I'm listening to Joy Inside My Tears right now...

He makes it sound so easy...

Who else is in his level?

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

i love how that song never ends.

the only knock ppl may have against him is
that he can be very corny at times.

but his willingness to be unapologetically corny is
one of the most beautiful things about him.

and tbh, he has more edge than folks give him credit for.
stevie has a lot of righteous anger that slides under the radar for most ppl (cash in your face, black man, you haven't done nothing, many others).


you'd never catch stevie talking about some new black shit.
he always knows what time it is.

>and tbh, he has more edge than folks give him credit for.
>stevie has a lot of righteous anger that slides under the
>radar for most ppl (cash in your face, black man, you haven't
>done nothing, many others).

"I Want To Talk To You"

I also laughed my ass off at the end of "Sweet Little Girl" where he says, "don't make me get mad and act like a NIGGA"

in 1972

LOL

>I also laughed my ass off at the end of "Sweet Little Girl"
>where he says, "don't make me get mad and act like a NIGGA"
>
>in 1972
>
>LOL



it's hard to listen to "superwoman" as an adult though.
it's such a cruel, condescending song to syretta.

he was mad because she had dreams.

I think sometimes he just let shit ride because he had other songs in his head he needed to get out.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

stevie reminds us that sometimes, the most important thing in life
is that you have somebody in life that makes you just
want to call them to say "i love you."

he's never too cool to admit that he's head over heels in love.

that's awesome to me.

>I think sometimes he just let shit ride because he had other
>songs in his head he needed to get out.

I Just Called To Say I Love You - Corny

These Three Words - Corny

Happy Birthday - Corny

Don't Drive Drunk - Corny


but them shits was pop radio hits.

he knew what he was doing.

IG: amadu_me

"...Whateva, man..." (c) Redman

That Jungle Fever soundtrack was his last great work, but it's unfairly maligned.

although "conversation peace" had some jams on it.
i feel that "treat myself" is a sequel to "visions."

visions, he asks whether utopia can exist on earth, or only
in his one mind.

on treat myself, he decides that it is okay to have a utopia
that only you can see.




>That Jungle Fever soundtrack was his last great work, but
>it's unfairly maligned.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

but over time I grew to like it.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

stevie being corny is not an oversight or a concession to pop fans.

it's intentional.

"if it's magic" isn't on SITKOL because he wanted to
have a corny love song for the radio.

it's on there because he loves corny love songs,
in spite of how uncool they may make him look.



>I Just Called To Say I Love You - Corny
>
>These Three Words - Corny
>
>Happy Birthday - Corny
>
>Don't Drive Drunk - Corny
>
>
>but them shits was pop radio hits.
>
>he knew what he was doing.

Maybe that means I'm corny, since I can't see that.

IIM is beautiful...

nothing corny about it at all.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

it's not that the song is one of stevie's best,
but if you think it's among his worst, i feel you are missing the point of stevie.

corny and beautiful are not mutually exclusive.

i am not saying corny as a slight. it's a great song.


>IIM is beautiful...
>
>nothing corny about it at all.
>
>

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

>I think sometimes he just let shit ride because he had other
>songs in his head he needed to get out.

grassrootsphilosopher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ECyX8A3iP0

And you will know MY JACKET IS GOLD when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

Stevie's work in the 80s was
not the crap rockists make it out to be.

once you get past the 80s synths, he was just as strong melodicly and rhythmically and harmonicly as he was during his golden era.

had he played those songs on moogs and live drums,
critics wouldn't have shit on him so hard (except to say he didn't change with the times).

I ride for stevie up to characters. his only perfect albums are talking book and innversions.

IJCTSILY is an okay record.

I suspect many rock fans don't love stevie for the same songs we do. which is fine, of course.s

the headliners of that era for him were really schlocky. were they sound melodically? good for what they were? yes and yes.

but when i look back at some other artists who did corny stuff in the 80s, there are more redeeming qualities. Like yeah, EWF and Kool & The Gang went down a level but they didn't stray too far and had some great tunes. Neil Young experimented a lot and, like Stevie, bought into the movements of the era in a way that didn't seem totally natural. He had keytars on stage and shit (no disrespect to Doc Claw) and weird outfits. But some of the music was still epic and even the off shit (Trans) was forward-thinking, more than anyone realized at the time for sure. He also kicked ass toward the tail end of the 80s. Stevie's stuff in the past 25-30 years is hit and miss to me, some great tunes but a lot of forgettable stuff.

And you will know MY JACKET IS GOLD when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

the OP just asked if he was the greatest songwriter, period.

he belongs in that conversation with all the rest of the greats.

name names bruh... I'm interested in finding out who else is on his level.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

Lots of great songwriters died young and don't have the output of a Stevie, like Hendrix.

Also, should jazz be included in this convo?

If it is, I would put Ellington in the convo. Lennon and McCartney are definitely in. Personally, I'm putting Curtis Mayfield in the convo, though I know many would probably not agree.

Are we going to include songwriters from around the world?

Because if we are, I'd put Cartola and Jobim in there, too - both from Brazil.

I'm talking lyrics tho

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

is excellent, same for Cartola, same for all the artists I mentioned, besides Ellington, because he wasn't a lyricist.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

uh no.

Another Star is depressing as fuck, and is one of the most upbeat and happy songs around

*Jews you*

"this is okp tho, reading is completely optional" (c) desus

Proceed with caution. I am overtly racist.

<-- In Pigpen we trust

My parents are older. My dad is 74. Mom 70.

So my parents music taste go straight from Motown (Momma Loves the Temps, Dad loves marvin Gaye), then my dad somehow skipped Stevie, EWF, Kool & Gang and then he jumped right into funk with Prince, Parliment, Rick James. And then my dad got into hip-hop Heavy D, Public Enemy and yes, Tupac.

Never understood why there was no stevie played in my house growing up.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

Movies I need y'all bastids to see so we can discuss:

Five Star
Appropriate Behavior
Margaret

but we mostly listened to WPS growing up and Christian music.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

Movies I need y'all bastids to see so we can discuss:

Five Star
Appropriate Behavior
Margaret

Air Supply
Neil Diamond
Alabama
Lots of Christian music
Waylon Jennings
Oak Ridge Boys
good lord, Hooked On Classics tapes, which were like poppy versions of classical music.

and some other stuff i'm forgetting. once my brother got a little older and into his own type music we listened to a lot of that too.

you may want to ask you mom about this, if she bluahes or says "ask yo daddy why"..

then you know your daddy was a hater.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

Ritchie and Sting are GREAT songwriters...

I think Donny Hathaway was just as good a songwriter as Stevie Wonder, unfortunately, he just doesn't have the body of work that Stevie has to really make a fair comparison

Prince is up there too...

But I'd still say Stevie is the standard



>I'm listening to Joy Inside My Tears right now...
>
>He makes it sound so easy...
>
>Who else is in his level?

grassrootsphilosopher

we consider Donny "standards" weren't even his songs. He just flipped them so much better than the originals that those earlier artist releases were often forgotten.

---------------------------------------
blog: www.wonderfullyhorrible.blogspot.com
instagram: Fishgrease
twitter: wooly_caesar
Podcast www.soundcloud.com/circlegang

I wonder if people even truly know what songwriting is. It's not just lyrics. It's also not a euphemism for 'good music'. Calling james Brown or Jimi hendrix 'great songwriters' is equivalent to calling Shaq a great 3 point shooter.

>I wonder if people even truly know what songwriting is. It's
>not just lyrics. It's also not a euphemism for 'good music'.
>Calling james Brown or Jimi hendrix 'great songwriters' is
>equivalent to calling Shaq a great 3 point shooter.



i disagree songs must be able to
played with one finger on the piano to qualify as songs.

folks like james brown and george clinton are excellent songwriters.

what they "lack" in melody gets made up for in rhythm and their various hooks in their music.

if it's not somgwriting, what is it? please don't say "jam sessions."

The one-finger thing you're referring to is a way of measuring melody which is only one element of songwriting. But that's certainly an effective way of isolating the melody.

In anycase....I thought 'Get on up' was criminally underrated....in part, because they got what we're talking about right. They celebrated the genius of JB on his terms. I had found that other tributes to him displayed a lack of understanding of what really made him so special. It was NOT songwriting. In fact, it was his insistence on avoiding traditional notions of 'songwriting' that is inherent to his cultural contribution.

I don't fall for it.

fuck you.

James Brown is a great songwriter is synonomous to Rakim was a great melody writer.

It's not a way of devaluing him. It's an acknowledgement that that's not what he does.

And I lost interest in arguing about this issue years ago.

James Brown made several great songs. They were original compositions written by him and his collaborators. He was a great songwriter. He is primarily responsible for innovations in songwriting that were key to at least 2 genres - Funk and Hip-Hop. His treatment of almost all instruments as his rhythm section was very important in the development of both genres. And both genres are continually disrespected by Rockists and others who claim the songs associated with the genres aren't 'great' bc they're not melody-driven. But that ignores the truth about Black music generally where melody is often downplayed in favor of rhythm. Putting emphasis on melody is some longstanding WPS that goes way back to the wayback in Europe. Meanwhile rhythm took on more importance in old timey African and other non-European musics. It's that tricknowledge - I don't go for it.

James Brown was a great songwriter. Period.

fuck you.

Essentially, what you are doing is the same thing as redefining the word 'melody' so that we can celebrate Rakim as one of the great melody makers in music.

Get on up and the doc 'My Dynamite' were not rockist...nor were they truying to devalue JB as an artist. Neither am I. We're celebrating him for what he WAS....on his terms. Rather than use standards that simply don't apply to his music.

Idc.

James Brown was a great songwriter. Period.

fuck you.

In classical music made by "genious" composers, the composition is not just considered the "top" melody with chords; no, the oboe-lines or violin counterpoint melodies and whatever is also part of the composition.

In popular music on the other hand, the song is often just considered the melody+chords with everything else being part of the arrangement. The reason for this is because the method of creating music was not the same as that by the "genius" composers in classical. The musicians might contribute their own, even-gasp!-improvise. You might have an outside arranger bringing his ideas to the "skeleton" (yes, I think it's a skeleton-not a substance) provided by the songwriters and so on.

However, in music as made by people like James Brown or George Clinton (or AC/DC and Black Sabbath for that matter), things like drums or riffs or basslines or whatever are in fact core components of the song; they are the foundational building-blocks. Many/most of those songs did not start out by means of some dude sitting at a piano or strumming a guitar but rather by means of jamming or maybe one guy bringing in one idea and the others building on that and so on.

I don't think this should matter; why should a vocal-melody line with associated chords be considered the basis of songwriting in all genres? Because of some dumb Damaja argument about sheet music? "Noone" listens to music by reading sheetmusic, instead, we hear what is going on and in the context of someone like James Brown, the melody can be provided by a bass-line, a horn-riff etc. The harmonies, chords etc. may be simple but so what? You still have harmony, melody, all that shit that you have in "real" songs. Furthermore, a drumpattern can be of utmost importance and VERY much a foundational buildingblock in much the same way that a vocal-melody and a chord-progression can be in a fucking Beatles-tune.

If james Brown grunts adlibs instead of sing, you still have a melody in, say, the bassline or horns. Does it really matter which fucking instrument that provides the melody for it to be considered part of the composition rather than part of the arrangement?

If the compositions are created by means of jamming or whatever instead of a "genius" dude sitting at a piano playing chords and melody, should it really matter?

I just think those distinctions are silly and yes, they could very well be considered a way to discredit black music. If you think about it; take the sheet-music of Beatles "We can work it out". Then, you create sheet-music using Stevie's version. Even the *sheet-music* in these two examples would be different because Stevie changes the timing, rhythm retc. of the vocal-melody.

By saying that it all boils that it boils down to notes and chords (="songwriting" as defined by squares), you are essentially downplaying the importance of rhythm and performance in the context of popular music.,elements which I think to a large extents are based on innovations in black music in the past 20th century...

And if a fucking oboe-part in a mozart-song (sorry, *composition*) is considered part of the songwriting/composition, why the hell can't a drum-pattern or a riff in a JB-tune be considered that too, when it's probably more crucial?

Those things in JB's music are not arrangement-details added to a previously composed song but the very basis of the music and isn't that what songwriting really is???

you think Sinead O'conner should get songwriting credit for her version of 'nothing compares 2 u'.....Stevie for 'We can work it out'.....Eric Clapton for 'I shot the sheriff' and on and on and on by virtue of the fact that they arranged the songs differently from the originals?

Also....should the tamborine player get songwriting credit for Earth, wind and fire songs? By your definition....everyone in the band is a songwriter no?

I would suppose that your view also must include the engineers as songwriters....because the way the instrument 'sound' is part of the song too yah?

Should we just do away with the distinctions traditionally used and not use the term 'arrangement' anymore? Or continue using those terms while keeping in mind they are all 'part' of the songwriting process?

And also....when we ask 'who are you're favorite songwriters?'....for you, this is the same thing as asking 'who is your favorite music act?'

James Brown is my favorite music act. I listen to his records more than anyone else. I would not even consider putting his name on a list of best songwriters though. Maybe other people use the distinction to devalue arrangement driven music....I don't.

Songwriting credits look the way they do for a variety of reasons that are quite logical (NOT without problems though) but which has nothing to do with my ideas of what a songwriter is. In the context of bands, I always thought it was cool when the whole band was credited.

The reason I mentioned "We can work it out" by Stevie was just to point out the fallacies of the sheet-music argument (which you admittedly didn't bring up but I've heard it before). I mentioned that song because the sheet-music would actually look different, it's not *literally* the same song even from a sheet-music perspective; rhythm and timing, various vocal inflections etc. would actually change the look of the sheet-music. That it in *this* case happens to be considered a different arrangement is of course because Stevie was working with a previously established and copyrighted song as a basis.

If you are working with a song that uses JB's basslines, hornlines and drum-patterns (and yes, I know his bandmates helped out, it's irrelevant) in a non-sampled manner, people would recognize you working with JB's material and, yes, *songs*. You might get away with it in court though if you write new lyrics and blah-blah; there are legal inconsistensies here and they are somewhat biased towards a certain thing but whatever...

>The reason I mentioned "We can work it out" by Stevie was just
>to point out the fallacies of the sheet-music argument (which
>you admittedly didn't bring up but I've heard it before). I
>mentioned that song because the sheet-music would actually
>look different, it's not *literally* the same song even from a
>sheet-music perspective; rhythm and timing, various vocal
>inflections etc. would actually change the look of the
>sheet-music. That it in *this* case happens to be considered a
>different arrangement is of course because Stevie was working
>with a previously established and copyrighted song as a
>basis.

Well if you actually transcribe what the instruments are playing, then yes the sheet music for a cover song will almost always be different from the original. But whoever made that argument might be referring to the chord charts. I don't really see what's complicated about this....Stevie took the song and arranged it differently. Simple and plain. He didn't rewrite in a compositional sense. Because the particular notes that an instrument plays within the scope of the chord charts are the arranger's territory unless it's the melody. Ie whether the guitar goes chugga chugga or chug chug chugga.


>If you are working with a song that uses JB's basslines,
>hornlines and drum-patterns (and yes, I know his bandmates
>helped out, it's irrelevant) in a non-sampled manner, people
>would recognize you working with JB's material and, yes,
>*songs*. You might get away with it in court though if you
>write new lyrics and blah-blah; there are legal
>inconsistensies here and they are somewhat biased towards a
>certain thing but whatever...

I completely agree with the inability of the current laws to properly attribute value to arrangement. This is why I think you're argument lends itself to supporting the recent pharrel lawsuit. In that case, Pharrell stole the arrangement but wrote a new 'song'/composition. Those who defend Pharrell do so on the basis that he didn't infringe on the songwriting (and they're correct). But you hold that the arrangement is PART of the songwriting....in which case Pharrell WOULD be guilty of copywrite infringement.

The law (before the unprecedented Pharrell case) places heavy emphasis on 1. The 'songwriting' in the traditional sense. and 2. The actual recording itself (for sampling). They have never been able to enforce copyrwrite based on arrangement and engineering....until now. They can only do that if the arrangement is considered part of the songwriting...which is exactly what you're advocating.

A riff is not an issue of instrument-handling. The manner in which the riff is played is instrumenthandling but not the riff itself.

And what if the exact riff would be sung with lyrics, then of course you would consider it part of the songwriting and I'm saying:Why should it matter?

And what if the song is played instrumentally like say a JB's tune or a surf-rock instrumental. Is the *melody* as played by the horns or guitar not part of the songwriting? It's an arrangement? Of course not. All of a sudden, you have a dude adding vocals-BOOOOM! It all becomes arrangement, fuck that... It's based on the idea of thinking about music in terms of foreground and background where the melody by the vocals are the foreground and then this melody outlines chords I guess. However, all music does not work like that. What if the melodies and chords in *your* songwriting definition are outlined by the horn-riffs, the basslines etc., should they still be considered just part of the arrangement when they are in fact supplying the progressions? I don't think it makes sense and I find it contradictory and all types of shit.

Arrrangements to me is the type of stuff you add to an existing song (whether an original or cover is irrelevant; George Martin helped Beatles out with arrangements, those songs were already written and it's easy for the ear to separate the song from the arrangement), that's what an arranger does. That's not what JB or Clinton did-you can in many cases not separate song from *your* definition of arrangement which of course means that you have an arrangement without a song. Is that even possible???

Arrangement can be broken up into two things.

1. The arranger decides what instruments will be used in the first place. So when Tori Amos covers 'Smells like teen spirit' she decides that only the piano will be played. This is not a compositional decision. It's an arrangement decision. When Jimi Hendrix covers 'All Along the Watchtower' he decided to do the song in the 4 piece rock band format. That's an arrangement decision. Not a compositional decision.

2. The arranger decides what each individual instrument PLAYS. Which instrument(s) will play the melody? Tori Amos piano playing during 'Smells like teen spirit' is not the same as Kurt's rhythm guitar. What her piano plays is part of the arrangement. Not the composition. That's why her version is not 'written by Kurt Cobain and Tori Amos' Now compare that to the melody (which is sung in this case). The notes she sings are the SAME as Kurt Cobain. That's part of the composition of the song....not the arrangement.

Like anything....these rules that distinguish arrangement and composition are not hard and fast. It's like the difference between a movie's score and the sound fx. Sometimes the movie's score plays the ROLE of a sound effect (when a string quartet plays descending scales while someone is falling). Sometimes a sound effect plays the role of the score (when an explosion happens on beat with the music). The riff-rock you bring up is a good example. Take the riff for 'smoke on the water'. Is that arrangement or composition? Well....we'd probably agree that it's composition. MAybe we call it a melody....or secondary melody. But yah, that's an example where the lines get blurred. Just because the lines get blurred sometimes does not mean the distinction is without function. That's like saying we shouldn't distinguish between the colors green and yellow because of greenish-yellow shades.

>I wonder if people even truly know what songwriting is. It's
>not just lyrics. It's also not a euphemism for 'good music'.
>Calling james Brown or Jimi hendrix 'great songwriters' is
>equivalent to calling Shaq a great 3 point shooter.



i disagree songs must be able to
played with one finger on the piano to qualify as songs.

folks like james brown and george clinton are excellent songwriters.

what they "lack" in melody gets made up for in rhythm and their various hooks in their music.

if it's not somgwriting, what is it? please don't say "jam sessions."

enough...




>we consider Donny "standards" weren't even his songs. He just
>flipped them so much better than the originals that those
>earlier artist releases were often forgotten.

grassrootsphilosopher

We can Throw Isaac Hayes and Ashford and Simpson in that mix too...


and... Gamble and Huff... I honestly think Musiq Soulchild is one of the great contemporary songwriters...

You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

fuck you.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

when we lose Stevie, imma feel like i lost an old friend...

You gotta give Smokey his just due.

D

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Waldorf and Statler Vol 4:CONAN IS OUT NOW!!!: http://waldorfandstatler.bandcamp.com

and don't forget to check "DVS 4 ALDERMAN"

http://windimoto.bandcamp.com/album/dvs-4-alderman-bandcamp-exclusive-expanded-editio

~
~
~
~
~
Days like this I miss Sha Mecca

My Girl - The Temptations
Ooo Baby Baby - The Miracles
Since I Lost My Baby - The Temptations and Luther Vandross
Quiet Storm - Smokey Robinson
Tears of a Clown - The Miracles
Tracks of My Tears - The Miracles
The Way You Do The Things You Do - The Temptations
My Guy - Mary Wells
Crusin - Smokey Robinson
Don't Mess With Bill - The Marvelettes
Shop Around - The Miracles
Two Lovers - Mary Wells
Who's Lovin' You - Smokey Robinson and Michael Jackson (and he also got a writing credit on En Vogue's "Hold On" as a result)
Here I Go Again - The Miracles

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Granted....Stevie's catalogue is bananas as well....but Smokey's work is the foundation that Stevie is standing on.

D

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Waldorf and Statler Vol 4:CONAN IS OUT NOW!!!: http://waldorfandstatler.bandcamp.com

and don't forget to check "DVS 4 ALDERMAN"

http://windimoto.bandcamp.com/album/dvs-4-alderman-bandcamp-exclusive-expanded-editio

I can outdo those songs with what Stevie wrote for himself, alone tho lol

Lately
Ribbon In The Sky
All Is Fair In Love
As
Superwoman
Living For The City
Overjoyed
Rocket Love
Send One Your Love
Superstition
Pastime Paradise
It Ain't No Use
Creepin'
Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Love's In Need


Tip of iceberg, etc

~
~
~
~
~
Days like this I miss Sha Mecca

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKyjXB_LR0g

~
~
~
~
~
Days like this I miss Sha Mecca

....sounded like Stevie. The influence is definitely there. Their birthday is a day after mine.

.

...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft

Would be interesting to see a list of songs Stevie wrote vs. songs Smokey wrote.

I love his style of writing.

This post was paid for by the following.

www.twitter.com/13Rose
www.debunkthemyth.org
http://dashaunworld.wordpress.com/
www.mothergreen.com

Remember MJ The Great!
PSN: ThirteenRose

***********************************************************
https://soundcloud.com/swageyph/yph-die-with-me

He might be most prolific for sure but he shares rare air with

Smokey
John & Paul
Carol King
Leonard Cohen
Prince
Sting
Paul Simon

Double 0
DJ/Producer/Artist
Producer in Kidz In The Hall
-------------------------------------------
twitter: @godouble0
IG: @godouble0
www.thinklikearapper.com

Personally I would take take Stevie over Smokey by a hair. I would take Dylan over either albeit begrudgingly. Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Bowie and Elton John are all way up there; I think there is a strong argument for John though I am not a big fan personally and Bernie Tauphin also deserves a lot of credit. Brian Wilson, Hank Williams, James Brown, Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, George Clinton, James Brown Jerry Garcia and Sly Stone are all others I would consider. I love Robbie Robertson's work and what The Band did as a whole, though obviously there has been some quibbling over credit (and money) there. You got Prince, Michael and Rick James, giants who always deserve mention. I am sure McCartney and Lennon will get mention, too, along with Paul Simon, Chuck Berry, Jagger/Richards and the Boss.

You also have the more straight-up writers (that didn't perform their biggest hits, at least not famously) like Carole King, Otis Blackwell, Bert Berns, Bacharach, Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson (whose work I really like) et al. Of that bunch I like a couple of producers, Huff & Gamble had such magnificent lyrics and arrangements on that old Philly International shit. Whitfield/Strong was a similarly fierce combo, and you had the trio of Holland/Holland/Dozier cranking out all sorts of shit for Motown.

Others that found their lane like Loretta Lynn, Robert Johnson, Leonard Cohen, Dolly Parton, Woodie Guthrie (right there with Dylan maybe) and Allen Toussaint. Fats Domino was a great songwriter (Dave Bartholomew obviously getting credit also). I think Al Green was a kickass songwriter and adore his music. Outta more contemporary artists I think Aimee Mann has quietly had a brilliant career, Elliott Smith was an excellent lyricist and Gillian Welch is probably my favorite right now. You gotta look at the rap world, too, Missy and Timbaland, Jay, et al.

So after all this bullshit and name-dropping who is my pick? Bob fucking Marley. Incredibly prolific, versatile while maintaining a strong identity and just has a ton of magnificent songs. A big credit goes to the production team that kind of "westernized" his sound, made it slicker and more palatable, but the lyrics were always brilliant and the sound was cool no matter what.

And you will know MY JACKET IS GOLD when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

______________________________________________________________________________

cscpov.blogspot.com

"There's a fine line between persistence and foolishness..."
-unknown

"To Each His Reach"

...

---------------------------------------
blog: www.wonderfullyhorrible.blogspot.com
instagram: Fishgrease
twitter: wooly_caesar
Podcast www.soundcloud.com/circlegang

i dunno that i'll ever understand what it's about.

LOL

fuck you.