I'll probably have to go with Bob Dylan, Jack Johnson, whoever writes the songs in Dispatch, and House of Heroes
Why *are* there so many songs about rainbows?
Everybody who has ever posted in Sunday Songwriters. Although I haven't posted much in the past year, I still read them.
Raymond Douglas Davies,Steve Earle,John Hiatt,Harry Chapin,Townes Van Zant,Paul Simon,Bob Dylan,on and on.
GG
ohh thanks Nick ...
Our favouite mod has always been Nick
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Here is to you as good as you are
And here is to me as bad as I am
As good as you are and as bad as I am
I'm as good as you are as bad as I am
I would try to imitate Adam Duritz, but I just haven't tried yet.. I'm too scared by honesty..
Behold! The great northern viking's pinnacle of evolution! Behold my wavy blonde locks, my icy blue eyes and my muscular physique! Behold my.. screw this, I'm going to McDonald's.
I have A Ton of people who influence me from a modern day stand point
John Mayer ( lyircally and musically)
Jack Johnson
Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie
Keith Urban
Conor Oberst ( i swear hes a modern day dylan)
Belle and Sebastian
Damien Rice
Chris Martin of Coldplay
Dave Matthews
Some of Jason mRaz stuff
Jim Croce
the list is honestly extremely long
chec out my music
http://www.myspace.com/spencerbeasleymusic
pm if u like it or send me a message on myspace
I think that Gerry Rafferty is often overlooked. "Baker Street" alone is a great piece of songwriting, very moody, very real.
Just to add my two penny worth. For me lyrics is only half of it so my favourites are those who create great melodies and interesting progressions as well.
John, Paul, George - the Kings!
Others not in order
Stevie Wonder
Paul Simon
Randy Newman
Donald Fagen
Mark Knopfler
Sting
Michael Stipe
Joni Mitchell
wild card - David Byrne with the good advice to stop making sense 8)
Michael Stipe.
One chord is fine.
Two you're pushing it.
Three and you're into jazz.
It's kind of ironic seeing that my name is John but I'm very influenced by these guys:
John Lennon
John Prine
John Hiatt
J.J. Cale (birth name John W. Cale}
Country
Brad Paisley is an exceptional writer
Keith Urban
Rock
Kurt Cobain
John Mayer
Christian
David Crowder
Chris Tomlin
“The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn” - David Russell (Scottish classical Guitarist. b.1942)
The Smiths
Jim Morrison
Genesis 1970 -1978
Joy Division
Though most of the "music" I've written seems to lean towards The Doors
I wish to learn how Corb Lund manages to be such a great storyteller/songwriter. Clever, and imaginative, yet catchy and popular.
re Jeff Buckley - I think he had a 4 octave range while his father, Tim Buckley had a 5 octave range. Tim really blew me away with te album Happy/Sad, but I also got another album of his (either Blue Afternoon or a compilation album) and there are 2 songs next to each other which had me running to check if he sung both of them, the voice sounded so different. Tim is less consistent than Jeff, but also well worth a listen (Happy/Sad being my recommend).
Lyrically, Bob Dylan. Also his phrasing - a lot of ppl criticise his voice, but there are times when he says a line like no one else could, or makes you think about it differently to how you'd usually interpret it.
Also Neil Young, some Bright Eyes stuff (Land Locked Blues and Soul Singer With The Session Band are both brilliant IMO!), Tracy Chapman, Jeff Buckley, Robben Ford (the Truth album has some v. good lyrics), and a whole bunch of others.