How to Write One Song

September 1, 2020
The Wilco frontman delivers a songwriting guide emphasizing routine and process rather than merely waiting for a flash of inspiration. This book should have a potential readership beyond fledgling songwriters. Of course, that audience includes devoted Wilco fans who want more insight into the songs, but anyone involved in a creative endeavor can benefit from Tweedy's advice. Much of the information echoes other how-to guides: Allow yourself room to fail, learn from your mistakes, don't allow your inner critic or editor to enter the process too early. What's most helpful is the specific and personal--how Tweedy does it. He provides a daily schedule of his routine, including the naps and long walks he considers integral to the process. He offers transcripts of conversations, including one with his wife, and shows how these have inspired lyrics, and he provides examples of mix-and-match and cut-and-paste word exercises to suggest how one might find meaning and even music in what might initially appear to be nonsense. Tweedy even suggests stealing, though he shows how one can take chord progressions or words from someone else and turn them into music that is totally your own. Many of the chapters are bite-sized, and the shorter ones could have been richer with more personal experiences woven in. The author advises listening to other people's music and learning how to play those songs, but readers may wish he had gone deeper into the music that informed his own, what he tried to copy, and how it progressed into something original. Though Tweedy does his best to demystify the process, he does allow that "I truly think I do a lot of my best work while I'm asleep." While the text contains plenty of solid tips for writing one song, the author allows for a wider resonance, showing how "songs help us love and cope, and they teach us how to be human." A concise look at how to listen and appreciate.

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Starred review from October 15, 2020
I want to be a person who encourages more humans . . . to have private moments of creativity. This compassionate line blooms early in Tweedy's generous book about songwriting and how to bring artistic pursuits into our lives. In four carefully crafted sections, renowned songwriter, musician, and performer Tweedy explains the mysteries of the "ephemeral" process of a writing a song, from inspiration to process, suppressing one's annoying ego, and disappearing in the work. An exemplary songwriter in the mode of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, Tweedy not only knows how to build a song, he also, like Dylan Thomas, finds lyricism in lived experience. In his memoir, Let's Go (So We Can Get Back) (2018), he chronicles his life so far and experiences in the music business. Here he continues to share his vulnerabilities as well as his knowledge and encourages would-be songwriters to take the leap and create. As for himself, he writes, I aspire to make trees instead of tables. Observing Tweedy's glowingly creative mind at work throughout this seriously fun book is truly illuminating.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)