30 Greatest Songwriters

~ MaryG

I heard the NYT “30 Greatest Living Songwriters” piece described on TV as a “last gasp of legacy media” to remain relevant. Maybe so. But hey, I’m a dedicated consumer of legacy media—and no publication has had more cultural sway in my 60 years than The New York Times.

So, for a fun activity on Mother’s Day, my son, my husband and I went through the list. We listened to a song or two by most of the songwriters.

The main things to know are that the list is unranked and has some crazy juxtapositions. For example, Young Thug comes immediately after Dolly Parton. Also, some of these folks did not perform their own songs, so they are less familiar.

I have seen many posts about all the songwriters—including Billy Joel—who did not make the list, which I agree with. (He should’ve been on it.)

But as we know—art is subjective. One person’s masterpiece is elevator music to another.

Artists I enjoyed listening to that I didn’t really know before: Missy Elliot and Stephin Merritt.

Artist I forced my son to listen to because she is a legend he should know: Carole King

Artist none of us had ever heard of: Diane Warren

Gift share of the article here.

Who’s not on it that you think should have been? (And remember, they have to still be alive. My husband was pissed David Bowie isn’t on it, but sadly he died at 69 in 2016.)

25 thoughts on “30 Greatest Songwriters”

  1. I read the Times most mornings, but I skipped over that one because lists like that irritate me more than they’re worth.

    These days, they make me feel old. I don’t know any lyrics written by Taylor Swift, for example, even though I know she’s important. Heck, even my 28-year-old son was cultivating a list of the best in new pop for a dance party he threw. 28 is old for pop, in my book, and yet he manages to keep on top of what’s really good in the genre. I’ve never been able to.

    Last week at my ukulele class all the old ladies like me were outside putting their shoes on (long story there), and I asked them as a trick question who wrote “Angel from Montgomery.” Every single one launched into stories about the blues singer with red hair, I forget her name right now, and not a single one said JOHN PRINE. That’s when I just about lost my shit.

    So, no, even the Times might screw up song writing and at best make me feel old.

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    1. Bonnie Raitt! And John Prine is in the “died too young to make the list” category.

      I know what you mean about feeling old. I never would’ve undertaken the NYT list review without my 25-year old son. It all started when I asked him “what singer/songwriter would you drop everything for to go see live if he were playing at The Buren (his local bar)?” and he said Drake. I was like wtf.

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      1. That’s hilarious. For one of my trivia teams, if we don’t know the answer to a music question, we write down Drake. Once, we were right!

        Yes, Bonnie Raitt. I feel like she’s a pop artist masquerading as a blues star. If you want to listen to a white woman singing and playing the blues, try Susan Tudeski, although for the life of me i can’t spell her name correctly right now.

        There’s also that Greatest Guitarists list, either by the Times or the Rolling Stone, that irritates me beyond belief. Not that I think I know better than “the experts,” but that anyone is considered an expert.

        I guess it’s all about writing something that people will talk about, so, success there.

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  2. What a fun thing to do for Mother’s Day. But…NO JONI MITCHEL? Did I miss her? If not, holy cats! She is still alive and she is one of the great singer/song writers, along with Carole King, whom I was happy to see. I guess no list will ever be complete.

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      5. Okay, it’s some consolation to find out that she and Neil Young were excluded for being Canadians originally.

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  3. I am completely out of touch with artists out there with not listening to the radio in years.

    When I blogged about liking 2Cellos after discovering them through a friend some years ago. Little did I realise their popularity until I looked them up more.
    A couple of days ago, I was looking on YouTube to see what else they created and seen there was nothing. All quiet. When I googled. I learnt they went their separate ways and were doing their own things. That’s how out of touch I am.

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  5. This was a fun and interesting list. I was a little surprised by some, but I agree, it’s subjective. It was cool that some of the songwriters that had some big hits but were not in the limelight got some props. Or maybe they are famous, and I just didn’t know it.

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  6. Oh! Thanks for this. I wanted to read it, but only subscribe to Games. I forget what NYT p*ssed me off about. Leaving Billy Joel might be reason enough. haha I did know of Diane Warren, but that’s probably because I watch so many music documentaries.

    I did NOT know Mariah Carey wrote any of her own music!

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      1. Oh good, I thought it was just me, but I always thought she was The Voice and didn’t have too much to do with composition.

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