Willie Nelson...Greatest Living American Songwriter?

[MrCoffee]

Poll question: Willie Nelson...Greatest Living American Songwriter?

Exhibit A: Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
Exhibit B: Crazy
Exhibit C: Night Life
Exhibit D: Funny How Time Slips Away
Exhibit E: Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys
Exhibit F: Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground

[Lowell]

1. Willie is great, but

I like John Prine even more.

[graywarrior]

2. I met Willie. He's King.

After Dylan, of course.

[noonwitch]

3. Willie's good, but Dylan is the quintessential american songwriter

And they have been known to perform together on occasion.

Even Dylan's newer songs are awesome.

"People are crazy, times are strange
I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range
I used to care, but, things have changed".

Or, older stuff like "Shelter From The Storm":

"Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood
where blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud.
I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form
Come in, she said, I'll give you, shelter from the storm."

Or

"To dance, beneath the diamond sky, with one hand waving free
siloutted by the sea
With all memory and fate, driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow".

No one does poetic imagery in american music quite as well as Dylan.

[graywarrior]

4. Dlan lyrics make me hot.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

7. The latest . . .

http://www.expectingrain.com/dok/cd/2006/moderntimeslyrics.shtml

[graywarrior]

12. I just got the new CD in the mail...today!

[greendog]

5. Willie's pretty damn good...

...my favorite Willie Nelson tune is "One Day at a Time"

I live one day at a time I dream one dream at a time
Yeasterday's dead and tomorrow is blind and I live one day at a time
I guess that your surprised to see me back at home
But you know how much I miss you when I'm gone
But don't ask how long I planned to stay it never it crossed my mind
I live one day at a time
See that sparrow fly across the cloudy sky
Searching for a hatch of sunlight so am I
I wish I didn't have to follow and perhaps I won't in time
But I live one day at a time
I live one day at a time I dream one dream at a time
Yeasterday's dead and tomorrow is blind and I live one day at a time
And I live one day at a time

[astonamous]

6. All around good guy!

And yes he is a great songwriter!

[Burma Jones]

8. There's Bob Dylan, John Prine, Carol King and Paul Simon

to name four that can't be placed behind the wonderful Willie Nelson

[Spider Jerusalem]

9. Willie is VERY good, but my vote goes to Tom Waits...

who is criminally underrated, in my opinion (and I think Bob Dylan is rather OVERrated; brilliant up through Blood on the Tracks, mostly inconsistent and hit-or-miss since).

[Joe Fields]

10. I love Willy now. He is iconoclastic. But I admit it took a long time

for me to warm up to him and appreciate the strength of his work.

[MrCoffee]

11. I grew up on Willie. He's the best.

[Ohio Joe]

13. I had to say no

I think the question is too vague, music is so broad. In addition to the other greats listed I would add Neil Young and The Boss.

[mitchum]

14. also greatest living American musician. Willie plays the American song