Bob Dylan's Favorite Songwriters--What do YOU think?
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 07:43PM 
In a recent interview with Bill Flanagan, Bob Dylan revealed who his favorite songwriters are. The list is surprising in that it doesn't include hardly any of the top names that immediately spring to mind as Dylan's peer group (with the exception of Randy Newman.) Here's the list and my comments. I'm interested in what you think.
#1 on Dylan's list is Mr. Margaritaville himself Jimmy Buffet. 
Now, I like Buffet fine and he's had a nice career, easy going, laid back, looking for a lost shaker of salt. But puh-leeeze! For Buffet's name to pop up ahead of Joni Mitchell, Niel Young, Paul Simon, James Taylor...I could go on and on...
Next on the hit parade is Gordon Lightfoot.
I've always admired this guy, even intend to do a piece on him here in the SongMine. He had an amazing career coming up with real winners every few years like Sundown and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. And I hear he's been going through some real tough times lately. So I hope Dylan's endorsement will help give him a lift.
After Lightfoot Dylan names Warren Zevon! Again, a likable bloke, talented. And you have to admire his courageous exit, making a final album as he was losing his battle with cancer. But how many really great Warren Zevon songs are there? Somebody clue me in to what the killer Zevon songs are--I mean the ones that really dig in, like the other songs we've discussed here at the Mine.
After Warren comes Randy Newman, who is totally worthy and has produced some of the deepest, widest, strongest, bravest (and funniest) songs in the whole SongMine canon. So no arguments there.
John Prine is the next name to float over Bob's transom. Again, I have to say, I've always liked the guy, he's come up with some real nice stuff. But John Prine and not Leonard Cohen??? I will say I have lost touch with Prine's work for quite a while so maybe he's got material I don't know about. Please, enlighten me if you're a Prine fan.
And then there's somebody I don't even know: Guy Clark. A number of wise men have told me he's great so I guess I'll have to check him out. Meanwhile, you tell me, does he deserve to be on Bob Dylan's all time top list?
I remember years ago Dylan gave an interview and revealed then that his number one musical influence was the Sir Douglas Quintet, led by Doug Sahm. Now I know Sahm was a child prodigy and is considered an important Tex-Mex country guy, but "She's About A Mover"?? I dutifully went out and got Sir Douglas Quintet records and listened, and I didn't hear what Bob heard. I think he was either just being nice to Doug Sahm, or was goofing on the interviewer.
What do YOU think?
(Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan in "I'm Not There" "Everybody knows I'm not a folksinger...")
Reader Comments (7)
First off; I've never heard a Dylan interview where he wasn't being a punk-ass brat at some point, and I figure he's given up seriously tryin' since right before Nashville Skyline, but maybe in choosing Buffet we should hope that he means that pleasure and joy are often overlooked in the frantic search for transcendence.
There's that Great movie with Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake, where he's a comedy director and he hates it and he wants to make the Great American Social Fil-uhm, don't you know? And in the process of making it he gets thrown onto a work farm where the only joy in a week is the Saturday night viewing of his pie-in-the-face yuckfests.
I too don't take Buffet very Seriously, but there is a phenomenal lack of ill will in Buffet's entire catalogue, it seems to me; a strong odor of simple decency.
Hey Bill!!!!
Interesting stuff!! As regards Warren Zevon, I also think he is incredible, and probably deserves to be on a "greatest writer" list. Some of my favorite songs of his are: "Never too Late for Love," "Empty-handed Heart," "Ain't That Pretty at All," and "Bad Luck Steak in Dancing School." I don't know if you are familiar with these; if not, check them out!!!
Best,
Joe
Hey Bill--
I think Mr. Dylan is, as somebody's song goes, "a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction".
As uneven as his performances are, so seem to be his answers.
Still, I, like you, LOVE his choice of Randy Newman. However, for me, John Prine ranks right up there with Mr. Newman as a songwriting here, whether profound or silly (usually both). Bonnie Raitt has the same opinion --i.e., "Guilty", Randy Newman's cover, and "Angel from Montgomery", John Prine's cover, sung live in a duet with her, or by herself).
Bette Miller has a great cover of "Hello in There" (about trying to reach/communicate with elderly), so you are in good company as songwriters she's covered!
A brilliant later song of John's was "In Spite of Ourselves", his orignal tune on a cover album of duet songs....
"In Spite of Ourselves,
We'll end up sittin' on a rainbow,
Against all odds, Baby we're the big door prize!
We're gonna spite our noses right off of our faces,
There won't be nothing but big ol' hearts dancin' in our eyes!"
An obsucre silly nugget, your type (and my type) of song Bill, is Prine's "Let's Tallk Dirty in Hawaiin".
While I'm listing listenings---check out Randy Newman's "Marie" on "Good Old Boys" (Talk about your song "Eek out Something Beautiful--this is)
And while I'm listing lyrics-- check out Warren Zevon's "Searching for a Love"
(Although, like you, Mr. Zevon would not go in my list of the greatest songwriters, either, I love this song and lyric)
Searching for a love,
Searching everywhere,
They say true love conquers all,
You can't start it like a car,
You can't stop it with a gun.
Maybe Dylan's not into ranking, and just threw Jimmy Buffet in for good (time) measure?
I'm not ranking either, but seem to be into commenting on others' ranking!
Which leaves me wondering why I don't have time to call you back promptly,but found time for this tome...
Keep 'em surfacing, Bill.
Howie
I'm flabbergasted by Buffet - as one of my former student would say, a look of flabbergasm is crossing my face. I just can't "get" Buffet, perhaps it's my own personality flaw that I need to work to repair. And I like Coronas, and parrots, and beaches. But, Cheeseburger in Paradise makes me ill. And Margaritaville is, well...ubiquitous, to say the least. I did once hear a community college steel drum band do a nice version of Come Monday, but that's about it for me and Buffet. I found Zevon a little surprising, but in a pleasant way. And I am most definitely a John Prine fan. However, I haven't been blown away by any really recent stuff. There are a few good songs on "Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings", which is not too old (maybe 1994ish?), "Lake Marie" being one of them. As a musician, I'd put Prine pretty low on the list, considering about 90% of his songs follow the same ol' DAG progression, but his poetry is wonderful - and they are fun to sing and play, especially for us amateur guitarists. A few of my favorite blurbs:
From "Storm Windows":
Well, the spirits were high 'til the well went dry
For so long the raven at my window was only a crow
I bought the rights to the inside fights
And watched a man just beating his hand against a storm window
While miles away o'er hills and streams
A candle burns - A witch's dreams
And silence is golden till it screams
Right through your bones
From "Sins of Memphisto"
The hands on his watch spin slowly around
With his mind on a bus that goes all over town
Looking at the babies and the factories
And listening to the music of Mister Squeeze
As if by magic or remote control
He finds a piece of a puzzle
That he missed in his soul
Uh huh Oh yeah
Adam and Eve and Lucy and Ricky
Bit the big apple and got a little sticky
Esmeralda and the Hunchback of Notre Dame
They humped each other like they had no shame
They paused as they posed for a Polaroid photo
She whispered in his ear "Exactly Odo Quasi Modo"
And of course, there are the more famous "Hello, In There" and "Angel from Montgomery", both lovely. Yeah, I'm so glad he picked Prine.
As far as Dylan himself goes, I'm sure he is a "punk-ass brat", and though his recent work has been lauded by many, I find it hard to enjoy. But he is essential. To everything. And a magnificent thinker and poet.
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Just in case anybody ever reads this post Guy Clark is a great writer also check out Townes Van Zandt you won't be sorry
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