Fair is fair - favorite songwriters

[herr_oberst]

Off the top of my head,

(yes, I do lean towards the folky stuff)

John Hiatt
Todd Snider
Dylan
T Bone Burnett
Roseanne Cash
Steve Earle
Townes Van Zandt
Mark Knopfler
Dave Alvin

I'll give Neil Young a shout out, just because he has been at a high level for so many years.

Michael Timmons

[Don Ro]

Do you mean aside from Lennon/McCartney?
.
Also, Dylan, Gibb Bros., Otis Redding, Bernie Taupin, Marvin Hamlisch, Dolly Parton, ...

[peppy]

Van Morrison
Bruce Springsteen
Paul McCartney
Bernie Taupin
Willie Nelson
Marvin Gaye
Barrett Strong
Delbert McClinton

[craigster59]

Jimmy Webb
Townes Van Zandt
Jagger/Richards
Neil Young
Boyce/Hart
Holland/Dozier
Brian Wilson
etc.

[varmint]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Off the top of my head,

(yes, I do lean towards the folky stuff)

John Hiatt
Todd Snider
Dylan
T Bone Burnett
Roseanne Cash
Steve Earle
Townes Van Zandt
Mark Knopfler
Dave Alvin

I'll give Neil Young a shout out, just because he has been at a high level for so many years.

Michael Timmons

steve earl before he got fat and stupid.
roseanne cash means rodney crowell.

look into
fred eaglesmith
robbie fulks
chris knight
matraca berg
kim richey
and lucinda williams before she started thinking of herself as a poet.

[billwagnon]

Conor Oberst
Gary Jules

[Oh Haha]

John Denver
Page/Plant
Tyler/Perry
James Taylor
Roth/Van Halen
Jann Arden

[nostatic]

Sondheim

[Rick V]

Our own Livi.

[daepp]

Prine
Guthrie
Zimmerman
Van

[sammyg2]

Paul McCartney
Simon
Garfunkel

[VINMAN]

Jimmy Buffett

Jim Steinman

[sammyg2]

LOL,. Neil young. Pure genius LOL again.

My my, hey hey
Rock and roll is here to stay
It's better to burn out
Than to fade away
My my, hey hey.

Out of the blue
and into the black
They give you this,
but you pay for that
And once you're gone,
you can never come back
When you're out of the blue
and into the black.

The king is gone
but he's not forgotten
This is the story
of a Johnny Rotten
It's better to burn out
than it is to rust
The king is gone
but he's not forgotten.

Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There's more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
Hey hey, my my.
[ My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)

[onlycafe]

hoyt axton.
willie nelson.
hoagy carmichael.

[sammyg2]

and then there's the other side of the genius (lol):

Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There's more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
Hey hey, my my.

Out of the blue
and into the black
You pay for this,
but they give you that
And once you're gone,
you can't come back
When you're out of the blue
and into the black.

The king is gone
but he's not forgotten
Is this the story
of Johnny Rotten?
It's better to burn out
'cause rust never sleeps
The king is gone
but he's not forgotten.

Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There's more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
[ Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)

[nostatic]

No green needed:

Hello cowgirl in the sand
Is this place at your command
Can I stay here for a while
Can I see your sweet sweet smile
Old enough now to change your name
When so many love you is it the same?
It's the woman in you that makes you want to play this game.

Hello ruby in the dust
Has your band begun to rust
After all the sin we've had
I was hopin' that we'd turn back
Old enough now to change your name
When so many love you is it the same
It's the woman in you that makes you want to play this game.

Hello woman of my dreams
This is not the way it seems
Purple words on a grey background
To be a woman and to be turned down
Old enough now to change your name
When so many love you is it the same
It's the woman in you that makes you want to play this game.

------

Did I see you down in a young girl's town
With your mother in so much pain?
I was almost there at the top of the stairs
With her screamin' in the rain.

Did she wake you up to tell you that
It was only a change of plan?
Dream up, dream up, let me fill your cup
With the promise of a man.

Did I see you walking with the boys
Though it was not hand in hand?
And was some black face in a lonely place
When you could understand?

Did she wake you up to tell you that
It was only a change of plan?
Dream up, dream up, let me fill your cup
With the promise of a man.

Will I see you give more than I can take?
Will I only harvest some?
As the days fly past will we lose our grasp
Or fuse it in the sun?

Did she wake you up to tell you that
It was only a change of plan?
Dream up, dream up, let me fill your cup
With the promise of a man.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Paul McCartney

Love, love me do.
You know I love you,
I'll always be true,
So please, love me do.
Whoa, love me do.

Love, love me do.
You know I love you,
I'll always be true,
So please, love me do.
Whoa, love me do.

Someone to love,
Somebody new.
Someone to love,
Someone like you.

Love, love me do.
You know I love you,
I'll always be true,
So please, love me do.
Whoa, love me do.

Love, love me do.
You know I love you,
I'll always be true,
So please, love me do.
Whoa, love me do.
Yeah, love me do.
Whoa, oh, love me do.

-----

Someone's knocking at the door
Somebody's ringing the bell
Someone's knocking at the door
Somebody's ringing the bell
Do me a favor, open the door and let 'em in

Sister Susie, brother John
Martin Luther, Phil 'n' Don
Brother Michael, Auntie Gin
Open the door, let 'em in, yeah

Sister Susie, brother John
Martin Luther, Phil 'n' Don
Uncle Ernie, Auntie Gin
Open the door, let 'em in, yeah

Sister Susie, brother John
Martin Luther, Phil 'n' Don
Uncle Ernie, Uncle Ian
Open the door, let 'em in, yeah

[herr_oberst]

Hoyt Axton. Good one.

Hearing Steppenwolf do "The Pusher" and "Snowblind Friend" scared the $hit out of an impressionable 12 or 13 year old. Powerful stuff.

[LeeH]

Brian Wilson
John Williams (yes, THAT John Williams - guess he's more of a composer than songwriter)
Dave Matthews

[esample]

Just one of many by Dylan:



Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.

So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.

As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.

Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.

Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.

For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.

But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.

Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?

And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.