Who is your favorite American composer of songs?

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meltzerboy

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There are a lot to choose from, including Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Alan Jay Lerner, Johnny Mercer, Noel Coward, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Foster and, among contemporaries, Ned Rorem, Steven Sondheim, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and many, many more.

Who is your favorite and which of their songs do you like the best?
 
meltzerboy said:
There are a lot to choose from, including Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Alan Jay Lerner, Johnny Mercer, Noel Coward, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Foster and, among contemporaries, Ned Rorem, Steven Sondheim, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and many, many more.

Who is your favorite and which of their songs do you like the best?
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I like all the old ones you mentioned. The only modern ones I like is Simon and Garfunkel (not sure if Art is the composer), Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell and Billy Joel.
 
utah_rose said:
I like all the old ones you mentioned. The only modern ones I like is Simon and Garfunkel (not sure if Art is the composer), Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell and Billy Joel.
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I believe Paul Simon is the only composer of the famous duo. Their songs are great and from my youth, as well as those of Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, and Billy Joel. All wonderful talents!
 
I heard Al Jolson singing Irving Berlin’s “Easter Parade” somewhere recently. I forgot how much I liked it.
 
My favorite American composer is Moondog.

Also, I’m pretty sure Noel Coward was English.
 
meltzerboy said:
There are a lot to choose from, including Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Alan Jay Lerner, Johnny Mercer, Noel Coward, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Foster and, among contemporaries, Ned Rorem, Steven Sondheim, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and many, many more.

Who is your favorite and which of their songs do you like the best?
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No question - Daniel Johnston. American songwriter and composer - many people HAVE heard his songs without knowing they’re Daniel Johnston songs:
“Daniel Dale Johnston (born January 22, 1961) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and artist. Johnston was the subject of the 2005 documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston. Johnston has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He has been regarded as an important figure in outsider, lo-fi and alternative music scenes.”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Johnston

He does still tour when he can. Well worth the effort to see him play his own songs.
 
pianistclare said:
Bonnie Raitt
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She used to hang out in eco-activist circles, by the way, in San Francisco. A woman I used to know named Cecily is friends with her.🙂 I’ve never actually listened to her music or anything, and I have no idea what she sounds like, but she’s an exceptionally friendly person who seems to know tons of people in the Bay Area. Or at least she did in the nineties.
 
Exiled_Child said:
She used to hang out in eco-activist circles, by the way, in San Francisco. A woman I used to know named Cecily is friends with her.🙂 I’ve never actually listened to her music or anything, and I have no idea what she sounds like, but she’s an exceptionally friendly person who seems to know tons of people in the Bay Area. Or at least she did in the nineties.
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Oh my goodness. You’ve GOT to get one of her CD’s. She’s incredible.
 
All good choices for the classics.

I’m going to add George M. Cohan to the list.
 
are you speaking specifically of those who composed for movies?

probably Irving Berlin.
 
Impossible to name just one. So many styles and genres…

Bob Dylan
George Gershwin
Duke Ellington
Dorothy Fields
Holland, Dozier, Holland
Carole King
Jerome Kern
Smokey Robinson
Harry Warren
Brian Wilson

And Hoagy Carmichael (and Mitchell Parish) just for the song Stardust alone.

Tons more but those stand out right now.
 
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