The greatest songwriters?

Whenever any publication, or website, or blog decides to rank the greatest of anything, expect a debate. Rightfully so: it is by definition impossible to definitively rank anything, at the very least in music. The art form is so eminently subjective that you are effectively left with the taste of the particular reviewer. Or editor. Or advertiser.

The recent New York Times “30 Greatest Living American Songwriters” piece still raised a few eyebrows. Because it is by the New York Times, arguably the most legit publication out there; because it is not a music website, like Rolling Stone, whose rankings we’ve grown accustomed to; because the list they came up with is admittedly a little strange.

Let’s start with the good: some of the names that should be on the list are indeed there. The Boss, Dylan, Nile Rodgers, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Dolly Parton… Out of the somewhat newer crop, you get Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar… These names clearly belong here, no question about that. The question, however, is… who’s missing?

And there are a few. Billy Joel, aka Piano Man, whose decade-long residency at Madison Square Garden broke all sorts of records, is not on the list. James Taylor, whose contributions to folk are only second to Dylan’s, is not on the list. Carole King is (rightfully) on the list, but not Carly Simon. These are just the most obvious ones: very few rock outfits on there (think Fleetwood Mac or Aerosmith), zero punk representatives (many are admittedly gone, but Iggy is still kicking it), Tom Waits is not mentioned and neither is his own icon Jimmy Webb…

I know it’s easy to criticize: I would have a very hard time doing that kind of work. But I do find surprising to have someone like Fiona Apple, who I otherwise appreciate, or Young Thug on the list Billy Joel and Carly Simon are not on. The point is — given how valuable real estate was here, some of the choices made seem downright illogical. To the point that the editorial team dedicated an entire podcast episode to essentially justifying said choices. With rules that were fairly complicated to begin with. And enough of a backlash for Rick Beato to not even have to push to get his point across…

At the end of the day, what will probably happen with this list is that it will be forgotten. Probably for the best.