I was whimsically mulling over my favourite singer-songwriters as I was out on my walk today. This is what I came up with:
Roy Harper
Bob Dylan
Woody Guthrie
Leonard Cohen
Joni Mitchell
Buffy St Marie
Jackson C Frank
Phil Ochs
John Lennon
Nick Harper
James Varda
Nick Drake
Syd Barrett
PJ Harvey
Patti Smith
John Martyn
Sandy Denny
Tom Waits
Paul Simon
David Gray
Bert Jansch
Jackson Browne
I bet there are a few obvious ones I’ve missed out on that list. Who would you add?
Neil Young would go on my list.
Oh Yes – Most definitely – how did I miss Neil off!! Thank you Molly!
Ray Charles, Paul McCartney…
So true. You know I just don’t think of Ray being a singer-songwriter but of course he is.
He did write some good ones, but it’ still a stretch to group him with the folkies. But he was a pretty good singer.
I guess it all depends on your definition of what is a singer-songwriter.
Hey, did you have Chuck Berry, the prototype rocker minstrel, near the top of the list?
Now there you go. That shows just how stereotyped I’ve become. I have put Chuck in Rock ‘n’ Roll not singer-songwriter – but of course that’s exactly what he is – Rock’s first poet!
Roll over Beethoven.
And tell Tchaikovsky the news!