I love Simon and Garfunkle. Theyre both wonderful musician's. ^Paul Simon has cool cheezy horn lines in his solo stuff.

^ And along with Smokey Robinson...one of the most poetic songwriters of all time.

I was listening to them this morning on my way to work and I am glad there is a thread on them..I dont think they get enough recognizition..they inspired me as a musician.

He's easily one of the top 5 most amazing American musicians. In my opinion only Bob Dylan and Tom Waits top him.

For the record, I know Young is from canada, Snickers; MJ; I wasn't taking anything away from you.

Where' Woody Guthrie and Charlie Poole in that top 5? :(

Well I don't want to drag this too off topic, but feel free to create a thread that works to hash this list out.

Firstly in my mind you won't get past the first two. Its not happening. And while I like WG, he certainly isn't on par with the well written, well constructed diversly and innovative music of both Young and Simon. I honestly don't care for The Boss too much. But I've heard not enough of WG and nothing of CP to comment.

I need to be in a certain mood to listen to them otherwise for reasons unbeknown to myself they just seem to make me feel miserable :S i do like them though. :)

There are some songs that still give me the shivers when I hear them. Good stuff, I always like to hear them from time to time ...

Not sure exactly what your question is but I'll address your post anyway. I'd say Guthrie was more innovative than any of the artists you've mentioned. Of course that's all subjective to what you know and what you've heard. I've done my best to dig back into the before the folk revival period and I can't quite find anything like him that comes before. I hear distinct influence but I also see where he definitely pushed the genre. The reason I like him so much is that he keeps minimilast genre a minimilast genre but still makes it feel full. Charlie Poole was a banjo player from the 20s and I'm just a major fan boy. I don't really know if he's original who he impacted or anything like that. He wrote good songs and I like them. And now that I've thought about Pete Seeger deserves a spot as well. Watch a few Rainbow Quest episodes if you're not convinced. Hope my lack of comprehension skills answered what you wanted. Probably not. The only reason I really said anything was for false hope that someone would check them out.

I just have to make the correction...*Garfunkel* not *Garfunkle*

Coincidently I'm wearing an S&G t-shirt right now. It's one of my favorite shirts and I wear it every week. Needless to say I like them a lot.