Back in 2006, if you asked me what the word "blog" meant, I would've yawned with boredom while shrugging my shoulders. If pressed to guess, it would have been that it was the name of some alien character in a Star Wars movie.

Little did I know it, but I was a burgeoning blogger anyway. I wrote a column as the winter Olympics approached decrying the fact that, to satisfy women viewers, we were going to have to endure too much figure skating coverage and little of anything else.

I made it clear, however, that I loved women - especially women singer-songwriters. And I directed readers to our Web site for a Web-only listing of my Top 10 women singer-songwriters.

As it turned out, this pre-blog made me famous in the Blogosphere, as it got picked up around by fan Web sites - particularly Stevie Nicks and Natalie Merchant sites.

So, as a service to you, my two current "My Back Pages" readers, enjoy this trip back in time:

Whenever drawing up a Top 10 list for musicians, points are automatically deducted for those who do not write their own songs.

Even though I have a soft spot for women with pretty faces and sultry voices, this rule does not bend. If one truly believes in equality between the sexes, then there needs to be equality in valuing what they have to say. Therefore, this list of the women in music I most adore will not include those who made most of their reputations singing what other people wrote. If you're looking for Joan Jett, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Cher, etc. ... you've docked your ship at the wrong port.

For those of you who are still with me, here we go:

10-A) Patti Scialfa - Stop rolling your eyes. It has nothing to do with her being Bruce Springsteen's wife. OK, it kinda does. Out of respect to The Boss, I dutifully bought her first album, "Rumble Doll," in 1993 with relatively low expectations. That album, along with the 2004 follow-up - "23rd Street Lullaby" - are stellar efforts. She writes all her own songs and Bruce is barely involved.
Best Song: "As Long As I (Can Be With You)"

10-B) Amy Ray - The better half of the Indigo Girls. I like almost all of her songs, while most of those by Emily Saliers put me to sleep. Her solo album includes a song called "Johnny Rottentail," which I usually listen to at least three times in a row.
Best Song: "Tried To Be True"

9) Chrissie Hynde - The front-woman for The Pretenders, Hynde rattled off a long stretch of quality songs back when music was music.
Best Song: "Mystery Achievement"

8-A) Alanis Morisette - That "Jagged Little Pill" album is almost as addictive as oil is to the American people (so sayeth the Oil Pusher). Gotta love the angst. It makes me almost hate men, too.
Best Song: "You Oughtta Know"

8-B) Aimee Mann - I remember her from the days when she was in a band called 'Til Tuesday that had two cool hits called "Voices Carry" and "Coming Up Close." Some of my friends kept telling me she was still evolving, but I remained dubious until I heard "Wise Up" in the movie "Jerry Maguire." Then, for my 40th birthday, sports writer Dennis C. Way got me her "Forgotten Arm" album and it's one the best things I've heard in years.
Best Song: "Goodbye Caroline"

7) Carole King - She paved the way for female singer-songwriters. After writing or co-writing several hits in the 1960s - "One Fine Day" and "The Loco-Motion" - King recorded her own songs in her voice and connected with the masses with her second solo effort in 1971 called "Tapestry." It was one of the defining efforts of an era.
Best song: "It's Too Late"

7-A) Rickie Lee Jones - While I'm not big jazz fan, she is more of a true original that cannot be locked into any genre anyway.
Best Song: "Last Chance Texaco"

6) Joni Mitchell - Although she got a little strange for a while, Joni's first few albums were practically perfection. One of the best there is at summing up the meaning of life in three minutes.
Best Song: "Big Yellow Taxi"

5) Patti Smith - One of those artists, male or female, who becomes so overrated by critics that she becomes underrated by those tired of reading about her hidden genius. She has some strange stuff, which is probably overplayed on college radio, but more taut efforts - songs like "Frederick" and "Dancing Barefoot" - are like heat-seeking missiles to the soul.
Best Song: "Because The Night" (co-written with that Springsteen guy)

4) Sinead O'Connor - If she had not gone off the deep end after her first few albums, she would be even higher on the list. Rage and sensitivity collided like a marriage made in heaven from the onset.

Best Song: "The Last Day Of Our Acquaintance"

3) Natalie Merchant - I saw a new group called 10,000 Maniacs warm up for R.E.M. back in the day and this girl lead singer with long hair kept spinning in circles while she sang. But she sang well enough above the din of simple-yet-fresh sounding songs that I bought the album. That was the start of a love affair that has continued into a perplexing underrated solo career.
Best Song: "Kind And Generous"

2) Tracy Chapman - She followed her near-perfect debut album with a second effort that featured a song called "All That You Have Is Your Soul." And she still has her soul in a difficult business to keep it in.
Best Song: "Fast Car"

1) Stevie Nicks - This list was hard to compile, until now. The top spot was never in doubt. I've been willingly haunted by this enchanting spirit since the first time I heard a Fleetwood Mac song (a looooong time ago). And it'll be that way until "the landslide brings it down."
Best Song: "Landslide'

Honorable Mention: Heart (the Wilson sisters); Laura Nyro; Melanie; Madonna; Pat Benetar; Melissa Etheridge; Janis Joplin; Sheryl Crow; Maria McKee; Christine McVie; and Janis Ian.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 04 July 2007 )