He has written a buttload of songs that turned into hits for other people, and gets no credit. John Denver did not write Forest Lawn or Whose Garden Was This? The Firebirds did not write Bottle of Wine. Chad Mitchell did not write The Marvelous Toy.
And Rambling Boy is not a “traditional folk song.”
Paxton is a prolific songwriter and a wonderful singer. I absolutely love him
Trivia buffs already know this, but some peopel are still surprised that Sonny Curtis, Buddy Holly’s old friend, wrote both of these tunes:
Here are a few written by Wes Farrell:
2. Beatles: “Boys”
3. Partridge Family : “Come On, Get Happy”
4. Jay & the Americans: “Come a Little Bit Closer”
“Greenback Dollar” by The Kingston Trio
“The Pusher”, by Steppenwolf
“No-No Song”, by Ringo Starr
“Never Been To Spain”, by Three Dog Night
“Joy to the World”, by Three Dog Night
“Snowblind Friend” , by Steppenwolf
All written by Hoyt Axton
This will be my last one for a while, but ALL of these were written by Otis Blackwell.
Okay, I lied- I owe you some songs written by Bert Berns:
2. Janis Joplin: “Piece of My Heart”
3. Bow Wow Wow- “I Want Candy”
4. Van Morrison: “Here Comes the Night”
5. Jarmels: “A Little Bit of Soap”
6. The Exciters: “Tell Him” (re-popularized by Ally McBeal)
Often considered the greatest living songwriter in the latter half of the 20th Century, Cindy Walker wrote for Bing Crosby, Bob Wills, Gene Autry, Sons of the Pioneers, Tex Ritter, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Rex Allen, Wade Ray, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Spike Jones And His City Slickers, Ernest Tubb, Al Dexter, Elton Britt, Eddy Arnold, Hank Snow, and Red Foley, as well as many songs recorded by various artists. The number of songs she wrote is reported to be over 500.
Among her compositions:
Bubbles in my Beer
Cherokee Maiden
Dream Baby
In the Misty Moonlight
Miss Molly
You Don’t Know Me (My personal favorite of hers. Recorded by everybody and his brother and all their cousins :D.)
Two more notes about Cindy Walker:
Eddy Arnold told her she should write a song titled “You Don’t Know Me” and provided the idea for what it would say. She wrote it and graciously gave him co-writing credit.
She wasn’t a bad singer herself, though she was eclipsed by the stars she wrote for. Here she is singing “I Hear You Talkin’.” (Here’s Bob Wills’ version for comparison.)
“Stones Soul Picnic” - Fifth Dimension
“Eli’s Coming” Three Dog Night
“And When I Die” - Blood, Sweat, and Tears
“Save the Country” - "Fifth Dimension
“Stoney End” - Barbra Streisand (Oh, yeah, it rocks)
“Wedding Bell Blues” - Fifth Dimension
My girl Laura Nyro.
How could a little white girl have such soul? Maybe because her real name is Laura Nigro. Italian and Jewish soul mix!
In addition to his own big hit “Games People Play,” Joe South wrote:
Loving this thread. Just wanted to clarify that in guitar circles, Steve Cropper is a freakin’ legend for his work in the Stax house band - more or less Booker T. & the MG’s - and just being a master of the Telecaster…
I am not even seeing much Brill Building/1650 Broadway stuff listed, like Ellie Greenwich, Neil Sedaka and Neil Diamond, Goffin and King, etc…and yet all of the folks listed so far in this thread have so many great songs to their credit…
Until the musical ***Jersey Boys ***became a hit, I think Bob Gaudio was one of the most forgotten successful songwriters ever.
Gaudio was a member of Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons, and he wrote most of that group’s big hits, as well as Frankie Valli’s solo smash “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” He also wrote the Royal Teens’ “Short Shorts” and the Tremeloes’ “Silence is Golden.”
Here’s a bizarre combination:
Phil Coulter wrote the classic weepy Irish ballad “The Town I Loved So Well,” which told the story of “the troubles” in Northern Ireland.
He also wrote “S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night” for the Bay City Rollers.
Here are a few written by Alan Gordon:
The Turtles: “She’d Rather Be With Me’
The Turtles: “Happy Together”
Three Dog Night: “Celebrate”
Barbra Streisand: “My Heart Belongs to Me”
Over a long career, Communist songwriter Earl Robinson wrote such tunes as…
“Joe Hill,” memorably sung at Woodstock by Joan Baez
“The House I Live In,” a wartime hit for Frank Sinatra
“Black and White,” a song about school desegregation recorded by Three Dog Night
In addition to his own catalog, Prince wrote or co-wrote many hits for others:
“Manic Monday”, The Bangles
“Nothing Compares 2 U”, Sinead O’Connor
“Stand Back”, Stevie Nicks
“Sugar Walls”, Sheena Easton
“Jungle Love”, The Time
“I Feel For You”, Chaka Khan (cover that charted higher than Prince’s original)
“A Love Bizarre”, Sheila E.
“Love…Thy Will Be Done”, Martika
Turns out he also wrote the Four Seasons’ “Silence is Golden.” 
Petula Clark was a major star during the British invasion, and most of her hits were written by Tony Hatch.
Downtown
I Know a Place
My Love
Don’t Sleep in the Subway.
Hatch also wrote Sugar and Spice, a hit for the Searchers, and Call Mewhich (in the U.S.) did better for Chris Montez than for Petula.
While he gets no respect, Andrew Lloyd Webber has penned quite a few hits
Trivia time: One of the last songs Elvis recorded was ALW/Tim Rice’s It’s Easy For You
Some of the big names have been ignored so far, perhaps because they seemed to obvious.
All of the following were written by the team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman: