Is Stevie responsible for the greatest songs by a female artist of all time?
 

Seriously. Who, other than Aretha, compares?

Rhiannon http://bit.ly/oEFgs
Landslide http://bit.ly/bOwEgd
Silver Springs http://bit.ly/dgpUiC
Sisters of the Moon http://bit.ly/fsCUV
Beautiful Child http://bit.ly/Ctu2J
Edge of Seventeen http://bit.ly/16IYnl
Gypsy http://bit.ly/dP5eDR

Rock songs yes. Sheryl Crow cannot touch her. The closest person to her is Carly Simon at this point.

Madonna
Dolly Parton
Diane Warren
Mariah Carey

Not really sure what you mean by "greatest songs," but those women could certainly surpass Stevie in terms of overall contribution to popular music, I think.

Mariah Carey? I don't care how many hits she had, the only song I like from her is the Christmas song.

I won't even go there about Madonna ..does Mariah even write her own material?Diane Warren is a commercial hack..just thinking about that Aerosmith Armageddon song makes me want to hurl.Dolly on the other hand would be a serious contender if we're including all genres.

"Greatest songs by a female artist of all time"?

I love Stevie, don't get me wrong, but that's kinda ridiculous. She's good for a pop/rock singer-songwriter, but Edith Piaf or Billie Holiday, she is not.

Yes, Mariah Carey writes her own songs and she has a great voice, but I cannot stand her music. Madonna is a mixture. Lots of her songs were written by other people. She is influential in the dance scene, but time will tell how classic her songs are. Diane Warren is a great songwriter. She is not a performer but has written so many songs that she is considered great.

Yes, I was not very clear on what I mean.

I'm specifically referring to that collection of 7 songs.

If I were to name the greatest song by a female artist I'd have to start with that list of Stevie's or a list of by Aretha Franklin (coincidentally 7: I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You); Respect; Do Right Woman - Do Right Man; Baby, I Love You; (You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman; Chain of Fools; Think).

Even Kate Bush, whose body of work I may esteem higher than Stevie's, I can't name a single song I'd rank in that group of 7.

Well the others I would mention in the pop realm (so Piaf and Billie don't quite count) would be, some of whom have songs maybe in that level:

Aretha Franklin
Diana Ross
Donna Summer (I Feel Love might be the greatest song of all time by a female artist, as it happens, but does she have 7 at that level?)
Kate Bush
Dolly Parton
Iris Dement
Christine McVie

I hate the fact that people think Natural Woman is a total Arethra song, when it's Carole Kings song and is on Tapestry.

Well Aretha does a lot of covers, so I don't assume/think anything. But I know what's the definitive version (Carole King would agree with me lol).

As far as contribution as a writer goes, my winner is Carole King.

That was my whole point...tastes vary, and there's really no way of determining what constitutes "greatest" anything. Grammy wins? Size of fan base? Hit songs? Money made?

Stevie's best songs:
Dreams
Rhiannon

Other classic hit songs written by women:
Talk of the Town
Chuck E.'s in Love
Both Sides Now
So Far Away
Stoned Soul Picnic

These songs are as masterfully crafted, heartfelt, lyrical, & charismatic as Stevie's best work.

As much as I love Stevie's Tusk songs, I am not sure that "Sisters of the Moon" or "Beautiful Child" are classic songs. They are great *Stevie* songs, yes. I think the Stevie songs that truly are classics in and of themselves are:

Rhiannon
Landslide
Dreams
Gold Dust Woman
Silver Springs (Live)
Sara
Gypsy
Stop Dragging My Heart Around - arguably
Edge of Seventeen
Stand Back - arguably

Play any of the above songs and most likely someone around you will say "Oh I like that song", even if they don't know Fleetwood Mac or Stevie Nicks per se. Somehow those songs have hung on beyond their initial release era (for example, although "Leather & Lace" was a bigger hit than "Landslide", "Gold Dust Woman", "Sara", "Gypsy" or "Edge of Seventeen", and its a good song, it just hasn't reached that established "everyone-knows-the-song" level that the above have.

Joni Mitchell as far as writer but love Carole King.

Say You Love Me

Michele

To your point, I have all of those albums except the Carole King--and they're not my kinda thing per se, so that says something. Great list. Thank you.

You guys are forgetting Crystal and Landslide and Leather and Lace...

Landslide is on my list.

well what about the song Tapestry from Carole King, that is a definite winter or Big Yellow Taxi from Joni

To me Madonna and Michael are the greatest, ever. I would say that Stevie has a formidable list of amazing songs, but she hasn't been as influential to the music industry as many others. Most notably the great female vocalists like Mariah, Whitney, Aretha, Tina, etc. But I do have to say, nothing can take my breath away like hearing Beautiful Child or Gypsy.

And yes, "greatest" is very subjective, but can one truly debate any of these artists talent? To ponder if Like a Virgin will have a lasting impact on music seems ignorant.

Oops. I forgot somebody! :eek:

How soon they forget. And for me I think that one fills the bill, if we are going with the "hit" requirement. I'm not into YMLF.

Michele

I do I am not a big Aretha fan she is ok but not the best artist and as Stevie said in a recent interview The Song Writer is King and Carole King wrote the song and it's Carol Kings Song if it was a big hit for Aretha too but Carole King makes alot of Money on that song.

True I do not think Michael Jackson is the greatest artists ever as a singer he is not that good of a singer to be declared the greatest artist ever yes he has sold multi millions of albums and cd's greatest artists ever can be declared by all of us as our favorite artist and to me it's Stevie Nicks and Heart and Fleetwood Mac in my book that is my book and also Chaka Khan is probably the greatest female Vocalists definetly alot better than Mariah,Whitney and Aretha can not even touch Chaka on vocals.

This is probably one of the most ridiculous posts I've ever read on this board (and I've been reading this board routinely since 2004). Time has already told how classic her songs are. Influential in the dance scene? umm, yea I would say so. I would also say that she's hands down the most successful female artist of all time (and has the records to prove it). Really, I could go on and on about how successful and influential Madonna has been, but that should be fairly obvious to anyone who hasn't been living in a cave for the past 30 years.

Joni Mitchell is not only the best female musician of all time: she’s one of the three best contemporary musicians, male or female. And as a writer she can only be compared to Dylan, though she's a far better musician .
Diane Warren, Mariah Carey, Madonna, Diana Ross? Are you kidding?

I wish whoever posted this thread would of said greatest ROCK songs by a female artists all time.

My post wasn't terrible, so don't go apesheet.

That's your taste. If your into that dance stuff great. I consider that music crap for the most part. If she is influential to Christina, Brittany or Lady Gaga I don't care. They don't produce real music to me.

Madonna was callling herself an icon almost from the start. She is very influential, but hell she changed with every trend. You probably think she was trend setter, but gays really set the trend for her. She used gays. I remember the 80s very well. She was the material girl and most, certainly used sex to get the goods. I remember watching that documentary, which was pretty good by the way, thinking she was using her dead mother to sell herself. I enjoyed it but didn't really like the way she exploited people in it.

I like Madonna, especially because she has grown up. I liked her middle albums, especially because they weren't all dance stuff. She loves her kids and stuff. But I remember the days of her being a media whore.

She's not rock though and when someone asks about greatest songs, like real heartfealt songs—no way.

By the way, post on another site much?... ha ha

I think Michael was the greatest performer of all time. I liked some of his music, but I remember when he hit the stage at that award show and just blew everyone way. It was just after Thriller came out. Everybody got excited. It was like watching dance art.

I fealt sorry for Michael Jackson. Even with all his money, he just seemed sooo misereable. I hate what people did to him.

Despite the fact that Mariah Carey has been a major success, she doesn’t get enough credit. Aside from writing the more commercial hit songs, some of her best work are the non-singles. One in particular is “Fly Like A Bird” where Mariah soars. I saw her live and when she sings it, it is definitely a shower stopper. I can’t get enough of the song.

I think her Christmas song will stand the test of time... that song is already a classic to me. She always seemed to me to be a very hard worker. She put out album after album and wrote most of her stuff. I think if she would have had the same success without her husband being the head of the record company, she would be given more credit. Whitney and Celine did not write there own stuff. At least she did. Plus, she didn't have the stability they had growning up. I think she had a lot of family turmoil.

Before MJ died, I would have called him the greatest living singer. And I would have been referring to his singing. Now, I'd say Smokey or Ron.

I would certainly say Stevie is.

Madonna, hmm if you want to whore yourself to mainstream in order to sell a lot of material then you can put her on the list, but if not I think it's a ridiculous suggestion.

Agree! Although some will say most of her classic hits were co-written with husband Jerry Goffen,,,but still...the list is staggering...

Natural Woman
Will You Love Me Tomorrow
Locomotion
Pleasant Valley Sunday
Hey Girl
One Fine Day
I'm into Something Good
You've got A Friend
I Feel the Earth Move
So Far Away
Jazzman
and on and on.....

Something is wrong there. I don't understand how you can miss -- or at best overlook -- the structural quality of YMLF. Consider the way the dominant 7th enters in the chorus, & how it spans -- like a suspension bridge -- the major tonic with the minor chord on either side of it. An uninventive songwriter would have stopped right there, but Christine was inspired enough to continue walking downward from the minor -- to a 6th & finally a subdominant, both of which create that wondrous descent in the chorus that nonetheless builds suspense & energy & finally explodes in a sea of stars, perfectly completed by the arrangement of vocal harmonies, swirling among the interstellar faerie dust, like a galaxy of orbiting planets, comets, meteorites, & diamond snakes in a black sky.

YMLF is nothing less than the expanding universe.

Perfect description. Yet (comparing roughly similar songs), I would rank them thus: Think About Me > Say You Love Me > You Make Loving Fun ... though I recognize/FEEL the structural superiority of YMLF.

Could not have said it better myself!:thumbsup:

You forgot

Dreams
Edge Of Seventeen
Rooms On Fire
Trouble In Shangra La
The Wild Heart
Sara

We could be here forever!

And yet it didn't make your list of classic songs written by women!

I liked the discussion about it on the DVD. Christine said she put in the clavinet because she wanted something darker underneath. Lindsey said it turned ethereal and sweet, a complete departure from what you expected at the beginning. He wanted the "never did believe" part to go up into the clouds and then descend back to mortal levels or, as he said, "snap back into place."

And Christine was proud of doing the rhythm all by herself. Her "rocking riff."

Yeah, even when I've seen Lindsey on stage getting into the ending, I never was a fan of that song. Now, I would agree with True Faith about putting Think About Me ahead of the others, but I didn't mention that because I think we were talking about commercial hits and Think About Me doesn't qualify. On my own personal list, however, it ranks high.

As for Hold Me, that's like a Top 5 FM song for me, but I'm not sure if the song is as good as the production.

Michele

Edge is on there ..but to not include Dreams in particular is kind of preposterous.To most people outside of the hardcore fan base that is surely one of the songs that she is most remembered for.Even people who may not even recognize her name will recognize Dreams.