It's often said that way back when, poets would sing their poems to the audience. In fact, just writing a poem on paper and expecting people to read it has always seemed a bit weird to me. I guess that's why music has always meant so much to me. And it's often the lyrics in the music that will bring the tear to my eye, more so than the melody or the arrangement. Of course, it's when both sound and substance work together that it's chill bump time.
I looked at a node a few minutes ago entitled Snowbird, and the noder has accurately scribed the lyrics. But it was listed as, "by Anne Murray." Not hardly.
There is a world of performers out there who have become famous for singing songs that everyone remembers. But what I always notice is whether or not they wrote those songs. Elvis never wrote a song in his life. Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell and Van Morrison have all written dozens of masterpieces.
Who's the King? The unwashed masses and the cognoscenti have a different opinion about the answer to this question.