Who Are Your Top 10 Songwriters?

My friend and I were listening to some records today on vinyl, and I put on some Van Morrison and he put on James Taylor. I told him that I'm not much of a James Taylor fan, so he asked me to list some of my favorite songwriters. Apparently, Taylor is in his top 10. So that got me to this question, who's on your top 10 songwriters list?

My list:
1. Bob Dylan
2. Neil Young
3. John Lennon
4. Paul McCartney
5. Elvis Costello
6. Paul Simon
7. Bruce Springsteen
8. Jagger/Richards
9. Ray Davies
10. Van Morrison

 

1. John Lennon
2. Paul McCartney
3. Donovan
4. Jagger/Richards
5. Roger Waters
6. Pete Townshend
7. Paul Simon
8. David Bowie
9. Elton John/Bernie Taupin
10. Jim Morrison

 

I like your list, I haven't listened to much Donovan is he any good?

 

I think so, though many people are a bit hard on him because he was a Dylan imitator early in his career, his later stuff(65-70) is really good imo.

 

Ray Davies
Lou Reed
David Bowie
Joni Mitchell
Richard Thompson
Patti Smith
John Cale
Mike Scott
Jon Langford
Warren Zevon

or

Paul Westerberg
Bruce Cockburn
Rickie Lee Jones
Graham Parker
Joe Jackson
Joe Strummer
Neil Young
Todd Rundgren
Iggy Pop
Elvis Costello

maybe.

 

Who, not What.

 

Yeah, I only know a handful of his songs. I'm going to dig a little more into his catalog.

 

I couldn't name ten, but Leonard Cohen would be on that list, right after Bob Dylan and before Paul Simon

 

1. John Lennon
2. Neil Young
3. Joni Mitchell
4. Paul Simon
5. Brian Wilson
6. Paul McCartney
7. David Gates
8 .Jim Morrison
9. Becker/Fagen
10. Mike Nesmith

 

in no particular order:

• Jason Falkner
• Richard Thompson
• Martin Gordon
• Ron Mael
• John Foxx
• Mark Eitzel
• Bill Nelson
• Jimi Hendrix
• David Bowie
• Lennon/McCartney

 

Davies
Townshend
Dylan
L/M
J/R
Brian Wilson
Hunter/Garcia
Becker/Fagen
Bob Marley
J.C. Fogerty

. . . not forgetting the mute nostril agony of Jim Morrison.

 

Richard Buckner
David Bowie
Tim Rutili
Mark Linkous
PJ Harvey
Tom Waits
Bob Dylan
Jason Molina
Marc Bolan
John Lennon

 

Great list man. I wanted to put Pete Townshend on my list, but I ran out of room.

 

This is kind of a nasty one. Because so many of the picks are obvious ones and have already been listed. I also hate limiting it to 10. So instead I'll just make an observation on something I find interesting:

Most music fans would agree that Zeppelin has a pretty awesome catalogue of songs, but they never seem to be included in lists of top songwriters.

 

That's true, I love Led Zeppelin. I wonder why I forgot to include Page/Plant. I think I'm going to edit my list.

 

My Revised list:
1. Bob Dylan
2. Neil Young
3. John Lennon
4. Paul McCartney
5. Elvis Costello
6. Paul Simon
7. Bruce Springsteen
8. Jagger/Richards
9. Ray Davies
10. Page/Plant
sorry Van, I had to include Led Zeppelin.

 

Couldn't we at least get a Willie Dixon or Smokey Robinson tossed in just for kicks?

 

It's not really a test. You can still like anyone not on your list

 

I know that, but I had to put Led Zeppelin on my list.

 

You could make a good list just from the guys that LZ ripped off.

 

Freddie Mercury
Alanis Morissette
Richard Hawley
Joni Mitchell
Judee Sill
Bruce Springsteen
Peter Gabriel
Azealia Banks
Simon LeBon
Billy Joel

 

Prince
Barry Gibb
Sting
Chris Martin
Max Martin
Timbaland
Steve Perry
Stevie Wonder
Phil Collins
Hall & Oates

 

They did rip off a lot of blues music, but they also made a lot of original music too.

 

Personally I would have to put Townshend at the top of my list. But it's not easy putting anyone 'ahead' of Dylan or McCartney or Lennon or Simon or Davies or Young or Mitchell...that's why I say this is a tough topic for me.

 

In no particular order:

Lennon/McCartney
Brian Wilson
Antonio Carlos Jobim
George Gershwin
Irving Berlin
Cole Porter
Leiber/Stoller
Chuck Berry
Buddy Holly
Ray Davies