Greatest Singer-Songwriter-Musician

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Route246

Recycles dryer sheets
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Many great singer-songwriters but couple in musician and the air gets very thin. I would say Paul McCartney for his guitar and bass playing and Joni Mitchell for her unique guitar playing approach. Both of them are world-class singer-songwriters.

It is rare to put together all three talents in a single package. Any others worthy of greatest ranking?
 
Those are not bad choices.

I would put Carol King squarely on that list, and probably above Joni.

Carol was writing number one hits as a teenager. Most of those were with Gerry Goffin, but you can say the same about Paul McCartney being a co-writer.

Then, she becomes a singer-songwriter, and blows out the charts with Tapestry. Incredible. BTW, Tapestry was written after Carol met Joni, so there's some cross-fertilization there.

I say all this and I am not a fan of hers. I am not a fan of Tapestry. I think her voice is genuine, but not pleasing. The fact that she came in before autotune is good, because I like genuine.

I also don't like some of her early #1 hits like "Go Away Little Girl." I wish it would go away.

Still, I cannot deny her incredible, incredible talent.

And then you have "The Loco-Motion." This song is so good, a demo recording by a baby sitter was good enough.

Perhaps that's her golden touch. She writes songs so good that even non-polished singers like herself or Little Eva can knock them out of the park.
 
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Route246 said:
Many great singer-songwriters but couple in musician and the air gets very thin. I would say Paul McCartney for his guitar and bass playing and Joni Mitchell for her unique guitar playing approach. Both of them are world-class singer-songwriters.

It is rare to put together all three talents in a single package. Any others worthy of greatest ranking?
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Before I got to your pick, Paul McCartney came to my mind.
I always liked but was never a big follower of Stevie Wonder, however the score of many of his songs had many threads of sound tied together going on at the same time, that made them interesting and fun. If not complicated. There is usually more there, than you get the first time.
 
I love Carol King, but she's not much as a musician. Joni blows her away if you factor that in. Joni and her band (including Jaco Pastorius) explored some amazing music during the Hejira time, and Blue is one of the greatest albums of all time. It's hard to hear her guitar in some of the songs, but she was experimenting with tunings and chords that were way ahead of her time.

I can't argue with McCartney. He's a legend, and can play anything. I would add Prince to the list. And Frank Zappa.
 
Some of MY favorites won’t make anyone else’s list, personal preferences to be sure. I could not pick one or two. In no order - John Lennon, George Harrison, Prince, Pete Townsend, Elton John/Bernie, James Taylor, Kurt Cobain, Thom Yorke/Radiohead, Don Henley, Billy Joel. 95% of her music is NOT my cup of tea, but Taylor Swift has to be on any list of most prolific/successful - her following is unlike almost anyone else in the last 20 years. She has a few songs even I think are remarkable. In his own unique way, Jimmy Buffett was a great song writer.
 
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Jim Croce was the 1st name that came to mind.
Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull defiantly needs mention.
 
Smokey Robinson anybody. Hello?

Look at this songwriter list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_written_by_Smokey_Robinson

Again, like Carol King, he is not my favorite singer. Not a fan of his range. But again, I also cannot deny his incredible talent.

Meanwhile, I've been told many ladies melt at the sound of his voice. I remember back in 1981 his song "Being With You" was a hit. I was between high school and college. I frequented a video game place. I lost a lot of quarters. The place was run by this guy from Poland. It doesn't matter except to say that he had two daughters that helped run the place. When that song came on, they literally went nuts. I mean, really nuts. They would turn off all the lights and move the sound system to 11. Dad would come out and start beating on these poor girls (same age as me, about 18). It was one of those random memories.
 
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Y'all are naming a lot of great singers and songwriters, but my impression of the OP was that they needed to be exemplary musicians as well. I can buy Elton John, George and John, Pete Townsend, and Billy Joel, but a lot of the others were just average musicians. I could listen to James Taylor for hours, but was never awed by his guitar solos. Same with Smokey. Unless you're counting singing as a musical instrument. If so, the list is going to get huge.
 
You are getting so technical. :LOL:

With your definition it comes down to just one: Paul McCartney.

Done.
 
Just trying to keep the thread on track. I'm famous for that.
 
I mean, the joke was that Paul was a better drummer than Ringo.

I'm not sure that is inaccurate.

Earlier someone mentioned Stevie Wonder. I love the man and his early 70s stuff. But, he got so damn lazy after that, especially in the 80s. He could play some good drums (see: "Superstition"), but just left it to the drum machine later and those songs stunk. Yeah, I'm talking about the lazy song called "I Just Called To Say I Love You." Phone it in, Stevie. Don't pick up a drumstick.

So Stevie is off my list. I still put Paul on top.
 
Prince. Great songs, great guitar player, great voice with great range. And, wow, he could put on a show. As I once heard it said "The only guy who could steal your girlfriend while wearing her shoes"
 
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For me, it's Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins). He writes almost all of their music, and at times he has played almost all the instruments on their recordings.

Paul Simon would be next, then McCartney. I've become more aware of songs Prince wrote for others, but I'm just not that big of a fan.
 
John Prine

Ian Tyson

Bill Monroe

Gordon Lightfoot

And most of those mentioned above………..
 
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John Lennon.

I'll never forgive that lunatic Mark David Chapman for taking Lennon from us, forever.

And then, there's Carole King, Bob Dylan, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Elton John, and hundreds of others. But John Lennon, OMG.... John Lennon shines brightly amongst the very best of them.
 
harley said:
Y'all are naming a lot of great singers and songwriters, but my impression of the OP was that they needed to be exemplary musicians as well. I can buy Elton John, George and John, Pete Townsend, Prince, and Billy Joel, but a lot of the others were just average musicians. I could listen to James Taylor for hours, but was never awed by his guitar solos. Same with Smokey. Unless you're counting singing as a musical instrument. If so, the list is going to get huge.
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FIFY. Prince was an incredible musician, especially guitar. I can give you videos to show it if needed.
 
Not a John Lennon fan, but I get it. I really like his weirdness on "The White Album." Honestly, I think he'd be a hit maker alone, but not rise to the top if he never was in the Beatles.

Elton John. Now there's a good addition. Maybe he gets short shrift because he wrote very few lyrics. He left that to Bernie.

But, but, what about producers? They are a huge impact, but probably too boring for this thread. I would venture to guess that Elton would not be who he was without Gus Dudgeon. Gus, as producer, guided Elton into so much of that incredible music. Elton surely was the force, but a producer is really important in music production.

I'm probably off track now. Sorry. I'll take an Elton song over a John Lennon song any day, although I love me some Walrus every now and then...
 
Cole Porter was the best songwriter IMO. The guy was incredibly prolific.
 
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JoeWras said:
I'm probably off track now. Sorry. I'll take an Elton song over a John Lennon song any day, although I love me some Walrus every now and then...
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While I get your drift, John Lennon preceded Elton by 10 years or so. The Beatles were truly breaking new ground with each album, revolutionary vs evolutionary? Fortunately many of us here had that experience first hand, hearing the next Beatles album and thinking I have never heard anything like this before.

I’m not a Beach Boys fan, but Brian Wilson is one of the greatest, Pet Sounds alone…

I’d add Sting to my list too, incredible song writer.
 
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Everyone mentioned deserves to be at least somewhere on the list. Don't know if there could really be "A GREAT-EST!" winner since even the obvious choices are still at least partially subjective. I was thinking Billy Joel, who I don't see mentioned. Why is he on my "greatest or tantamount to greatest singer-songwriters"?


Classically trained musician so I can't argue with his facility with music. Wrote words and music to all his songs, which were copious on the charts. Was/is a major figure in the artistic and business end of popular music as well as being permanently embedded in the overall culture, but was active as a composer for barely 20 years. Nearly everyone else mentioned has been doing it for going on a lifetime. Lots of fingerprints and long legs for only 20 years work.
 
Route246 said:
....Many great singer-songwriters but couple in musician and the air gets very thin....
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Add in producer and the only one that comes to my mind is Todd Rundgren.

I lost a childhood friend last year and he was such as huge fan that his family played Todd at his funeral service. I thought that was nice touch.
 
I wouldn't put Elton John on this list. Singer-Musician, yes. But not as a songwriter. Most of the lyrics to his songs were originated by Bernie Taupin (along with a few others). To quote Elton himself early on: "I'm hopeless at writing a song from scratch ... forget it, let's write with Bernie instead."

For me, probably Paul Simon is at the top of my list. I considered Tom Petty, who was a very good musician, but he had Tom Campbell (with and without the Heartbreakers) around to perform most of the lead guitar work. Really good live performances with Petty and the Heartbreakers.
 
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Midpack said:
FIFY. Prince was an incredible musician, especially guitar. I can give you videos to show it if needed.
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I had already listed Prince in a previous post. No need to convince me. He and McCartney are probably the best pure musicians anyone has named here
 
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