<\/p>\n
Bob Dylan<\/strong><\/a> has spent more than six decades shaping the soundtrack<\/a> of American life \u2014 and he\u2019s done it alongside some of the most legendary names in music. From collaborations with Tom Petty<\/strong><\/a>andRoy Orbison<\/strong><\/a>to trading verses with Johnny Cash<\/strong><\/a>, Dylan\u2019s orbit has long included iconic songwriters and performers.<\/p>\n But when asked in a 1984 interview<\/a> to name the songwriters who truly impressed him, Dylan didn\u2019t name the usual suspects. Instead, he praised someone known more for poetry than performance \u2014 someone whose legacy stretches beyond albums and into the pages of beloved children\u2019s books.<\/p>\n In a resurfaced conversation with journalist Bert Kleinman<\/strong>, Dylan was asked to share his thoughts on songwriters of his era. He responded, in his typically understated fashion, \u201cI think there are lot of good songwriters, though what I\u2019ve done I\u2019ve done all alone, but there\u2019s a lot of other good songwriters\u2026 of my era.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked for specifics, Dylan offered a few measured compliments. \u201cRandy Newman<\/a> writes good songs, Paul Simon<\/a>\u2019s written some good songs; I think \u2018America\u2019 is a good song, I think \u2018The Boxer\u2019 is a good song. I think \u2018Bridge Over Troubled Water\u2019 is a good song. I mean, he\u2019s written a lot of bad songs too, but everybody\u2019s done that.\u201d<\/p>\n Calling those songs merely \u201cgood\u201d might seem like mild praise from someone often labeled as the greatest songwriter of all time. But Dylan\u2019s real admiration came when he mentioned a figure who was, at heart, a poet.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s see\u2026 some of the Nashville writers\u2026 Shel Silverstein<\/strong><\/a>writes great songs. Really. Like he\u2019s one of my favourite songwriters.\u201d<\/p>\n That word \u201cgreat\u201d stands out, especially coming from Dylan, who has spent his life writing lyrics that became literature in their own right.<\/p>\n To many, Silverstein is best known for his poetry for children. Books like Where the Sidewalk Ends<\/em><\/a> and A Light in the Attic<\/em><\/a> became bookshelf staples, celebrated for their wit and emotional depth.<\/p>\n But behind the playful rhymes was a true creative powerhouse. Silverstein was a successful cartoonist, playwright, and most notably in this context, an innovative songwriter.<\/p>\n Some may say his most famous musical achievement is writing Cash\u2019s hit \u201cA Boy Named Sue,\u201d a song that earned Silverstein a Grammy<\/a>. However, that was just one piece of his musical portfolio.<\/p>\n Throughout the 1960s and \u201870s, Silverstein wrote songs recorded by some of the most revered names in country and folk music. Bobby Bare<\/strong>, Kris Kristofferson<\/strong><\/a>, Waylon Jennings<\/strong><\/a>, Emmylou Harris<\/strong><\/a> and Judy Collins<\/strong> all performed his work.<\/p>\n Silverstein\u2019s influence was so strong that in 2010, Bobby Bare and his son, Bobby Bare Jr.<\/strong>, curated a full tribute album titled Twistable, Turnable Man: A Musical Tribute to the Songs of Shel Silverstein<\/em>.<\/p>\n While Silverstein may not have been a \u201ctraditional\u201d musician, his lyrics were emotionally resonant. In Dylan\u2019s eyes, that made Silverstein not just \u201cgood,\u201d but \u201cgreat.\u201d<\/p>\n Silverstein tragically passed away on May 10, 1999, at the age of 68 from a heart attack at his home in Key West, Florida. While he left behind a vast collection of stories, songs and illustrations, his impact continues to grow even decades later.<\/p>\n This story was originally reported by Parade<\/a> on Sep 20, 2025, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bob Dylan has spent more than six decades shaping the soundtrack of American life \u2014 and he\u2019s done it alongside some of the most legendary names in music. From collaborations with Tom PettyandRoy Orbisonto trading verses with Johnny Cash, Dylan\u2019s orbit has long included iconic songwriters and performers. But when asked in a 1984 interview […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2037168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[29332,329229,376309,363849],"class_list":["post-2037167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-bob-dylan","tag-johnny-cash","tag-shel-silverstein","tag-songwriters"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Bob-Dylans-Favorite-Songwriter-Is-Famous-\u2014-But-Not-for.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2037167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2037167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2037167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2037168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2037167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2037167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2037167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why Bob Dylan Respected Shel Silverstein<\/h2>\n