Paul Simon’s ranking of the 11 greatest songwriters in history
There is a moment in ‘Kathy’s Song’ in which Paul Simon croons, “I don’t know why I spend my time writing songs I can’t believe / With words that tear and strain to rhyme”.
The song, however, like most of his work, is so perfectly crafted that the mournful proclamation almost seems like a meta-irony acknowledging his prowess and command over lyrics whisked up in seamless sonic sequence. When it comes to songwriting, it seems that Paul Simon hasn’t strained a day in his life… with the odd humanising exception of the ahem, ‘Cars Are Cars’.
When Far Out spoke with fellow pop craftsman Jack Savoretti, he seemed to agree that the diminutive folk icon set the bar for pairing Tin Pan Alley craft with Bob Dylan-like depth and sincerity. He explained: “Well, for me, Elvis is the king of rock, Sam Cooke is the king of soul, James Brown is the king of funk, but when it comes to songwriting, I think Paul Simon is the king,” he says. “Bookends is just a masterclass. The simplicity of it is like a conversation with an old friend.”
Savoretti added: “There is such nostalgia to it. It’s very beautiful, too, and beauty is not always put on records these days, it’s not as marketable as other things, but there’s a lot of beauty on it; it’s like looking through an old photo album, and for me, it has that same lovely effect as doing that.” Such a corroboration typifies Simon’s ability to stir our emotions with his wistful songs.
Further adulation for the diminutive musical master came from Flyte’s Will Taylor, who also told Far Out how Bookends is one of the greatest records ever written. “From the back of a lesson, I would put one headphone through the sleeve of my blazer, lean on my palm and listen secretly to ‘America’ with my eyes half-closed,” he reminisced. “Visually manifesting a tour bus driving across wide, open country, something that years later would come good.”
Before eulogising: “With interviews from inside an old people’s home and lines like ‘Kathy I’m lost’ I said, though I knew she was sleeping’, it’s a prematurely middle-aged masterpiece.” So, Simon certainly has the important ingredient of influence all sewn up when it comes to his own contributions to the canon of modern songwriting. But does he think he sits among the masters?
Well, despite the praise, Simon has retained a humble lack of self-assuredness when it comes to his craft over the years. On paper, this might have a bittersweet tinge to it, but it is also probably a central tenet to his triumph over the difficult art form. Hubris is shouldered out of the way, and sincerity sings through when it comes to his succinct odes, which each have a jittery sense of due consideration, filling them with comforting vulnerability.
However, whether it is vulnerability or fuckless swagger, all the greats seem to have that added element that brings originality to their work, as Simon said ten years ago in an interview with Mojo. When they asked him about this level of self-doubt and his glowing appraisal of other artists, they posed the question: “You recently said you didn’t consider yourself to be at the top when considering the pantheon of popular songwriters. Who is at the top in your view?”
To which Paul Simon replied after a lengthy deliberation: “I’d put it at [George] Gershwin, [Irving] Berlin and Hank Williams. I’d probably put Paul McCartney in there, too. Then I’d have Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.” Before adding a second sub-Mount Rushmore list of notables: “Then, in the second tier, [John] Lennon is there, [Bob] Dylan is there, Bob Marley and Stephen Sondheim are there, and maybe I’m there too. It’s about whose songs last.”
Naturally, his tiered list gained a lot of attention after its publication, not least because it came from a force so esteemed, but also because it nettlesomely was all-male, and also because of the fact that Macca stood above his bandmate Lennon on the podium. Whether that was due to Lennon once referring to him as “the singing dwarf, Mr Simon” and clubbing his latter records along with McCartney, Dylan and Mick Jagger’s as “a load of shit” in a bitter outburst is anyone’s guess.
Elsewhere, his love of Gershwin has long been renowned. In fact, Simon even received the first annual Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by Library of Congress. Upon receipt of the honour, Simon said: “I am grateful to be the recipient of the Gershwin Prize and doubly honoured to be the first. I look forward to spending an evening in the company of artists I admire at the award ceremony in May. I can think of a few who have expressed my words and music far better than I. I’m excited at the prospect of that happening again. It’s a songwriter’s dream come true.”
Hopefully, this went some way to boosting his musical self-esteem because there are many fans who would say you could easily scrub that ‘maybe’ from his name. Then again, there are equally a lot of Dylan fans who would question his second-tier status, and fans of Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, James Brown, Leonard Cohen and the like who would question why they don’t feature at all.
Paul Simon’s favourite songwriters:
Tier One:
- George Gershwin
- Irving Berlin
- Hank Williams
- Paul McCartney
- Richard Rodgers
- Lorenz Hart
Tier Two:
- John Lennon
- Bob Dylan
- Bob Marley
- Stephen Sondheim
- (Maybe) Paul Simon
Where would Paul Simon really fit in?
Well, if Simon’s list indicates anything it’s that there are great songwriters, and then there are geniuses. All of the tier one stars not only advanced the art form, but they seemingly did so in a manner that connected with the public at large. You certainly couldn’t accuse George Gershwin of being anything less than high art, but you’d also have to admit that he is simultaneously utterly accessible. They all are.
Simon fits right in there in that respect. “Paul Simon’s unique, and I teach his shit a lot, because that motherfucker can write,” Steve Earle said in reference to his foulmouthed songwriting classes.
“He’s like a craftsman on another level. I mean, everything is alliterated way past the fucking decimal point,” the Grammy-winning, bearded country star continued to swear. “He obviously works and works and works at it, because he learned it in the Brill Building,” he told Rock Cellar.
Continuing, “But he also genuinely had one foot in Greenwich Village too, because of the age he was, and he understood it, and he listened to all those records, and he learned to play guitar like that.” This studious nature made for beatnik songs with an unerring air of perfection, and for that reason, Steve Earle said Simon was in a league with pioneering geniuses like Cole Porter. It’s not without irony that Porter missed out on Simon’s list, but it’s clear that, humility aside, many of Simon’s peers would easily place him among the very best tier.
