Sins of Omission

Well, my recent post on the “30 Greatest Living Songwriters” has struck a chord (so to speak) though I have become aware of a flaw in my methodology: I am letting voice and performance play an outsized role. Take the examples of Robert Smith, Miley Cyrus, Shayne Carter, Al Green—their personas and idiosyncratic voices are just as crucial to my enjoyment of their work as their actual chords and lyrics. Are they great songwriters? In my best estimation they are. But it’s possible there are semi-anonymous songscribes toiling away on Music Row in Nashville whose craftmanship—to the degree that such a thing can be measured—is as good or better than that of the more public-facing people I have highlighted.

So perhaps what I’m trying to pin down here are the 30 Greatest Living Songwriter-Performers. It has less zing to it, but it’s more accurate. When these people put their voices to their songs, something magical occurs.

(Incidentally, I’d love to see a list of the 30 greatest behind-the-scenes songwriters—the Jimmy Webbs of the modern era. That lineup would probably include Dan Wilson, sometime member of Semisonic and Trip Shakespeare who has written or co-written songs performed by Adele, John Legend, Chris Stapleton, the Chicks, Halsey, and on and on. I don’t have the deep knowledge to put such a list together, but I hope someone else does.

Mike Reid, who I did feature on my list, would also be on there.)

Now, before I get to the reader comments, I’d like to point out a couple glaring omissions that I realized I’d made. The biggest is Carole King. I mean, come on. I’m not the biggest fan of her solo work, but her Brill Building output, as half of the storied Goffin-King duo, wrote the book on modern songwriting. She could seemingly do it all, including psychedelia:

And, closer to home (that is, my personal record collection), the Trashcan Sinatras need to be included. Their songs—written, collectively, by John Douglas, Francis Reader, Paul Livingston, et al.—have gotten progressively deeper and harder-hitting over the decades. They’re all hits in my heart.

Am I talking to myself in these prayers?
Or will they lead me to somewhere in death?

Should I pray?
Put my faith in rewards somewhere?
Somewhere?

Shawna Kenney writes:

“I'd include The Bouncing Souls (start with The Pizza Song, or check out Letter From Iraq) - and also Tim Barry, formerly of Avail, now solo folk-punk artist.”

Patrick Boulay writes:

“One glaring omission in your list: Matthew Ryan. how is he not on this? the guy writes some of the best Americana folk pop and his catalog is vast. he's in my top 5 artists list of all time.”

You’re right Patrick. I don’t know how I missed Ryan; in fact, I’d never heard of him. That’s all changed now.

Christopher Sandford writes:

“Personally I admit to a lingering affection for Messrs Difford & Tilbrook (Squeeze). Maybe it's the English seaside-whimsy side of the act, but I remember seeing them at a low point in my fortunes in London around 1980 or so, and coming away thinking that the struggle for existence might be worth it after all.”

And Brad Growcock weighed in on social media:

Of course he’s talking about Todd Newman, so let’s close this out with another Todd gem—because in this case you can’t be too much of a good thing.

And there you go. Like the interior of Doctor Who’s TARDIS, the list is getting bigger on the inside. Or, I suppose we could just say, “But this one goes up to 50.”

Anyway, have a good weekend all!

Robert