funniest singer-songwriter

neil young has a funny voice

boring answer but Lenny

dylan has more lol moments in any given interview than the rest have in their combined careers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVs6X9yIM_k&feature=PlayList&p=74833B62D1A3013C&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=15

Yeah, I'd rank early Dylan up there with the Holy Modal Rounders and early Beasties/Eminem for punchlines, maybe higher. (Didn't know Cohen was considered funny, but then I could never really get past his voice.)

Early Dictators maybe funnier than Bob; it'd be a close call.

No John Prine?

joni is a lot of things, but i guess i have never thought of her as funny at all.

other three you could all make cases for depending on yr sense of humor.

Voted for Mr. Zimmerman, btw.

stephen malkmus

leonard cohen can be funny, in interviews

Bob's Xmas album is one of the funniest albums ever made

Cohen, dry..

...& blue.

neil can be pretty funny. thing i was laughing at most recently was:
I got religion
in the airport, my Lord
They caught me waiting on
my baggage when I was bored

can't see any of the other 3 inspiring a thread as entertaining as this one: 100 Funny Bob Dylan Moments

2nd write-in for John Prine (tho Dylan is probably more deeply funny). Elvis Costello cracks me up too.

"I like Fidel Castro and his beard"

always gets mw

prine i'd put up against other singers who came out a bit later - like randy newman, warren zevon, louden wainwright
that'd be a tough call right there

Bob wins for these lyrics alone:

You say you love me
And you're thinkin' of me,
But you know you could be wrong.
You say you told me
That you wanna hold me,
But you know you're not that strong.
I just can't do what I done before,
I just can't beg you any more.
I'm gonna let you pass
And I'll go last.
Then time will tell just who fell
And who's been left behind,
When you go your way and I go mine.

You say you disturb me
And you don't deserve me,
But you know sometimes you lie.
You say you're shakin'
And you're always achin',
But you know how hard you try.
Sometimes it gets so hard to care,
It can't be this way ev'rywhere.
And I'm gonna let you pass,
Yes, and I'll go last.
Then time will tell just who fell
And who's been left behind,
When you go your way and I go mine.

The judge, he holds a grudge,
He's gonna call on you.
But he's badly built
And he walks on stilts,
Watch out he don't fall on you.

You say you're sorry
For tellin' stories
That you know I believe are true.
You say ya got some
Other kinda lover
And yes, I believe you do.
You say my kisses are not like his,
But this time I'm not gonna tell you why that is.
I'm just gonna let you pass,
Yes, and I'll go last.
Then time will tell who fell
And who's been left behind,
When you go your way and I go mine.

Yeah, it's John Prine. I voted Dylan here, though.

BTW, this particular couplet cracks me up every time -- but what the heck does it mean?

You say my kisses are not like his,
But this time I'm not gonna tell you why that is.

Half the people can be part right Some of the time....

Yeah, Dylan's funny

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Cohen has made me LOL more times than Dylan. "You say I took the name in vain/I don't even know the name" gets me all by itself, the "and if I did, well, really, what's it to you?" is just icing. Plus a ton of stuff on New Skin & I'm Your Man, there's dark humor in some of his bleakest songs (like "Avalanche" for example: "Your pain is no credential here" is a fucking hilarious way of expressing the sentiment he's working there). Dylan brings some lols no doubt but not as many as Cohen. Neil's lols are more often in the delivery than in the text, imo, not that there's anything wrong with that but Cohen seems funnier to me.

I looked for you in everyone
And they called me on that, too

So daily I renew my idle duty
I touch her here and there - I know my place
I kiss her open mouth and I praise her beauty
and people call me traitor to my face

Cohen's at his funniest best when he's taking shots at his own tortured genius/loverman persona - "I was born like this, I had no choice/I was born with the curse of a golden voice" and "I ache in the places where I used to play" from "Tower of Song". Nick Cave seems to have played with this a lot too - might've taken some tips from Lennie.

randy newman

Nilsson. But Cohen for the poll.

where's david berman

there's also this: zinger-songwriters poll 2: prine vs newman vs loudon vs zevon
there should probably be at another for berman et al

Prefer Cohen's sense of humour to Dylan's. It's more generous; wry and knowing rather than sardonic. Tower of Song is full of funny lines. Does Joni Mitchell even have a sense of humour?

How is Paul Simon in neither of these polls? He was loltastic on SNL in 1975.

Cohen's at his funniest best when he's taking shots at his own tortured genius/loverman persona

Which is just another level of conceit really. Dylan's conceited too, of course, but he has a sense of the ridiculous whereas Cohen is just vanity all the way down - with precious little talent to back it up. The line that most annoys me is the one in 'Tower of Song' about Hank Williams coughing 'a 100 floors above' and first you think, 'how nice, how modest' but then you "fucker wants you to think 'how nice, how modest'"

And it goes for Cave twice over.

but then you think ...

Yeah, I would argue that this is one area where a handful of current indie-type songwriters can hang with these guys, two that come to mind being David Berman and Dan Bejar. Of the ones on offer, I guess I like Cohen's deadpan best.

And I don't give a damn about the truth, baby,
except for...the naked truth

"Big Yellow Taxi" is a humorous Joni Mitchell song.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Three Canadians and one American and the American is funnier? Damn.

Actually, I sort of agree, although maybe I'd have Dylan and Cohen in a tie. Joni was kind of funny here:

Oh I could drink a case of you, darling
And I would still be on my feet.

resounding!