Greatest Songwriter of all time


I was reading the Dylan post and it got me thinking. There are many great songwriters that come to mind, my expertise/knowledge is primarily with rock music. If you could only pick three, what would they be? My vote for best lyrics goes to:

Jim Morrison
Bruce Springsteen
Elvis Costello

Best music goes to:

Mark Knopfler
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Frank Zappa
jeffloistarca
Best songwriter EVER of all time, words and music: Dylan
Second best: Townes Van Zandt
Third best: Guy Clark
There is a long drop between these fellas and number 4.
Glad to see Johnny Mercer's name mentioned. His impact on Capitol in the 40's and 50's were huge on so many artists that are seen as the elite of that time period.
Dylan
Joni Mitchell
John Prin
For their lyrics.

Lennon/McCatrney
Brian Wilson
Dylan
For their music.
Dylan, without question. I continue to be shocked by the sheer number of great songs he has penned, many of which were made "hits" by other artists (hell, some artists built their careers largely on the back of Bob tunes).

Garcia-Hunter deserve mention, I'd say. And back to Dylan, look for a release of Dead do Dylan in the not-too-distant. The boyz covered about a dozen of his songs independent of their joint tour.

Beatles, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, maybe Bacharach-David, Jimmy Webb (too schmaltzy for many, but I love it). Springsteen, definitely. Thunder Road gets my vote for greatest rock song.