zinger-songwriters poll 2: prine vs newman vs loudon vs zevon

newman duh

Come to think of it, all these dudes are equally good at tearjerkers
"Souvenirs" and "Hello In There" choke me up every time.

prine

Prine's been my major discovery of the last few years, and as far as I know has never written a song that isn't at least very good. Zevon's the most fun overall and probably the most underrated. As much as I love lots of Newman tunes, I rarely put him on because I want to listen to him. Wainwright's work I barely know.

Never heard much Prine. Newman for the funnies.

Not necessarily for his funny ha ha songs by the way

Zevon over Newman, though it's close (and probably has as much to me liking rock music as Zevon actually having more punchlines.)

I assume you're saving Tonio K for next time?

"..as much to do with me liking..." etc

Kevin Coyne!

Where's poll 1?

Yeah, I almost mentioned Coyne on that thread yesterday (though I'm only just now getting into him this year. Can definitely be hilarious, though.)

Never heard any Prine, where should I start?

"Hello In There"

Get the eponymous debut or Sweet Revenge. You're on your own after that. He's never released a terrible album (a few negligible ones though)

I'm very fond of Storm Windows and The Missing Years too.

For Prine, start with the song "Sam Stone" maybe? If you like that, get the early greatest hits "Prime Prine".

here's the other one:
funniest singer-songwriter

Cheers chaps, will check them out.

gonna start poll 3 with options 'nigel blackwell, nigel blackwell, nigel blackwell' btw

"Sam Stone" for sure.

Newman/Zevon feels like the key battle here, both acerbic and dark and subtle. I like the other two and they're both great but when they're funny it's more in a knowing chuckle way. Voting Newman for all the jokes that induce belly laughs and all the ones that punch you in the gut.

Randy Newman.

I can't really listen to Warren Zevon anymore after reading his biography. It's not a flattering portrait, to put things kindly.

kind of a cool group of songwriters -- self-loathing, self-aware, self-absorbed, but alternately hilarious/heartwrenching. the self-aware is key -- each one of these guys kinda had an ironic distance from the role of the singer-songwriter, they're all unreliable narrators most of the time.

Hard to put "Sins of Memphisto" versus "The Great Nations of Europe" versus "The Man Who Couldn't Cry."

I voted Newman already, but Wainwright might be the funniest, line by line, in a joke way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgK-1mpSljI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GxNZ4FY_sY

some serious wrist-slitters by these funnymen:

Newman - Texas Girl At the Funeral Of Her Father
Prine - The Great Compromise
Loudon - Your Mother and I
Zevon - Keep Me In Your Heart For Awhile

zevon, who is one of the spirit forces in my life, over newman, whom i merely love.

not much into the others but zevon for sure

Am playing Zevon right now for the first time in a while, having cut him out since I read the bio as kornrulez did. It wasn't like I consciously was like "have to stop listening to Zevon now", but that book was seriously troubling.

I have never messed around with Wainwright or Prine. Don't care for what Newman I've heard.

"idontwannatalkaboutit"

I listen to Prine and Zevon the most & Loudon occasionally. I've always found Newman boring.

Loudon's "Talking New Bob Dylan" is v amusing birthday tribute to Dylan from the perspective of someone saddled with the "New Bob Dylan" moniker. He does a wicked Dylan impersonation as well.

Labels were signing up guys with guitars
Out to make millions, looking for stars
I figured it was time to make my move
Songs from the Westchester County Delta Country

I got a deal and so did John Prine
Forbert and Springsteen all in a line
They were looking for you, signing up others
We were New Bob Dylans
Your dumb ass kid brothers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWmtMp9oaEU

Randy was eliminated right off the top due to my aversion to glorified lounge singers. *rimshot* But seriously, much respect for Mr. Newman, not much love. Louden's good, buthas never clicked for me like some of the others in his genre. The choice between Prine & Zevon was a tough one. They've both done amazing things, and have a similar knack for writing songs that are sad & funny at the same time, penning love songs that avoid Hallmark sappiness. In the end I decided that Zevon had done this more successfully for longer than Prine, though John's best things may be a tad better than Warren's best things. Maybe.

Perhaps Townes van Zandt could be considered for the next poll.

Poll is on who is funniest, not who is best

townes van zandt would not win in a "funniest" poll. his jokes are terrible!

who's funniest: Townes Van Zandt vs Nick Drake vs Elliott Smith vs Ian Curtis

actually townes might win that one

TVZ would actually win that, though ... there are some live things where he tells jokes. Like I said, they're terrible jokes, but at least they're jokes.

Was going to say Curtis had the funniest dance, but realised I have never seen any of the others dancing :(

nick drake could do the hustle like nobody else ... he also may have invented breakdancing.

Prine's true masterpiece is Common Sense (1975) featuring (I think) some of the same guys who played on Big Star's Third. Sweet Revenge is hilarious too, but Common Sense features the same kind of comic absurdity you find in The Basement Tapes or Rain Dogs. And it hits hard too.

Ah. Funniest. OK. Still Zevon I think. Superb black humor, well demonstrated early on in "Poor Poor Pitiful Me," ["I don't wanna talk about it." still causes cuckles] continuing right til the end. A chap who can find the humor in imminent [sp?] death from cancer has it goin' on.

newman is funnier than zevon easy, real easy - zevon gets quickly eliminated in a who's-funniest of these four

there are some live things where he tells jokes. Like I said, they're terrible jokes, but at least they're jokes

Well, Ian Curtis has that thing after they play "Sister Ray" on Still where he says "You should hear our version of 'Louie Louie'"..

Prine's true masterpiece is Common Sense (1975)

right on. i'm a huge fan of all his records up though Bruised Orange (and basically ignorant of what came after tbh), but that one is pretty boss.

i've still never heard that Pink Cadillac one he did in Memphis, supposed to be kinda nuts isn't it?

xpost (but besides Steve Cropper popping up on Big Star's "Femme Fatale" cover I don't know that the two records shared any other personnel (??)

looked at the wikipedia page -- big star cohort/sometime drummer Richard Rosebrough engineered ... whole lotta people played on that record! i'll have to check it out. i only have two or three prine records.

i didn't read the poll as "funniest," despite "funniest" apparently being the only word in the question besides the four names. hmmm. if "funniest" is in fact the only criteria, i'd probably vote newman instead of zevon. i think of zevon as more amusing (and dark and tortured) than funny, whereas newman has a really broad and deep comic palette.

i voted for zevon 'cause i read the poll as "here are four funny singer/songwriters. who's the best?" and as a singer/songwriter/musician who happens to be quite a bit amusing, he's my pick.

meant it as "who is funniest?", not "who's best?" - sorry that wasn't clearer

that said, i like the term "zinger-songwriters"

Wainwright's the zingermaster, a joke every line, built together like a Steven Wright routine.

totally. on a zing-per-song level, loudon can't be beat.

his biggest weakness humourwise vs the others might be that he's the only one who does really "topical" jokes, which can date things badly. somehow Tonya Harding jokes haven't aged all that well.

I like Prine's Common Sense, but I still gotta go with the s/t 1st one for my favorite.

lol after all my big-upping Common Sense I realize I was conflating Sweet Revenge and Common Sense.

Sweet Revenge is rad. For Prine intro I'd go "The Missing Years" then the 2CD boxset "Great Days". If you still can't get enough, all the rest is your oyster.

I'm going Prine for how much he's improved my QOL over the years but Zevon's brand of yuks are probably more solidly in line with my general aesthetic.

Who're the nominees for the third generation of this poll? Is it Todd Snider vs Dan Bern vs whoever, or I imagine there's an 80s generation to go between but I can't think of who they'd be off the top of my head.

the same kind of comic absurdity you find in The Basement Tapes or Rain Dogs.

Speaking of Rain Dogs - how did Mr. Waits miss both polls?

Who're the nominees for the third generation of this poll? Is it Todd Snider vs Dan Bern vs whoever, or I imagine there's an 80s generation to go between but I can't think of who they'd be off the top of my head.

lyle lovett, for one.

Lovett 2nded
Newman deserves some love for this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HdlYVKBUVE

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

justice is served

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYtMfGicPnc