Top 5 favourite song writers.

[Marky Dread]

Mine are :

1.Ray Davies
2.Pete Townsend
3.Strummer/Jones
4.David Bowie
5.Rotten/Jones/Matlock/Cook

[Silent Majority]

1. Strummer/Jones

2. Shane MacGowan

The run from 1978-94. Very, very little after.

This morning on the harbour
When I said goodbye to you
I remember how I swore
That I'd come back to you one day
And as the sunset came to meet
The evening on the hill
I told you I'd always love you
I always did and I always will

Fare thee well gone away
There's nothing left to say
'cept to say adieu
To your eyes as blue
As the water in the bay
And to big Jim Dwyer
The man of wire
Who was often heard to say
I'm a free born man of the USA

3. Leiber/Stoller

Stand By Me, Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock, Yakety Sax, There Goes My Baby, Poison Ivy, Love Potion No 9, Spanish Harlem etc.

4. Steve Earle

[youtube][/youtube]

5. Lou Reed
Every third album or so.

Honourable mentions: Guy Clark, Pete Townshend, Hank Williams, Dylan, Barat/Doherty, Buddy Holly.

[drugstabbingmime]

1. Strummer/Jones
2. Dylan (early - blonde in blonde, nothing after)
3. Tom waits - as a storyteller he may have no equal.
4. Leiber/stoller
5. Lupe fiasco - listen to American terrorists and tell me that man is not a genius

[Heston]

Strummer/Jones
Weller 78-84
Ray Davies
Lennon/McCartney
Partridge/Moulding

[Silent Majority]

2. Dylan (early - blonde in blonde, nothing after)

I'm not the world's biggest Dylan fan, but there's loads of songs I like from after BoB.

[Kory]

Strummer/Jones
Robert Smith
Morrissey/Marr
Newman/Lewis/Gilbert/Grey
Gibbons/Barrow/Utley

Special Mention: Paul Weller, but only for AMC through The Gift.

[Silent Majority]

Robert Smith
Morrissey/Marr

Didn't realise you held them in such high regard. Definitely very good stuff.

[Flex]

Assuming, as everyone is doing so far, that we're counting songwriting teams as a single entry and excluding Jazz and Classical and such, here's my list (of folks I can think of at this moment):

Bob Dylan
Brian Wilson
David Bowie
Lennon/McCartney
Acuff/Rose

Some that just missed: Leiber/Stoller, Strummer/Jones, Morrissey/Marr, Jagger/Richards, Van Morrison, Tom Waits, Chuck D, Sam Cooke, etc.

Narrowing it down to five is really hard.

[daredevil]

1. Paul Westerberg
2. Strummer/Jones
3. Partridge/Moulding
4. Paul Weller (Jam era)
5. Ray Davies

It is hard to just name 5, these just missed:
Brownstein/Tucker
Billy Bragg
Caffy/Valentine

[drowninghere]

Stuart Murdoch (Belle & Sebastian)

[Mimi]

Strummer/Jones
Kate Bush
Lennon/McCartney
Elvis Costello
Paul Weller

[Wolter]

1. Wattie
2. Jimmy Pursey
3. Bruce Dickinson
4. GG Allin
5. Stephen Foster

[Silent Majority]

Strummer/Jones
Kate Bush
Lennon/McCartney
Elvis Costello
Paul Weller

Do you want to go and get a cheeseburger and a milkshake?

[Mimi]

Strummer/Jones
Kate Bush
Lennon/McCartney
Elvis Costello
Paul Weller

Do you want to go and get a cheeseburger and a milkshake?

[Heston]

I'm gonna do another 5, this is a tricky question...

Shane MacGowan
Pete Townshend
Simmons/Stanley
Bob Dylan
Fingers/Ogilvie