Neil Young News: Poll: Who's the greater songwriter? Bob Dylan or Neil Young?

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Poll: Who's the greater songwriter? Bob Dylan or Neil Young?

OK, we admit this is downright silly.

A poll on "Who's the greater songwriter? Bob Dylan or Neil Young?" being run by K-Rock 98.7 - Gander, Newfoundland, Canada.

But we also admit that it does give us a chuckle and always seems to provoke some passionate debate. Which we seem to get a kick out of, as well.

Especially when you consider that it was this very question which served as the catalyzing foundation core page around which Thrasher's Wheat website was built back in the last century. There's quite a long backstory to the whole Bob Dylan and Neil Young saga.

Neil Young and Bob Dylan - 1986

Also, see:

- Bob Dylan Visits Neil Young's Winnipeg Home
- Top 10 Reasons Why Neil Young is Better Than Bob Dylan
- Top 10 Reasons Not to Goof With Bob Dylan Fans
- Bob Dylan and Neil Young: Master and B-Grade Disciple

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12 Comments:

At 4/18/2010 01:05:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Looks like Neil's kicking Bob here in the poll.

But its a canada radio station so you might expect that. Until the Dylan heads show up.
lol

FR
At 4/18/2010 03:13:00 PM, ShittyHorse said...: Neil and Bob....my two favorite artists, singers, poets, visionaries, players, writers, Enigmas, legends.
Who's better? Christ...what a question.
Its the same as asking whats better, an apple or an orange?
They are both greats...the best, but it's obviously a matter of opinion. No one would get all impassioned discussing apples and oranges but when it comes to musicians... like Neil and Bob...forget it.
Both have realized you have to change to survive. Both have made some bummer records yet both have soared to heights familiar to them alone.
Neil is basically the same artist he's always been- always great but has experimented so much that some of the results have been less then glamorous- such is the nature of experimentation. Without those 80's albums though, would we still be discussing Neil like we do today? Neil, of course is older, wiser than he was with the Springfield but Neil has not changed by constantly changing. Every album sounds different- there are no two alike and its the same now has its been since 'Neil Young' and 'Everybody Knows". I'm sorry but Harvest, Comes a Times, Harvest Moon, Silver and Gold, and Prairie Wind sound nothing alike. Just as every Crazy Horse album manages to sound different (I'm sure some will disagree). If Neil has never been the same twice then he's the same Neil he's always been.
Bob has pretty much changed his skin. He's a different person than the early 60's protest troubadour he started out as. Now he's like an old blues-man, whose experience and wisdom is etched into the lines on his face and the grainy, soulfulness of his voice. "Bob Dylan" sounds NOTHING like "Together Through Life" -a great record by the way.
Both I believe are as great as they've always been,equally,
although many will disagree with me here too. But whom is better is a matter of opinion, and this is mine.
Both fit a different mood and both fit moods you didn't think they would.
Both have explored every level of sadness, love, joy, death, confusion, hatred, and life in words and music.
Both Neil and Bob are as natural as the air we breath- generations have grown up with and on them. Through their very personal art we are able to identify, celebrate, and understand ourselves a little better. They are painters of our time- all the injustices, the love and the fear of the past 50 years are forever preserved in their songs.
I realize I've just used many adjectives and I may have contradicted myself once or twice but this is impossible to avoid when describing these two greats. They are each a universe unto themselves
Long my they BOTH run.
At 4/18/2010 05:57:00 PM, Dan said...: Neil is my favorite artist full stop. No close second. And you could argue its personal preference, I like vanilla you like chocolate, but I come down with clear conviction that in terms of pure "songwriting" abilities, Dylan is the man and nobody comes close. Neil has many distinguishing qualities, and he's a great songwriter, but Dylan is in his own league with songwriting ... Neil's command of his whole cannon and his ability to this day to play any song virtually as good or better than he ever has sets him apart as does lots of other things ... but Dylan in my book stands alone as a songwriter ...

Dan
At 4/19/2010 03:03:00 AM, Mr Henry said...: Build me a cabin
in Utah
Marry me a wife
Catch rainbow trout
Have a bunch of kids
Who call me "Pa"
That must be
what it's all about
That must be
what it's all about
Bob......Sign on the Window

I've got faith in you
it's a razor love
that cuts clean through
You really make my day
with the little things
you say
Neil........Razor Love

I could have spent
every hour of my life
with the girl
from the Red River Shore
Bob...Girl from the Red River Shore

All her friends call her
Little Wing
She flies rings around them all
She comes to town
when the children sing
And leaves them feathers
when they fall
Neil......Little Wing

He not busy being born
Is busy dyin'
Bob......It's Alright Ma

Someday you'll find
Everything you're looking for
Neil......Bandit

As the old cliche goes, this is kind of like asking which of my children I love more...to be continued..............
At 4/19/2010 11:43:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Dylan sucks, with the exception of a couple of songs. Dylan might occasionally have the lyrical prowess, but his melodies and the prosody of his lyrics and melodies never mesh together perfectly like Neil's music so often does. In short: Neil Young wins at music.

Ding ding ding.
At 4/19/2010 03:10:00 PM, SONY said...: this again? will there ever be a true answer?

This is a photo finsh for the win. I think at different stages each has been more relevant than the other and overall each has an unparalleled body of work. There's a couple fighting it out for place and show (Lennon, Bruce, Townsend...)

Lately it's been difficult to hear Bob cause his voice is shot and it's unbearable to listen to so I can't judge his recent songs. Similarly, some of Neils recent songs have not measured as strong as previous work, though he has still put out some gems. As far as historical inspiration, it's gotta be Dylan based on the broad following and the broad appeal of some of his anthems that rank with Pete Seeger, Hank Williams and Woodie Guthrie stuff on the overall american lanscape of song writings. It's difficult to shortchange Neil on this, but numbers wise he has probably not reached the same amount of listeners and had the same influence on musicians of all styles. If that's a part of the barometer, Dylan scores higher. I've always thought that Bob wrote about it looking outside in and Neil wrote about it from inside out. If ya had twins could you really decide which one you ranked ahead of the other? Me neither.

The only other issue for me is that today I would not buy a ticket to see Bob Dylan again. And today I can't get one to see Neil Young. That says it all.
At 4/19/2010 03:18:00 PM, Thomas said...: Only a fool would think there is an answer.
At 4/19/2010 03:25:00 PM, MDB said...: Gah...Can't there be a simple poll? Like, "Who's the greater songwriter? Eddie Money or Neil Young?"

Neil Young has been one of the most meaningful influences in my life. Like Dan said, there is no close second. If that's the key metric, Neil blows Dylan out of the water. (And I LOVE Dylan.)

But I can also say that, in terms of being a lyricist, Dylan wrote circles around Neil. (Even though Neil penned some of the greatest lines in history.)
At 4/19/2010 03:51:00 PM, Anonymous said...: "Although my problems are meaningless, but that don't make them go away" has to be one the simplest, best lines ever written.

"If I could hold on to just one thought for long enough to know, why my mind is moving so fast and the conversation is slow" evokes the essence of confusion better than anything I've ever heard.

And Neil tried his hand Dylan-esque obtuseness:
"Good lookin' Milly's
into politics now
And things are looking much better
She keeps ten men in her garage
Knitting her fine sweaters.
At the end of a weary day
She feels hard and she looks hard.
Although no one hears a sound
There's another poor man
falling down.
Falling down, falling down.
Falling down, falling down." (Okay, so waht does it MEAN??)

But I like his simple "truths" pregnant with nuggets of muse-fed meaning the most, such as:

"Lover,
there will be another one
Who'll hover
over you beneath the sun
Tomorrow
see the things
that never come
Today

When you see me
Fly away without you
Shadow on the things you know
Feathers fall around you
And show you the way to go
It's over, it's over."

Dylan is an extraordinary lyricist and good for my head, but somehow Neil gets to my heart better.
-jim
At 4/19/2010 04:01:00 PM, SONY said...: If you can't cut it, don't pick up the knife.
There's no reward in your conscience stored
When you're sleepin' with another man's wife.

Saddle up the Palimino -Neil (from the inside)

Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall.
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood,
Cries out, "My God, they killed them all!"
Here comes the story of the Hurricane,
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.

Hurricane-Bob (from the outside)

Heads or tails?

When ya got the coin in your pocket it doesn't matter.
At 4/19/2010 05:04:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Gee, not many Fork In The Road lyrics getting quoted here... :-)
At 4/19/2010 06:09:00 PM, Anonymous said...: I gotta say i saw Bob last year and i dont get what people are sayin' about his voice being shot. It was magic. I'm pretty sure he wants to sound that way. It sounded like he was singin' from beyond the galaxy and beyond the grave. Phenomenal control and delivery. Masterful. And yeah they're both just the best.

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