Paste Magazine's 100 Best Living Songwriters
 

from stereogum: http://www.stereogum.com/archives/002670.html

http://www.stereogum.com/archives/002670.html
Another list to argue about! But this one should result in a heck of a lot less eye-rolling. Paste Magazine invited fifty journalists and musicians to compile...


100 Best Living Songwriters
1. Bob Dylan
2. Neil Young
3. Bruce Springsteen
4. Waits/Brennan
5. Paul McCartney
6. Leonard Cohen
7. Brian Wilson
8. Elvis Costello
9. Joni Mitchell
10. Prince
11. Randy Newman
12. Jagger/Richards
13. Paul Simon
14. Stevie Wonder
15. Willie Nelson
16. David Bowie
17. Holland/Dozier/Holland
18. U2
19. Patty Griffin
20. Van Morrison
21. Lou Reed
22. Lucinda Williams
23. John/Taupin
24. Jeff Tweedy
25. Chuck Berry
26. R.E.M.
27. Radiohead
28. Robbie Robertson
29. Tom Petty
30. John Prine
31. Carole King
32. Leiber/Stoller
33. Pete Townshend
34. John Fogerty
35. Steve Earle
36. Beck
37. Smokey Robinson
38. Kris Kristofferson
39. Led Zeppelin
40. Bacharach/David
41. Ray Davies
42. Loretta Lynn
43. Ryan Adams
44. Al Green
45. Jackson Browne
46. David Byrne
47. Sufjan Stevens
48. Welch/Rawlings
49. Cat Stevens
50. Public Enemy
51. Penn/Oldham
52. Paul Westerberg
53. James Taylor
54. Aimee Mann
55. Dolly Parton
56. James Brown
57. Morrissey
58. Sly Stone
59. Jack White
60. Jimmy Webb
61. John Hiatt
62. Sting
63. Richard Thompson
64. Andy Partridge
65. Bill Mallonee
66. Charles Thompson
67. Conor Oberst
68. Allen Toussaint
69. Merle Haggard
70. Alex Chilton
71. Vic Chesnutt
72. Michael Jackson
73. Julie Miller
74. Over the Rhine
75. Ron Sexsmith
76. Will Oldham
77. Bruce Cockburn
78. Robert Pollard
79. Stephen Malkmus
80. Pink Floyd
81. The Flaming Lips
82. John Darnielle
83. Fleetwood Mac
84. They Might Be Giants
85. David Bazan
86. Sam Beam
87. Lyle Lovett
88. Parliament
89. Victoria Williams
90. Nick Cave
91. Drive-By Truckers
92. Alejandro Escovedo
93. Joseph Arthur
94. Sam Phillips
95. Patti Smith
96. Jimmy Cliff
97. Josh Ritter
98. Jay Farrar
99. Outkast
100. T. Bone Burnett


Thoughts, quibbles, rants??

U2 18 ?!?

As much as I love Leonard Cohen....over Brian Wilson? In My Room? Come on B. Jeff Tweedy over REM....ha ha ha.

what?? wheres kurt???? hes an amazing songwriter one of the best

At least above Kris Kristofferson, but then again he's better than Led Zeppelin. Ok, shouldn't we just let these lame lists end, eh? Party at my place by the way.

Lou Reed should have been in the top 5

Jesus christ, he's dead.

Not to mention Sly Stone at 58.......pigfuckers.

I personally think Sonic Youth should be at least somewhere around 28 or 27. :(

What the fuck is Outkast doing in there?

So is John Lennon.

Paste Magazine's 100 Best Living Songwriters; Christ, I don't know what kind of necromancy exists here, but it can't be holy... :P

P.S And, no, John Lennon is not on the list.

i always feel sorry for number 100 on these lists.

where are the Pixies?

what kind of a magazine is paste anyway? i've never even heard of it.

Sucky list, David Bowie should be higher than 16, and Tom Waits is missing from the list, as well as Richard Hell, Tom Verlaine, Andy Gill, Sonic Youth, I can go on and on.

tom waits is on the list. waits/brennan, number 4. Brennan is his wife and songwriting partner

I just discovered something. It's just an opinion. It doesn't really matter who's on the list or who's not. What matters is you have your own list. Who really cares what a bunch of journalists think anyway? :)

ALYASA = someone with sense!

Thanks, but then again about 1 million subscribers to Rolling Stone in the US seem to care. :)