How To Write One Song (Book Review)

[WarpCanada]

How to Write One Song - A Book Review

How to Write One song is the second book from Jeff Tweedy, lead singer and primary songwriter of Wilco. I have been a Wilco fan for ages, and I love Alt. Country and Americana bands, and Wilco is one of the greats.

So, what is this book?  It's a love letter to the universe from Jeff, and in this love letter he tries to spread the idea of writing songs mostly to people who probably have never written and may think they can't write songs.

As a songwriting book, and a kind of coach (in book form) it focuses on the wordcraft behind songwriting, but it also ranges all over the place inside the human skull.  It's not a book about music theory, musicianship,  how to make chord progressions, how to make melodies, but it contains enough that someone with no knowledge could in fact get started.

What do you need to get started?  The desire to start, and some starter ideas for getting the parts of us that make songs going.  Jeff describes the state of being able to write songs as being a kind of ego-suppressed state.

This book is not technical though.   It is inspirational (well I think it is) and it has a lot of interesting ideas.   I'll quote a little bit:

Here are the three items I have on my daily mental checklist:
..

1. Stockpiling words, language and lyrics.

2. Stockpiling music, songs and parts of songs.

3. Pairing words and music

So as beautiful and as transcendant as the results of songwriting can be to experience, the above is practical, achievable, and pretty simple when you get down to it.   Just like an old man who has a workshop full of bicycle and lawnmower parts can fix a lawnmower when you bring it to him, so can you be a finder of bits and bobs, and an assembler of these bits and bobs.

Here's another quote, this time an exercise idea that I think is quite good.

Come up with ten verbs that are associated with, say, a Physician...
then write down ten nouns that are within your field of vision

He then does the exercise once so you can see what happens when he does the exercise.  These starter exercises are not, I think, the main event in the book, but they are pragmatic trench-tested advice from a dude with Grammy awards and a huge global fan base.   So, that's something.

ANyways, my own goal is not to be famous and worldwide "well known" as a maker of music. It's just to experience the personal satisfaction of doing creative things.   Anyone else who enjoys the idea of creativity and also may enjoy hearing someone else's wisdom acquired from decades of doing the work, may enjoy this very small but densely packed book's contents.

[StephenM]

why not hear what successful people do?  good idea.....for me though I am not apt to read a book per se..(I do enjoy reading those quotes though).. I can say this though...that being around other song writers (ie on Song crafters) since August my sheer volume has gone way up....some could say alot of it is not very good.... but amongst the rubble there are gems.... at least for me....
I wanted to write songs for a long time.... and I started seriously about 6 years ago.... and it took me a while to get really started and into it... it is work...especially lyrics for me.... but having been around others and listening to their ideas, and their creations, and what they do, how they do it....has been inspiring... and to see how far I have come.... it is satisfying....
I have always been one that loves the songs on albums that no one listens to..... so I don't mind writing songs that will never be "hits"....
I am convinced though, just like anything else, there are folks who are just naturally good at this and don't really have to try that hard....it just flows out of them.... sometimes music does that for me...but not lyrics....

[WarpCanada]

I can't say the book has altered my trajectory.  I've absolutely been thrilled to discover Songcrafters.org,and have really enjoyed the community on here.  Prior to, and after reading this book, my primary belief about how I should write songs is:

1. Learn by doing, and suck till I don't.  Maybe not everything I do is (as you put it) a "gem", but I don't care. Everything I do has something of me in it, and that's enough.  And each time I create,I get better at being creative.  By suck till I don't, what I mean is, I have made a conscious decision not to let any critique that I could level against myself, or which anyone external could level against me to be a reason not to create, or not to share. Songcrafters.org is a great place to share art, and I appreciate everyone's time to listen to my work.  I also appreciate listening to others work.  Also by Suck Till I Don't, I am inviting my own interior harsh critic to sit at the table, but there are rules he has to live by.  He is welcome, sometimes when I need an opinion on "swear word X, should it stay or should it go".   Sometimes I listen to him, and he is like an Editor that says "yeah, that's a bad look", and we both nod, and a line gets struck.

2. It's work, but it's also play. Understand the work while doing the work.  Recording myself.  Playing my instruments.  Get better at these by doing them.  And have fun, so that "work" is actually "play", if it's not fun, I'm doing it wrong.

3. When I get stuck, ask for directions.  The book fits here at point three. The asking for directions part. If I was stuck I might post on here in the songwriting group, or on reddit, but really this community is unbeatable.    And I might enjoy reading about the creative process, and I might re-read this book by Jeff Tweedy on a day when I feel discouraged and it's not fun, and thus, I'm doing it wrong.
Even my own solo art trajectory is collaborative.  My music teacher (piano lessons), my friends, this community, my wife, all provide valuable sounding boards for my work.

4.  I learn from listening.  I listen to you guys do your art, and I listen to commercial artists, and I learn from them. I'm learning from Phoebe Bridgers and Paul Simon, and Adrianne Lenker, and Julien Baker, and Steve Earle, and John Prine, and Mary Gauthier.

[StephenM]

 I like the way you put things Warren...interesting and it is obvious you really think alot about what you do...  I totally agree that each and every time we pick up and instrument to practice, or hit record, or hit delete, or whatever we do musically, artistically, we learn...we grow....and sometimes we mess up badly and say....um...probably don't want to do that again... I would suppose that in all this it is a journey that is to be enjoyed....for professionals they have the pressure of trying to live up to expectations....to make money etc.... I think true artists have to be willing to sacrifice pretty much everything else for their art (including going hungry etc....) .... which I could never be brave enough for that.... but I love playing as a hobbyist...but if it were a job I don't think I would like it as much...  I have made money playing music in the past but it was never needed for my survival....I had day time job....  but as much as I love listening to other peoples music I like listening to mine.... and sometimes I sit there and think...."how did I play that again?"

[Ferryman]

Sounds interesting Warren. I like Wilco, and in fact was turned on to them by someone on the SC site (Dave Berry IIRC......). May well pick that book up for the Kindle.

I was always intrigued by Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies (as a way of getting the juices flowing or going in an unexpected direction) and David Bowie's use of cut ups:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1InCrzGIPU

[Oldrottenhead]

Love Jeff Tweedy, he has got me through some hard times. The Album Wilco Schmilco is perfection check it out. I am getting his book. Cheers.

[Hilary]

I've read the book - I thought it was quite philosophical and I'm definately going to give some of it a go.

[maxit]

aha- that's the book that Warren suggested, I lost the post and now you all made me curious. Gonna brush up my rusty english and read it.

[Hilary]

How to Write One Song - Jeff Tweedy

[Greeny]

Sounds interesting Warren. I like Wilco, and in fact was turned on to them by someone on the SC site (Dave Berry IIRC......). May well pick that book up for the Kindle.

I was always intrigued by Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies (as a way of getting the juices flowing or going in an unexpected direction) and David Bowie's use of cut ups

Because I'm an old Beatnik, I've always been fascinated by this kind of random stuff - and William Burroughs who was doing this at the 'Beat Hotel' in Paris in the 60's and 70's, that  Bowie is emulating. But it seems to go way back - like an extension of Dada collages from the 20's. And you know I love my collages 

They were razor-cutting newspapers. Now it can be done online (of course!) - https://stickbucket.com/cut-up-technique-generator/ amongst others.

I also got into the Max Ernst surrealist technique of unconscious drawing - basically drawing whatever was in your head as you awoke, but without looking at the paper.

I've also enjoyed the Eno cards which got made into an app in the early days of smart phones.

Basically, I'm up for anything that can inspire or unlock creativity.

I feel a cut-up fest might be in order?