The Great Songwriters

[Mik]

Of course Joni.

Lyle Lovett
Townes Van Zandt
Robert Earl Keen
Guy Clark
Steven Fromholtz
Willie Nelson
Kris Kristofferson

[Doctor Phibes]

@george-k said in The Great Songwriters:

Reed - what significant songs has he done?

Depends on what you mean by significant.

Walk on the Wild Side, and Perfect Day, maybe.

IMHO, his album New York is a classic. The fact that he's not particularly popular doesn't bother me in the slightest. I think Charlie Parker is the greatest American musician who ever lived, and nobody here listens to him, either.

[Aqua Letifer]

@George-K

Waits - wait, what?

He's been around since forever and his songwriting is at times brilliant. He's like William Gibson—sure you might turn your nose at him because you're an Asimov fan instead, but Gibson invented a genre, and Asimov didn't. Waits has done and is doing the same with his stuff.

I like 5 songs of his, tops, but that's not the point. You said songwriting, not popularity or influence.

[Doctor Phibes]

@copper said in The Great Songwriters:

Most Hot 100 No. 1s by Writers
32, Paul McCartney
26, John Lennon

Next thing, you'll be saying James Bond is a bloody yank.

[George K]

@doctor-phibes said in The Great Songwriters:

Depends on what you mean by significant.
Walk on the Wild Side, and Perfect Day, maybe.

I get it.

I guess I'm asking what songwriters' songs have endured. And by that, I mean what other artists consider them significant enough to copy cover.

Look at the music of the decades before that, the "Big Band" era. So many versions of so many songs; I suppose Sinatra was more influential than others in that way.

Is there anything from the 50s through the 90s that holds up like that?

As I think back on my post, I realize that not much of Simon's work as been covered, nor much of any other artist.

I guess I'll have to wait another 50 years or so to sort it all out. I can't wait.

[Doctor Phibes]

@george-k said in The Great Songwriters:

Look at the music of the decades before that, the "Big Band" era. So many versions of so many songs; I suppose Sinatra was more influential than others in that way.

Well, Sinatra didn't write any of it.

The golden era of American songwriting was that of Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin etc

[George K]

@doctor-phibes said in The Great Songwriters:

Well, Sinatra didn't write any of it.

Yes, but I think his influence was to popularize it.

Does that even happen any more?

[Doctor Phibes]

@george-k said in The Great Songwriters:

Yes, but I think his influence was to popularize it.

I'm not sure that's really true. Sinatra came in towards the end of the big band era and as recorded music started becoming more popular, but the songs had been very popular before then. I guess he was the first 'mania' type artist, but he did it by singing the songs that were already widely used as jazz standards prior to that.

[George K]

@doctor-phibes said in The Great Songwriters:

I guess he was the first 'mania' type artist, but he did it by singing the songs that were already widely used as jazz standards prior to that.

That's what i meant.

[Renauda]

@doctor-phibes said in The Great Songwriters:

Jerome Kern

I developed quite a liking to Big Band swing and in particular Artie Shaw. Jerome Kern’s All the Things You Are was a big hit for Artie Shaw’s band in 1939. For me it has become an unrelenting ear worm that follows me around day and night, night and day.

[Doctor Phibes]

There's a certain irony to what happened to music in the 40's and 50's. The hard jazz guys basically thought that big band swing was too simplistic and moved to a more complex but less accessible music, whereas pop music went in completely the opposite direction and essentially went back to straightforward 12 bar blues, even it was mostly sung by young white kids.

[Copper]

@george-k said in The Great Songwriters:

I'm asking what songwriters' songs have endured.

Stephen Foster
George M. Cohan
Irving Berlin
Cole Porter
Henry Mancini
Richard Rogers
Jerome Kern

endured

[Doctor Phibes]

@copper said in The Great Songwriters:

@george-k said in The Great Songwriters:

I'm asking what songwriters' songs have endured.

Stephen Foster
George M. Cohan
Irving Berlin
Cole Porter
Henry Mancini
Richard Rogers
Jerome Kern

endured

Arguably above all, George and Ira Gershwin

[George K]

@doctor-phibes said in The Great Songwriters:

Arguably above all, George and Ira Gershwin

Yes, and Berlin.

But my original question was about the 2nd half of the 20th century. Going back to the end of the 20th century, how many songs, and by that I mean "covers," have endured since 1999?

Who's singing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" now?

Is it the prevalence of online streaming that restrict the "covers"? I love hearing other artists do songs not originally recorded by them.

[Doctor Phibes]

@george-k said in The Great Songwriters:

@doctor-phibes said in The Great Songwriters:

Arguably above all, George and Ira Gershwin

Yes, and Berlin.

But my original question was about the 2nd half of the 20th century. Going back to the end of the 20th century, how many songs, and by that I mean "covers," have endured since 1999?

Who's singing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" now?

Is it the prevalence of online streaming that restrict the "covers"? I love hearing other artists do songs not originally recorded by them.

It could also have something to do with money-grubbing. Why pay somebody else for writing the song when you can cobble together some inane chant and get all the royalties for yourself? Particularly when the audience seem to perform inane chants to well-crafted classics.

[Jolly]

Tom T. Hall
Otis Blackwell
Felice and Boudleaux Bryant
Merle Haggard
Smokey Robinson

[Copper]

How did I forget John Philip Sousa?

He should have been on my list.

[taiwan_girl]

I think that both @George-K and @Doctor-Phibes are correct.

From what I have read before, the Beatles were kind of the first group to write all their own songs. Before, there were songwriters to do it.

Now, most people and groups think it is a "badge" to write their own songs.

The best songwriters may not be good singers and good singers may not be good songwriters.

[mark]

The Beatles did not write all of their songs.

[Larry]

@mark said in The Great Songwriters:

The Beatles did not write all of their songs.

Nor do most artists today write their own songs.