MWGL forums top 20 greatest songwriters...wanna give it go?

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Dogsinplastic

avuncular to no one
I figure if we each submit a list of 30 we could get a list of 20 that represent this motley crew of guitarers. What say yee?

I started a list that I got to 70+ while commuting home today and I'll just need to prioritize a top 30. I'm more interested in what like-minded nutters are interested in than editors from a misguided former music rag. So if you're all in, I'll manage the data.
 
if you are talking about songwriters, not on this forum, then
Carol King should be up there in the top 3

but if you are talking about top songwriters ON this forum......i got nothing

also you should specify pop or all time (including classical).....if all time then Beethoven is up there.

we need a few parameters......are we including the Gershwin brothers?
Burt Bacharach? Stephen Sondheim? Holland, Dozier and Holland?
 
Tom Waits
Lennon/McCartney
Gillian Welch/David Rawlings
Jeff Tweedy
Jason Isbell
Bob Dylan
Townes Van Zandt
Neko Case
Conor Oberst
Richard Thompson
Johnny Cash
Kate Bush
Leonard Cohen
Paul Simon
Glen Hansard
James Hetfield (Gotta be a bit of metal, sorry Flamencology!)
Dee Dee and Joey Ramone
Ani DiFranco
 
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Lal Waterson
Kate Bush
Stevie Wonder
Hank Williams
Bob Dylan
Bjork
Bob Marley
Nick Cave
David McComb
Paul Westerberg
Little Richard
Ray Davies
Bryan Ferry
John Lennon
Mark Hollis/Tim Friese-Greene
Neil Young
Mark E. Smith
Morrissey/Marr
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Gordon Lightfoot
Nico
John Cale
Bob Pollard
Marc Bolan
Syd Barrett
Jimi Hendrix
Alex Chilton
Pete Hamm

There are probably some who aren't known performers that I could include, but that would take some too much effort to think of.
 
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Kerouac said:
James Hetfield (Gotta be a bit of metal, sorry Flamencology!)
Click to expand...

Metal has songs too, you know :)

Hetfield would be a good choice, thru maybe 1995

Steve Harris
Thomas Youngblood
Tony Kakko
Jon Schaffer
Tuomas Holopainen
Stephane Paut (Neige)
Mikael Akerfeldt
Steven Wilson
 
George Gershwin
Bob Dylan
Paul Simon
Irving Berlin
Johnny Mercer
Carole King
Hank Williams
Tom Petty
Jerome Kern
Stevie Wonder
Ira Gershwin
Luis Bonfa
Scott Joplin
 
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Cole Porter
Stephen Sondheim
Rodgers and Hart
Antonio Carlos Jobim
Ellington and Strayhorn
Franz Schubert
Harold Arlen
Jerome Kern
Bob Dylan
John Dowland
Benjamin Britten
Kurt Weill
Stephin Merritt
Kate Bush
Joni Mitchell
Gillian Welch
Hank Williams
Gustav Mahler
Elvis Costello
Stevie Wonder
Lennon/McCartney
Neil Young
Tom Waits
Paul Simon
James Brown
Holland–Dozier–Holland
Ashman/Menken
Fats Waller
Leadbelly
Woody Guthrie
Robert Johnson
Neko Case
Radiohead
Bob Marley
Morrissey/Marr
Nick Cave
Charlie Patton
Skip James
Stephen Foster
Sly Stone
Curtis Mayfield
Ali Farka Touré
Amara Toure
Boubacar Troare
Thomas Mapfumo

I'll throw in RT as a personal sentimental fav.

I'm also adding Carole King just to placate mongooz. Top 3? Lolz. Many lolz.
 
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James McMurtry
Townes Van Zandt
Smith /Pearlman /Meltzer
Mark Knopfler
Jay Farrar
Waters /Gilmour /Wright
Bernie Taupin
John Fogerty
Elvis Costello
Lucinda Williams
Robert Hunter
John Prine
Greg Brown
Warren Zevon
Robert Earl Keen
 
John Hiatt
Kate Bush
Joni Mitchell
Glen Phillips
Al Stewart
Paul McCartney
John Lennon
Dolly Parton
Julie Miller
T-Bone Burnette
Brian Wilson
Carol King
Hank Williams
Johnny Cash
Townes Van Zandt
Neil Finn
Ulvaeus/ Andersson (ABBA)
Peter Gabriel
Noel Gallagher
Mark Heard
 
John Lennon
Paul McCartney
George Harrison
Jeff Tweedy
Jason Isbell
Patterson Hood
Neil Young
Greg Graffin
Jay Farrar
Peter Buck/Mike Mills
Roger Waters/David Gilmour
Glenn Tilbrook/Chris Difford
Dave Grohl
Chino Moreno
Johnny Marr
Robert Smith
 
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