10 Greatest Songwriters

by Julian Gold
(London, England, UK)

10 Greatest Songwriters - In no order. They are all equally outstanding and brilliant.

Irving Berlin. How did he compose so many classic words and melodies with so little formal education. What a use of the chord of Fm for Puttin' On The Ritz.

Jerome Kern. Melodies from Heaven to words from Oscar Hammerstein (Showboat) and Dorothy Fields (Swingtime). Truly a Fine Romance of words and musical genius.

George Gershwin. Simply S'Wondeful along with lyricist brother Ira. Bess You Is My Woman Now is a duet from the stars.

Frank Loesser. So brilliant I am in constant daily awe. The scores of Guys and Dolls, Most Happy Fella and Greenwillow are treasures from this master of both words and music. Don't forget his Baby, It's Cold Outside either.

Lennon and McCartney (counting as one!). The most inventive, in terms of subject and sound of all the songwriters who ever lived. They so cared about what they offered their worldwide fans and strived endlessly to delight. Wonderfully in tandem instrumentally with George and Ringo, no band will ever match their gifts to the world. Small gems: And Your Bird Can Sing-as good as guitars get in rock; and Paul's beautiful vocals on Golden Slumbers.

Richard Rodgers. Fantastic tunes to the words by Larry Hart or later Oscar Hammerstein. From the tiny Do-Re-Mi to the grand beauty of The Carousel Waltz and, of course, THE anthem You'll Never Walk Alone. I get knocked out by Ship Without A Sail from Ella Fitzgerald. Don't forget Manhattan and The Surrey With The Fringe On Top. Romance that's now gone from public view.

Leonard Bernstein. A musical genius with no limits. A great pianist, conductor, classical composer and theatrical song writer. West Side Story needs no introduction but Lonely Town from On The Town is as moving as it gets.Wonderful lyrics from Stephen Sondheim and Comden and Green.


Andy Partridge. This fellow from the band XTC is one of the greatest songwriters England has ever produced. Indeed, I'd say, the world's ever produced. Partridge can do anything well including draw, paint, play guitar and sing. His songs, however, are a continuous marvel. The album Apple Venus Volume One contains masterworks Easter Theatre, Green Man, River Of Orchids, I'd Like That, I Can't Own Her, Harvest Festival and The Last Balloon. A soul bursting with lyrical and melodic beauty. Check out albums Nonsuch, Oranges and Lemons and all his Fuzzy Warble collections of demos.

Paul Simon. Possibly, along with the Beatles, the most strummed-by-guitar-players songwriter of them all. Beautiful lyrics accompanied by superb, eternally memorable and famous melodies from Sound of Silence, Homeward Bound and April Come She Will through Mrs Robinson, America, The Boxer, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Me And Julio, to the groundbreaking majesty of the Graceland album.

Antonio Carlos Jobim. Brazil's greatest songwriter. A wonderful composer, pianist, and, yes, in his own way, singer. His album with Sinatra has been feted since 1967 and his chords...well talk about in search of the lost chord! He's found a treasure chest of them from The Girl From Ipanema, Desafinado, O Boto, Waters Of March to Passarim and much, much more.

To leave out Cole Porter, Bob Dylan, Harry Warren, Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer and others undeservedly is the danger of limiting lists. I love them all equally. They have kept the world sane in times of war and crisis. Someone once described The Beatles as the" Second World War in reverse." To quote Stan Lee "Nuff Said!"