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1950-2000: The 10 Greatest Songwriting Teams

The attribution of songwriting credit in the popular music industry is fraught with all manner of swindling and cheating. Royalty checks are sent as often to pretenders and usurpers as they are to the true creative parties. I am not going to attempt to untangle the twisted and arcane competing stories underlying the extant listed publishing rights. With regard to just one band, The Beach Boys, there is an entire cottage industry of books devoted to arguing the minutiae of “who really deserves credit” for the band's most celebrated recordings.

So here, with the above caveat, is my list of the 10 greatest songwriting twosomes of the last half of the 20th Century.

1. John Lennon/Paul McCartney
2. Boudleaux Bryant/Felice Bryant
3. Burt Bacharach/Hal David
4. Gerry Goffin/Carole King
5. Kenneth Gamble/Leon Huff
6. Benny Andersson/Bjorn Ulvaeus
7. Ronald Dunbar/Edythe Wayne
8. Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller
9. Mick Jagger/Keith Richards
10. Jimmy Page/Robert Plant
tweakgeek
paulwp
585 posts
 
To add two or three:

Dan Penn (Pennington) and Spooner Oldham
Charles Hardin Holley (Buddy Holly) and Norman Petty (though it is unclear how much credit Petty actually deserved)
Lately, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings are amazing.
fatparrot
1,314 posts
 
Elton John/Bernie Taupin especially "Madman Across The Water", "Tumbleweed Connection", "Honkey Chateau", and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". After that period, they took a nose-dive, in my opinion! B.T.W., the Mofi Gold CD version of "Madman" SUCKS as far as audio quality (notoriously piss poor fidelty on some Mofi CD's...and this one is VERY pricy at $70 to $100!) I was fortunate enough to find a SEALED DCC vinyl copy, and I could not believe the difference in audio quality! This is not a vinyl vs. digital issue, Mofi just had someone do a NASTY mastering job on this title, which is also the best release in the E.J. catalog, in my opinion, as well.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
Howard Ashman & Alan Menken
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