Hmmm...in terms of songwriting, this is always sort of a tough one. As some people have alluded to, there is a subtle difference between who is one's favorite, and who is "the best." Yes, Gordon Lightfoot is my personal favorite: his songs are the ones that speak the clearest to my heart, soul and mind. But if I take a step back and try to be dispassionate about it, then the field becomes a bit wider. I probably would rank Lennon/McCartney's work with the Beatles (as individual and collective composers) at the top of the list of popular songwriters. It's easy to say something like "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is just a cute, early 60s pop song, but you have to keep in mind just how revolutionary that song was in terms of its melodic and harmonic components. They basically broke new ground with every album, but it's their sheer progression that always amazes me. To go from something like "Please Please Me" to "Strawberry Fields" in four years is remarkable. Dylan would have to rank right up there too, although he's not a personal favorite of mine. His songs may not speak to me, but I recognize his importance. If I take that dispassionate step back and look at GL, I rank him up there with the great songwriters, but not at the top. I don't consider him a groundbreaker or anything like that. However, in the context of what he does, he is a supremely skilled craftsman--I love the way he constructs his songs, and the chord movements...there is an inescapable logic to everything he does. And as an artist, as a lyricist, he is top-notch. My GL "epiphany" song was Don Quixote--when I first heard it back in '72, I thought I had never heard anyone marry such a simple and yet exquisite melody with such meaningful, deep and beautiful lyrics. He shot to number one in my personal pantheon of singer/songwriters.
And lo and behond, he's still there!
Derek