Bob Dylan is the greatest songwriter of all time.

nonoob said:
This song hits on all 8 cylinders, us older cats remember the sad story. :(

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That was good but imo freewheeling and Highway 61 are maybe 2 of the top 20 albums ever. Played start to finish.
 
nonoob said:
This song hits on all 8 cylinders, us older cats remember the sad story. :(

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Oh yes, that's is an epic, Dylan was firing on all cylinders in that one, no question. Just why not more like that? Maybe I just haven't listened enough.

The actual guy, Hurricane, I think was a psychopath and guilty of something which was possibly why Dylan stopped talking about him at some point. Also, the lyric that he could have been champ? Well, he was world class and could have been champ but painting him as some dominant champion wasn't true, he lost and he won like most top fighters.
 
mozfonky said:
No one really touches the Beatles in my book for the sheer amount of great songs and Paul went on to write plenty of other great music that of course had tons of critics.

If we're talking strictly lyrics, Dylan, Smokey, Chuck, Sly and Bruce would be my top picks. All of those guys were poets in another life.
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Yes, Paul of the Beatles was/is extraordinary, but John Lennon too in my book.
 
TeTe said:
The best solo work to come out of the Beatles was by George Harrison
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I never even listened, which was unfair because George's gold with the Beatles was everybit as great as anything. I think he could never quite shake the talk about he and ringo just being along for the ride. Neither could really, Ringo, particularly, isn't respected as a drummer nearly as much as he should be. I've known two separate drummers deride ringo, one saying, "Paul had to play a lot of the Beatle's parts, that's how bad Ringo was" and the other said, "I was better after my first year". Both are very wrong in my humble opinion.
 
mozfonky said:
I never even listened, which was unfair because George's gold with the Beatles was everybit as great as anything. I think he could never quite shake the talk about he and ringo just being along for the ride. Neither could really, Ringo, particularly, isn't respected as a drummer nearly as much as he should be. I've known two separate drummers deride ringo, one saying, "Paul had to play a lot of the Beatle's parts, that's how bad Ringo was" and the other said, "I was better after my first year". Both are very wrong in my humble opinion.
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I think My Sweet Lord has to the best solo song by any of them. When We Was Fab also an amazing song.
 
TeTe said:
I think My Sweet Lord has to the best solo song by any of them. When We Was Fab also an amazing song.
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he got sued over that though. The 80's stuff? of course I heard it but it sounded to me like he was trying to use the Beatles legacy to get airplay. That song, and Got My Mind Set On You I heard but didn't really care for.

Paul and John on the other hand still made some great stuff. None of them were exempt from the critics. The critics particularly hated Paul. People are funny though, with any legendary act, they have to have this phase they idealize and a phase where the act "jumped the shark" otherwise they aren't fans. Elvis had that, The Beatles had it, Prince had it. The truth is, some of all of their unsung work was damned good. Only for fans and critics to call this or that "terrible" (just read an article that said Prince put out "terrible" albums and I thought, "which ones?") or worse yet, "lazy" as in the case of Paul.
 
mozfonky said:
he got sued over that though. The 80's stuff? of course I heard it but it sounded to me like he was trying to use the Beatles legacy to get airplay. That song, and Got My Mind Set On You I heard but didn't really care for.

Paul and John on the other hand still made some great stuff. None of them were exempt from the critics. The critics particularly hated Paul. People are funny though, with any legendary act, they have to have this phase they idealize and a phase where the act "jumped the shark" otherwise they aren't fans. Elvis had that, The Beatles had it, Prince had it. The truth is, some of all of their unsung work was damned good. Only for fans and critics to call this or that "terrible" (just read an article that said Prince put out "terrible" albums and I thought, "which ones?") or worse yet, "lazy" as in the case of Paul.
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If I'm not wrong, Harrison wrote While My Guitar Gently Weeps , right ? A masterpiece in its own right :)
 
triptych said:
If I'm not wrong, Harrison wrote While My Guitar Gently Weeps , right ? A masterpiece in its own right :)
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absolutely, and others. George was something. Many people will say, "Oh, that's my favorite beatles song' when it's mentioned he wrote that, or here comes the sun or something. There is no doubt some truth that John and Paul never really allowed George what he deserved and always thought of him as the junior member.
 
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mozfonky said:
absolutely, and others. George was something. Many people will say, "Oh, that's my favorite beatles song' when it's mentioned he wrote that, or good day sunshine or something. There is no doubt some truth that John and Paul never really allowed George what he deserved and always thought of him as the junior member.
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Yes, this has always been well-known. As a kid, I was inclined to think that only John and Paul wrote the songs of their band, but as I got older and started to space out on rock bands by doing my OWN research , I discovered George's pen on songs too. Great revelation for me :)
 
triptych said:
Yes, this has always been well-known. As a kid, I was inclined to think that only John and Paul wrote the songs of their band, but as I got older and started to space out on rock bands by doing my OWN research , I discovered George's pen on songs too. Great revelation for me :)
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they gave him two songs per album. They say his first post-beatles album was so strong because of the backlog. I never heard that one though.
 
Here is a Dylan song by Ritchie Havens. Wonderful stuff. Van Morrison first.
 
Maybe not the best overall songwriter, but I have to single out John Darnielle from The Mountain Goats as a particularly good storyteller.



He doesn't have the same sort of knack for poetic flourishes as Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen, but the straightforward nature of his lyrics is a virtue all it's own imo.
 
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