Greatest songwriting duo ever ?
 

Hi all you MBers!

I was reading an article (a review of the new Johnny Marr album) that talked about Morrissey & Marr being the 3rd greatest songwriting partnership behind L&M and J&R.

FYI the article is here...

Johnny Marr - The Messenger Review

This got me thinking- WHO are the greatest writing duos ever!?

My top 5:

Jagger & Richards
Lennon & McCartney
Morrissey & Marr
Strummer & Jones
Page & Plant

!

Do you agree? Who else would you have?

I don't really have favorite songwriter duos because it's not something I've really reflected on, but I guess I could mention that I think Burt Bacharach & Hal David and Elton John & Bernie Taupin are worthy of mentions in this thread.

Elton John & Bernie Taupin ! Good call.

Lennon & McCartney team and the Bacharach & David team were the among the most prolific songwriting teams of the Sixties... but the Holland brothers may have written more hit songs than either Lennon & McCartney or Bacharach & David.

Eddie (lyrics) & Brian Holland (music) wrote many of the Motown classics for the Supremes, the Marvelettes, the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Martha & the Vandellas, and the Miracles. Lamont Dozier also got a songwriting credit for being the producer and arranger of the Holland brothers' songs; hence the Holland-Dozier-Holland imprint on many of the Motown songs. Here's a link to a list of songs written by the Holland-Dozier-Holland team: Category:Songs written by Holland-Dozier-Holland.

Eddie Holland also teamed with another in-house Motown producer, Norman Whitfield, to write most of hit songs for the Temptations. The Holland brothers, along with Lamont Dozier & Norman Whitfield all left the Motown label over royalty distribution disputes with owner Barry Gordy.

You can't ignore the Gershwin brothers whose songs have endured for nearly a century.

George & Ira Gershwin composed a book of pop music and jazz standards that have endured longer than any of the pop/rock music composers. The Gershwin Brothers wrote hit songs for such musical giants as Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald & the Count Basie Band. Among the Gershwin brother classics:

But Not For Me
Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Oh Lady Be Good
They All Laughed
I've Got a Crush on You
Our Love Is Here To Stay
Embraceable You
I Got Rhythm
Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
They Can't Take That Away From Me

Any jazz player or singer worth their salt knows the Gershwin-Gershwin songbook like the back of their hand...Even Coltrane & Monk performed covers of many of the Gershwin standards.

Certainly one of the greatest songwriting duos of all time: Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller. I'd say after Chuck Berry they were the most determinant songwriters of the 50s.
Key Tracks: There Goes My Baby, Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock, Stand By Me, Kansas City, etc.

And, of course, I won't miss criticizing Page & Plant for being the most overrated songwriters ever (one should always have in mind that although they certainly are one of the absolute greatest bands ever and their songs are bloody good, 90% of their music is ripped off from somewhere).

Thanks all for the replies some very though provoking stuff for me to digest here.

Great post, Gavin :)

I would say La Reid and babyface. those are two great combinations.

Based on their popularity and ability to endure the ages, I'm gonna have to throw Don Henley and Glen Frey. I know they had a lot of help from that guy that sued them (and won). Felder? Also, I believe Joe Walsh did the guitar stuff on 'Hotel California.'

I am not a big Eagles fan. But my god, these dudes are still overplayed today, so that has mean something, right?

It doesn't help that I have recently watched the new documentary on them. I was surprised by how many of their songs I knew. When I say knew, I mean I could sing along with ease. And I don't have any Eagles music in my library and haven't for, well, ever. There's something to be said for staying and overplaying power.

Lou Reed + John Cale