The greatest songwriter of all time according to Steely Dan’s Walter Becker
The title of the greatest songwriter of all time should be a subjective thing. All art is as the consideration of what is good and what isn’t is fogged over by considerations of personal taste, the tender memories that become attached to a certain song or artist, or even banal factors like time of day or a person’s mood when they first encounter a track. However, according to Steely Dan’s Walter Becker, there is one name that undeniably sits at the top.
Regardless of all those more elusive factors about how personal taste impacts music, there is undeniably and unarguably a class of songwriters who exist as the best of the best. Even if any consideration around the artistic worth of their art was removed, they would still be at the top of the food chain purely down to factual metrics like sales and hit singles or peer-to-peer evaluation.
The latter may well be the best way to consider the importance of an artist. Seeing which musicians inspire other musicians is a good way of seeing a person’s impact, with the ability to influence and move other artists being an incredible display of their talent. That’s what makes them essential as the best of the best. They have not only given the world amazing music but also kept the ever-growing creative world blooming as their songs become sparks that inspire a whole new generation of creators.
Bob Dylan is one of them. It would be tough to find a musician working in rock or folk who wouldn’t hold Dylan up as a shining example of a musician and a songwriter, with countless other artists considering him to be the ultimate musical mind around. To many, his songs are both the starting point that first inspires them to pick up a guitar, as well as being a pinnacle to aspire towards. Put so succinctly by Martha Wainwright, “He is the artist that all artists are led to,” she said, adding, “All roads led to Bob Dylan.”
Walter Becker would say the same. The Steely Dan’s guitarist and co-founder said to Mojo Magazine that he agreed with the collective of artists holding Dylan up as the best of the best. In particular, he cited a comment made by actor Jack Nicholson, stating, “to the effect that, as long as he is alive, Bob Dylan will be the greatest living songwriter.”
Becker’s bandmate, Donald Fagen, shared this viewpoint. “You can’t escape Bob,” Fagen once said, arguing that all artists that came after him essentially had to give thanks to the folk star due to his all-encompassing star. He declared, “Bob is a culture.”
However, his love for Dylan grew slightly frosty in the 1980s when the legend rejected the bassist for his band. After falling out with this last backup unit, Dylan placed an ad in a newspaper. Fagen, obviously, applied, but despite his glowing CV, he was turned down.
“Dylan passed up a good thing. Sorry, Bob, I’m not available anymore. I’m too busy,” he quipped later down the line. But despite the success of Steely Dan, the band of two Dylan fans would likely race off at the drop of a hat if the man himself called.
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