The Great Songwriters

[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.

[Doctor Phibes]

One or more of the Beatles wrote all but 25 of them, according to my secret internet sauce.

[Larry]

@doctor-phibes said in The Great Songwriters:

One or more of the Beatles wrote all but 25 of them, according to my secret internet sauce.

Thus proving the Beatles did not write all of their songs.

[Copper]

But they made up for it in the other direction

According to Guinness World Records, “Yesterday” has the most cover versions of any song ever written. The song remains popular today with more than 1,600 recorded cover versions.

[George K]

(Schubert wrote more than 600 songs and he was dead before he reached age 32)

[brenda]

@doctor-phibes said in The Great Songwriters:

One or more of the Beatles wrote all but 25 of them, according to my secret internet sauce.

Sauce? You have internet sauce?

Well, no wonder so much of the stuff I see online gets boring. It needs the sauce!

[Doctor Phibes]

@george-k said in The Great Songwriters:

(Schubert wrote more than 600 songs and he was dead before he reached age 32)

In general, it's fair to say that the output, training and knowledge of classical composers puts the current generation of characters to shame.

[Larry]

@doctor-phibes said in The Great Songwriters:

@george-k said in The Great Songwriters:

(Schubert wrote more than 600 songs and he was dead before he reached age 32)

In general, it's fair to say that the output, training and knowledge of classical composers puts the current generation of characters to shame.

If you're talking about today's pop music, I agree.