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Song of the Day #1,156: ‘Don’t Drink the Water’ – Brad Paisley (with Blake Shelton)

As I write this, I’m in the middle of a game of concert chicken with StubHub in the hopes of seeing Brad Paisley live today. Paisley is playing my city, with Blake Shelton opening, but he’s chosen a venue I hate and the prices are way too steep.

I’m not big on concerts. They’re expensive and uncomfortable and often less enjoyable than the same music heard on record. I don’t want to hear drawn-out jams, I don’t want to wait until 8:45 for a show that was supposed to start at 8. But at the same time, a good concert can be a transcendent communal experience if you’re willing to put up with all that other stuff.

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Song of the Day #1,155: ‘Hearts and Bones (Live)’ – Paul Simon

Best Songwriters – #1 – Paul Simon

I flirted with putting Bob Dylan, Ben Folds and Elvis Costello in my #1 spot, but I kept coming back to Paul Simon, the most unassuming of them all. I’ll get to my reasons in a minute.

First, I’d like to reference some of the artists I left off this list, artists who made the initial cut but didn’t quite survive.

Lucinda Williams and Lyle Lovett, two southern stalwarts, are basically tied for 11th place, and either could have cracked the top ten but for my soft spot for Billy Joel. Bruce Springsteen is a legend who, like Bob Dylan, has gotten better with age. Tom Petty is considered the poor man’s Springsteen, but he’s plenty rich for me.

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Song of the Day #1,154: ‘Just Like a Woman’ – Bob Dylan

Best Songwriters – #2 – Bob Dylan

Once again, no surprise to see today’s artist on this list — I did, after all, dedicate nearly a year to Bob Dylan Weekends. In fact, I’m guessing most of you assumed Dylan would land at the very top. So I guess that leaves a little suspense leading up to tomorrow.

I’m not going to attempt to sum up Dylan’s greatness in a single blog post. Countless blogs, magazines, books and movies have tackled that task over the 50 years he’s been recording and I don’t know if any of them have quite done the trick.

Put simply, he changed the face of popular music, and did it more than once. Dylan was one of the first singer-songwriters of the modern era and you’d have a hard time finding artists working today who don’t credit him as an inspiration of one sort of another. He brought poetry to rock-and-roll and proved that it could be not just critically but commercially successful.

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Song of the Day #1,153: ‘Battle of Who Could Care Less’ – Ben Folds Five

Best Songwriters – #3 – Ben Folds

Ben Folds could easily have been #1 on this list. It’s only his relative youth compared to the two songwriters to come that slipped him to the third spot. Twenty or thirty years from now, if he continues to produce the sort of music he has thus far, he’ll be pretty much unbeatable.

In 1995, Ben Folds Five released their self-titled debut, an album that I have often called my favorite of all-time, and to date the only record I’ve ever covered in its entirety on this blog. That album alone earned Folds a spot on this list.

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Song of the Day #1,152: ‘Jack of All Parades’ – Elvis Costello

Best Songwriters – #4 – Elvis Costello

I’m sure it’s no surprise that a man who posted half a year’s worth of Elvis Costello Weekends would have Elvis Costello on his list of favorite songwriters. The surprise is probably that he doesn’t place higher than fourth.

Costello is what I consider the quintessential songwriter. He’s the guy you hear every aspiring pop star list as an influence. He has mastered his art form in a dozen different ways, working in every conceivable genre. From punk to opera, country to classical, you name it and he’s done it.

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