â?? The girlâ??s taking responsibility for the breakupâ??I didnâ??t expect that when I was writing the song. And she made the last verse so sexy, instead of feeling like the guyâ??s getting kissed off, you feel that maybe theyâ??re gonna disappear together. At least for the night.â?

From: Paste Mag

Who is this chick? Is it his wife?

<img src="http://www.pastemagazine.com/images/articles/2774_image_1.jpg" alt=" - " />

Nah, this chick is his wife:

<img src="http://www.101lifestyle.com/images/celebs/erica_iahn/erica-ihan-pics-003.jpg" alt=" - " />

Is tinfoil big in Paris and Milan this year?

Originally posted by Chaz Nakatestes, Breaststroking Guy:
Nah, this chick is his wife:

&lt;img src="http://www.101lifestyle.com/images/celebs/erica_iahn/erica-ihan-pics-003.jpg" alt=" - " /&gt;

i like that Conor Oberst is higher than Michael Jackson and Pink Floyd.

Originally posted by the sonick:
i like that Conor Oberst is higher than Michael Jackson and Pink Floyd.

I think that Pete Dougherty is even higher still.