Pick three lyricists . . .

[Charlie Bernstein]

Pick three lyricists living or dead you'd like to have critique or respond to your lyrics - and tell why. I'll go first:

Ray Davies: the jaded romantic.
Woody Guthrie: the soul of America.
Bob Hunter: the quintessential space cowboy.

They write about what I think about - and they do it so well.

(I could name a lot more. But three's three!)

 

[Jim622]

Peter Townshend - he's my favorite song writer
John Prine - great story telling
Shel Silversteen - the sense of humor in his work

Like you said "three's three".

 

[Pickingthru]

Easy.

Bob Dylan
John Prine
Townes Van Zandt

They will know if you have something to say.

 

[Dukex]

Cole Porter (classic genius)
Lennon & McCartney (grew up with these phenoms)
Brad Paisley (love his humor and phrasing)

 

[DHart]

Bob Dylan
Robert Hunter
Lennon/McCartney

 

[Wyzsard]

Bernie Taupin

John Hiatt

Jean Ritchie

 

[chezdeluxe]

Johnny Mercer
Willy Dixon
John Prine

They could all bring humour energy and sentiment to a range of material.

 

[hemingway]

Leonard Cohen

Jackson Browne

Randy Newman

 

[knopflerfan]

Paul McCartney
Mark Knopfler
Joni Mitchell

 

[clayville]

Donald Fagan
Elvis Costello
Jeff Tweedy

All perfectly capable of writing a four-minute novel

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Wow. A lot of my favorites here - for all the right reasons!

 

[Stringbanger]

Van Morrison
Neil Young
Bruce Springsteen

 

[Mike SS]

John Lennon
Willie Nelson
Bob Dylan

 

[DHart]

Oh yeah, Joni Mitchell. Queen of lyrics and magical complex creations.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Bernie Taupin

John Hiatt

Jean Ritchie

Glad to see Jean made someone's cut!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Oh yeah, Joni Mitchell. Queen of lyrics and magical complex creations.

Absolutely. Another woman I'd describe that way (even though they're not very alike) is Laura Nyro. They both take you places you never knew you could go.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Donald Fagan
Elvis Costello
Jeff Tweedy

All perfectly capable of writing a four-minute novel

Jeff is high on my list, too. (And Donald and Elvis don't suck!)

Now you've given me an idea: Take one of my songs and turn it into a novel!

Now 'scuse me while I dust off the ol' Olivetti Underwood and throw in a fresh ribbon . . . .

 

[brookdalebill]

James Taylor (I know he’s the whole package, but what a lyricist!)
Paul Simon
My friend George, really.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Johnny Mercer
Willy Dixon
John Prine

They could all bring humour energy and sentiment to a range of material.

Glad to see Dixon AND Mercer made someone's cut! Willie wrote a lot of my favorites. (So did JP.)

We were watching a movie the other night, and one of the segue tunes was someone singing "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive." Had to wait for the credits to find out who wrote it. Johnny had a way with words!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Cole Porter (classic genius)
Lennon & McCartney (grew up with these phenoms)
Brad Paisley (love his humor and phrasing)

Good to see some love for Cole. His rhymes were so sly he could've been a rapper.