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Who are the greatest American Songwriters?


dinamo72

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In no particular order
James Taylor
Ronnie Van Zant-Allen Collins-Gary Rossington(Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Willie Nelson
Harley Allen
David Allan Coe
Kris Kristofferson
John Prine
Dean Dillon
Don Gibson(he just died and he's from my hometown)
Robert Johnson
Bill Anderson
Stevie Ray Vaughn

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Originally posted by stickyrodent

i m going with cash (johhny)


i might get flamed for this but Marilyn manson has some good songwriting skills, same with reznor


Dylan was cool/ hendrix...oooo paul simon

 

 

reznor rocked the house.

 

have you heard of the band Kill Hannah?

 

they were on carson last night and the lead singer looked like him, and the song was verging on that kind of song. i'd be interested to hear what the rest of the release sounds like when it comes out.

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If we're talking about who sold the most records, the answer would be Michael Jackson (i hate saying that). Rogers & Hammerstein were huge for American composers as was Aaron Copeland for Classical 20th century composing.
Someone mentioned ?Elvis? He never wrote a thing. Didn't know a G7 chord either, but had a great attitude!

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I'm more a fan of the Brits, but there you go.

Probably a reflection of my (lack of) age, but here's my list:

Woody Guthrie (rightly said on this one, the man breathed American music)
Lou Reed
Brian Wilson
Patti Smith
Steve Malkmus (my personal fav)
Frank Black
Kurt Cobain (kind of on the fence here, but the wrote some great songs)
Dave Berman
Bob Pollard
Jeff Tweedy
Ira Kaplan

I liked Corgan too, when he felt like it. But I'm still bitter about how that all turned out.

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Here's my input with some examples:

 

Don Henley:

- The Last Resort is a rousting commentary on America's hedonistic westward sprawl

- the lyrics for Hotel California

- just about anything from the End of the Innocence

 

Bob Dylan:

- Blowin' in the Wind

- All Along the Watchtower

- he also introduced the Beatles to Mary Jane and opened the door for Sgt Pepper! ;)

 

Dave Matthews:

his lyrics are nonsensical but whimsical, almost in a Lewis Carroll/Dr Seuss way

- Several songs from Some Devil have some catchy lyrics, hooks and melodies

- Don't Drink the Water from Before These Crowded Streets

 

Bruce Springsteen:

I never used to like him, but slowly I grew to like the Rising as a fitting and emotional tribute to the fallen of Sept. 11, 2001. All except for Let's Be Friends.

 

Adam Duritz from Counting Crows

- August and Everything After, 'nuff said

 

Rob Thomas from Matchbox Twenty:

three albums of breakup songs may be a bit too much, but Yourself or Someone Like You became the anthem for those of us fortunate enough to be dumped from mentally-abusive relationships

 

As for the "non-American" songwriters:

John Lennon

Peter Gabriel

Bono/The Edge from U2

Sara McLachlan

Mark Knopfler

Cat Stevens

 

There are many more but they elude me for now...

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