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Song of the Day #6,544: ‘Silly Love Songs’ – Wings

Throwing back to the week of June 6, 1976, we find Wings atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Silly Love Songs,’ the band’s third #1 song in the U.S. This was Paul McCartney’s 27th #1 hit in America as a songwriter, setting a record that he holds to this day (the number is now 32).

Written as a response to critics (and his old pal John Lennon) who called his music sappy, ‘Silly Love Songs’ leans unapologetically into the corn. And it paid off, spending five weeks atop the chart and becoming the #1 overall song of 1976. That made McCartney the first artist to have the #1 overall song with two different bands.

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Song of the Day #6,543: ‘Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)’ – Hamilton cast

The final member of my list of the ’30 Greatest Living American Songwriters’ is in a category all his own. I guess you could call this my ‘Musical Theater’ section, but the truth is I don’t pay any attention to musical theater.

I do pay attention to Lin-Manuel Miranda, though. And he is one of the few living songwriters I will comfortably call a genius.

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Song of the Day #6,542: ‘Simple Song’ – Lyle Lovett

If you had told me 20 years ago that one day more than 20 percent (seven out of 30) of my ’30 Greatest Living American Songwriters’ would be from the Country/Country Adjacent category, I’d have called you crazy. But here we are.

Several of these artists would be more accurately labeled as Americana or country folk, but they all got their start very much in the traditional country space. And when a great songwriter taps into the emotional directness of the genre, special things happen.

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Song of the Day #6,541: ‘The Flowers of Guatemala’ – R.E.M.

The next category of my ’30 Greatest Living American Songwriters’ list is Bands. The New York Times largely ignored bands when compiling their list — OutKast was the only exception — and I think that was a mistake.

I understand the temptation to include artists who write alone, but it’s not like The Times didn’t name some songwriting duos and trios on their list. So why not a group of people who write and perform their songs together?

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Song of the Day #6,540: ‘City Dog’ – Josh Rouse

Continuing my personal list of the ’30 Greatest Living American Songwriters,’ this next batch consists of the new(ish) guard — artists who’ve released music in the 90s or later.

My list shares three names in common with The New York Times’ list in this category: Fiona Apple, Lana Del Rey, and Taylor Swift.

Here are the rest:

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