The thirteen greatest Singer/Songwriters selected because of their lyrics.
- Roy Harper – well he has to top the list because of his brilliance with words. No one has come close to producing masterpieces such as McGoohan’s Blues, The Game, The Lord’s Prayer, One of Those Days in England, How Does it Feel?, Me and My Woman, or I Hate the Whiteman. Sheer genius and social comment at its best.
- John Lennon – The Beatles were a world changer and Lennon was the force behind them. Together with McCartney he produced some of the most memorable songs of the last century. On his own he produced a brilliant set of songs like God, Imagine, Working Class Hero, Give Peace a Chance, Instant Karma, Gimme Some Peace, and War is Over (If You Want It). He was ridiculed for doing his bed-ins and bag-ins but I respect him for it. He was trying to use his fame and media stunts to draw the world’s attention to what was going on. John wasn’t afraid to take risks and upset people – another genius.
- Ray Davies – seems to have become a bit of a National Treasure. When he first set out he was producing great songs like I’m Not Like Everybody Else, See My Friends, Dedicated Follower of Fashion, and my favourite Well Respected Man that were satirical pokes at the society we live in – in a very English way.
- Billy Bragg – A man who puts his heart on his sleeve and stands for equality, freedom and fairness. He’s a political man through and through because politics is what makes the world run and if you don’t get involved the exploiters will. His songs like Between the Wars, Which Side are you On? World Turned upside Down (Leon Rosselson), Youth of America and It Says Here put a new stridency and passion into songwriting.
- Elvis Costello – He was a man who came bursting out of Punk with venom and panache. His song writing skills were brilliant on songs like Pills and Soap, Alison, Goon Squad, Let them Dangle, Ship Building, Stamp the Dirt Down, Watching the Detectives, I Don’t Want to go to Chelsea, and a wealth of others.
- Leon Rosselson – a man who has quietly continued as an unknown hero. His songs like Spycatcher, World Turned Upside Down, Palaces of Gold and Talking Democracy Blues have a political edge and perceptive intelligence.
- George Harrison – Often overlooked as a major songwriter but contributed some great songs to the Beatles as well as producing some brilliant solo songs – Piggies, Within and Without You, I Me Mine, While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Bangla Desh.
- Nick Harper – Different to his Father and a much better guitarist. Nick’s songs are clever and very well crafted with poetic brilliance – The Magnificent G7, Peace Love and Happiness, Simple, The Verse Time Forgot and Smithereens are testament to his brilliance.
- Bert Jansch – Another of our lesser known geniuses. Bert contributed brilliant songs like Do You Hear me Now, Needle of Death, It don’t Bother Me and Antiapartheid. During his long career he never failed with the quality.
- Syd Barrett – Syd was the mastermind behind the early Pink Floyd. He brought his Tolkein-like fantasy and space science fiction into the creation of Psychedelic masterpieces like Interstellar Overdrive, Astronomy Domine, Chapter 24, The Gnome, and Bike. They were the leading light in Psychedelia. Then there were those amazing two solo albums with Effervescing Elephants and Maisie. Incredible.
- Pete Townsend – Who is Pete Townsend. No Pete Townsend was Who. Well – with a bit of help from a superb drummer, bass player and vocalist. I never rated Tommy as highly as everyone else but there was no disputing Pete’s genius. It started with I can’t Explain, Substitute, My Generation and Substitute but Won’t Get Fooled Again was his apotheosis.
- Jake Burns – Jake summed up the Irish situation for me with his perceptive lyrics about the conflict. Alternative Ulster, Suspect Device, White Noise, Barbed Wire Love, State of Emergency, No More of That and Doesn’t Make it Alright are works of genius.
- Mick Jagger – Well the Rolling Stones were a World Beating force to be reckoned with and Jagger, with the help of Richards, produced a huge number of brilliant songs – Gimme Shelter, Tumbling Dice, Jumping Jack Flash, Street Fighting Man, etc. World class.
Well I may have missed a few out but there’s thirteen of the best and, sadly, not a woman among them. Even Sandy Denny didn’t slip in.
You’ve probably got your own list though. I wonder how different it is to mine?
Hello, Opher. I agree Roy Harper is number one…deservedly so! He is a genius! But where would you rank Richard Thompson? He, too, is brilliant, and, I believe, warrants a mention!
Richard was on my mind. I do like him, particularly when he was with Fairport. He like John Martyn and even Donovan, Van Morrison, Al Stewart and the great Nick Drake, were all hovering around in the mix. I perhaps should have done the top twenty. Thanks for pointing that out. Twenty would have had Jo-Anne Kelly and Sandy Denny and John Renbourn and maybe even Ralph McTell. AaaaaaHhhhh! There’s no end to it. That’s the joy!
Thanks for contributing. All the best – Opher.
All fine choices which I’d wholeheartedly agree with. Don’t know Jake Burns and would probably include Christy Moore instead. Plus Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush and Sandy Denny
Jake is the singer/writer with Stiff Little Fingers (My favourite Punk Band).
Yep – Christy Moore is excellent and Peter Gabriel’s Biko is a favourite of mine. The list goes on.
Thanks for adding to it!