411 Music Top 5 11.06.07: Greatest Songwriters
Posted by Daniel Wilcox on 11.06.2007
Tom Waits, Rod Temperton, Elliot Smith and John Morrison are all familiar names who appear on this week's lists, but who exactly did the 411 Staffers call Greatest Songwriter? Hit the link and find out inside!
Welcome all, to another edition of the 411 Music Top 5!
This week, the 411 music staff join me to reveal who they think our the Top 5 Greatest Songwriters.
As usual, I'm Dan Wilcox and I'm here to take you through the proceedings.
Now let's not waste any more time and get to the lists!
[Disclaimer-this is virtually in chronological order… if #3 and #2 were writing at the same time, #3's superior writing came later]
5. Clutch – I poked around the liner notes of their first few albums, and came up with "all songs by Clutch." Someone can correct me if they want, but as far as I see it, I won't attribute the lyrics to one person or another here. I own the first four or so Clutch albums, and all I can say is that tracks like "Spacegrass," "Elephant Riders," and "A Shogun Named Marcus" are just the tip of the iceberg of some wicked songwriting. I'm presuming we're talking lyrics, my friends. Okay... Wiki is telling me that Neil Fallon writes most of them for Clutch. Damn Wiki if you don't believe me. They're great songs regardless!
4. Jello Biafra – Ah, we have more contention. After the rest of the band took legal control of the output, Jello's contributions to the Dead Kennedys were somewhat downplayed (as if that's possible). No matter, all you need to do is take a gander at his later collaborations to know that whatever he claimed he wrote before this new reordering of credits, he probably did write. Even up to his collaboration with the Melvins, he still has wicked sharp wit and satire in his lyrics. This is so much more effective than preaching, and Jello is a phenomenal satirist and master of irony.
3. Roger Waters - Satirist and master of irony? He's got it, too. I haven't seen him writing too much of late, nor even earlier than that. That's too bad. Amused to Death was a great album. The imagery of aliens landing on our world as an extinct world, with only shadows ringed around the TV set? Great! "Yellow Rose"… if you don't get chills at the end of that track, you have serious issues. And I've just been talking about his solo material. I haven't even delved into the Pink Floyd stuff.
2. Jim Morrison – Call him an overrated poet? I don't care. I beg to differ, as the saying goes. He had some of the best imagery penned and pegged to a fusion of dark rock and some never-before-heard (nor heard after), unearthly gothic carnival of who's-a-did-it style. It all worked so well, and I know for a fact he was most always the lyrics guy (irony factoring in here, with Robbie writing their biggest hit, "Light My Fire"). "Not to Touch the Earth" is surrealist genius.
1. Chuck Berry – He belongs number one. Screw the Beatles or Bob Dylan. Elvis? HA! An incredible foundation starts here. Do yourself an enormous favor and get something like His 30 Greatest Hits or Two Dozen Berries. One of the best song twists I ever heard, like a Ray Bradbury or Rod Sterling inverted ending, is contained within "Memphis, Tennessee," for example. Songs like "Nadine," "School Days, "Johnny B. Goode," and "Promised Land"? It doesn't get much better than this. I mark Chuck as rock 'n' roll's original storyteller and songwriting greats!
Brian Berry
Honorable Mention: Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, Silver Jews, The Jicks), Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Ray Davies (The Kinks), Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Morrissey (The Smiths), John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats)...and so many more.
5. - Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices)
The former frontman for The Who homagists, Guided By Voices, is also one of the most prolific songwriters of the past 25 years. Through the literally hundreds of songs he's written, Pollard has created a lifestyle of churning out as many as a dozen songs a day with his surrealist, stream of conscious wordplay and consistently catchy melodies. Recommended listening: Propeller (1992), Alien Lanes (1995).
4. - Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith makes people feel his pain and desperation with every word whispered through his layered vocals. If you've ever felt a touch of depression, heartache, dependance, or longing for anything unattainable, you'll identify with Smith's endearing words. This was taken from my write-up for 411 Mania's Top 5 Saddest Songs:
I can't think of any other songwriter who so effectively made a career of putting their emotions on the table for the world to see. Not to mention, he's an amazing guitarist whose understated musicianship and vocals further bring any person with a beating heart to be moved. Check out any of his albums (they're all amazing), especially Either/Or (1997)...and XO (1998).
3. - Townes Van Zandt
The following was pulled from my write up for 411 Mania's Top 5 Underrated Bands last December:
After hearing "Waiting Around To Die", everyone will understand my claim that Townes Van Zandt was a more gifted [songwriter] than Johnny Cash ever was. Steve Earle said it best: "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that". Recommended viewing: Be Here To Love Me-A Film About Townes Van Zandt (2005).
2. - Tom Waits
Folks uninitiated into the cult of Tom Waits could easily pass him off as a novelty. After all, it's hard to take his Cookie Monster with strep throat vocals seriously upon first listen. To further push him from the mainstream, much of his discography more closely resembles sea shanties than anything you'd find on the radio. With each listen, however, Waits' portraits of lowlifes, drunks, and outcasts come to life in a way that can only be described as "cinematic" (fitting for a man who works as a part-time film actor). Always revered by critics and with a rabid fanbase, Waits' has never been commercially successful in the United States but he has been covered by big name acts such as The Eagles (
Ol' 55"), Bruce Springsteen ("Jersey Girl"), and Rod Stewart ("Downtown Train"). Recommended listening: Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985), Mule Variations (1999).
1. – Harry Nilsson
What makes a good songwriter great is a knack for clever wordplay and the ability to effect the listener with a spectrum of emotions. Harry Nilsson performed this task on nearly all of his albums, which is what sets him apart from the rest of the pack. Be it drunken, hysterically funny, depressing, or full of anger, Nilsson spun tales effortlessly from the pen. He's so fantastic, and such an underrated musical gem, that a documentary was made about him last year (Who is Harry Nilsson and Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him). The following was taken from my write up for 411 Mania's Top 5 Underrated Bands list:
Harry Nilsson's name seldom rings bells for the under-40 crowd. If there were any justice in the world, the man best known for singing massive hits such as "Without You", "Everybody's Talkin", and "Coconut" (also featured on the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack) would be more familiar to listeners than Elton John, Billy Joel, or any of The Beatles' solo projects. Nilsson was a better songwriter, with further reaching vocal range, than all of the aforementioned musicians combined. The Walkmen are such big fans of his songwriting that they recorded a song for song cover of Nilsson's 1974 album, Pussycats [in 2006]. Recommended listening: Aerial Ballet (1968), Nilsson Schmillson (1971), Son of Schmillson (1972).
Phil Watts Jr.
5. - Thom Bell - Wrote numerous hits for the Delfonics ("La La La means I Love You", "Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time"), the Stylistics ("People Make the World Go Round", "Betcha By Golly Wow"), the Spinners ("I'll Be Around", "Ghetto Child")
4. - Mcfadden & Whitehead - "Ain't No Stopping Us Now" (for themselves), "For The Love Of Money" (for the O'Jays), "Wake Up Everybody" (for Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes)
3. - Gamble & Huff - "Backstabbers" and "Love Train" (for the O'Jays), "Me & Mrs. Jones" (for Billy Paul)
2. - Rod Temperton - Wrote numerous hits for Heatwave, which he was a member; most of Michael Jackson's OFF THE WALL and THRILLER albums.
1. - Ashford & Simpson - Wrote Motown staples such as "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "Nothing Like The Real Thing", and "You're All I Need To Get By"; wrote "I'm Every Woman" for Chaka Khan, and numerous hits for themselves ("Is It Still Good To You", "Don't Cost you Nothing", and "It Seems To Hang On")
Got any comments, complaints, queries? Send them along to the link at the end of the column and we'll get 'em answered.
Be sure to check out all the usual columns around the 411 Music zone this week. I'll be back tomorrow with the Greatest Rock News so be sure to check that out, and be back here next week for more from the Top 5!
