The thread on folk music got me thinking, a bad thing at any time but especially bad when my music collection is in arm’s reach. In my five years here two singer/songwriters seem to strike awe in the souls of many members, Stan Rogers and Leonard Cohen. Following the fallacious assumption we need an “official” SDMB singer/songwriter I will place those two names in nomination. Any seconds? Any other nominations?
I’ve never heard of Stan Rogers, but Leonard Cohen is a masterful songwriter.
Still, even if he’s not to everyone’s taste, my all-time favorite singer/songwriter/musician is Tom Waits.
I’d pick Leonard Cohen above almost anyone in the songwriting field. Many of his lyrics can stand alone as poems, which is a rare thing these days.
I recall when Waits first got famous I kept remembering a time when he sang a key higher. I’m currently listening to “Ol’ 55” from those days, proving I wasn’t nuts, just paying too much attention back when there was plenty of variety on Chicago FM radio.
And Lou, try some Stan Rogers. I’d recommend Barretts Privateers, (but sung, of course) which describes an incident from the War of 1812 so vividly you believe it actually happened. Which it didn’t.
I thought Mike Rabon was the SDMB’s singer/songwriter.
“Oh the year was 1778…” Might wanna check that “War of 1812” thing, dropzone my love.
I have a largish collection of Stan Rogers songs, almost all acquired from friends. Trouble is, I don’t know which ones he wrote and which ones he didn’t. I’d thought he wrote Witch of the Westmoreland, but turns out that’s an Archie Fisher song. I’d still recommend giving Rogers’s version a thorough listen, though. Also: The Idiot and Fogarty’s Cove.
Cohen is, first and foremost, a poet. The music came later, and still comes later. It is (for him) a way of expressing his poems and gaining a wider audience
Bah, it didn’t happen so how does it matter WHEN it didn’t happen? I still regret we never invaded and took the left 3/4 of that country when we had the chance.
(looking at the world’s longest undefended border)
Hmmmm, looks like we STILL have the chance!
The nominations so far:
Stan Rogers (unfortunately dead and Canadian)
Leonard Cohen (alive but still Canadian)
Tom Waits (alive and not the slightest bit Canadian)
Mike Rabon (not Canadian but current condition unknown since he hasn’t posted since 2003)
Any nominations for somebody who isn’t old enough for an AARP card? How about a woman?
I think the odds of getting a consensus from this group are very slim, and don’t really see the purpose of crowning anyone the Official SDMB anything.
So…that makes me the party pooper, but I’ll watch with interest and even throw some more names at you to stir up the discussion.
Elton John
Billy Joel
Tori Amos
Ani DiFranco
Fiona Apple
Seal
Sting
Bob Dylan
David Gray
Dave Matthews
John Mayer
Go ahead…try and pick just one. 
John Prine and Warren Zevon.
This thread can be closed now. We have dual winners!
And neither are Canadians! They are, in fact, Chicagoans; one by birth and the other by adoption. (Both have moved away–Zevon far, FAR away 
--but I refuse to let go.)
Paul Simon is a masterful songwriter.
Cole Porter.
Warren Zevon. Period.
Exactly. Who?
Exactly, singer tho? Blah. Right up there with Dylan. I’d much rather hear the covers than the originals.
Three in a row.
Honorable nominees:
Janis Ian (based on the song “Society’s Child” and going forward).
Paul Simon
Ani DiFranco
Greg Brown
Joni Mitchell
John Wesley Harding
Tori Amos
Ryan Adams
Phil Ochs
Slaid Cleaves
Josh Rouse
Patty Griffin
Cheryl Wheeler
David Wilcox
Oh, and Woody Guthrie. Damn, almost forgot the big one.
Since I find myself admiring Dylan’s pre-accident work more and more as the years go by I have to put him on top. Who else has a 500 page book by a major professor devoted to analyzing his poetry and finding so much of value in it? It sounds pretty good, too, especially when others put it to music. 
You guys have never heard “Harris and the Mare” and your posting in a thread about singer/songwriters? Humph.
P.S.: Richard Thompson!!!