World Within a Song: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music

by Jeff Tweedy

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

This is a book about connection, inspiration, and healing, in music or in general. You dont have to be a superfan of Wilco to connect with Jeff Tweedy’s love of music.

~New York Times Bestseller~

An exciting and heartening mix of memories, music, and inspiration from Wilco front man and New York Times bestselling author Jeff Tweedy, sharing fifty songs that changed his life, the real-life experiences behind each one, as well as what he’s learned about how music and life intertwine and enhance each other.

What makes us fall in love with a song? What makes us want to write our own songs? Do songs help? Do songs help us live better lives? And do the lives we live help us write better songs? 

After two New York Times bestsellers that cemented and expanded his legacy as one of America’s best-loved performers and songwriters, Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back) and How to Write One Song, Jeff Tweedy is back with another disarming, beautiful, and inspirational book about why we listen to music, why we love songs, and how music can connect us to each other and to ourselves. Featuring fifty songs that have both changed Jeff’s life and influenced his music—including songs by the Replacements, Mavis Staples, the Velvet Underground, Joni Mitchell, Otis Redding, Dolly Parton, and Billie Eilish—as well as Jeff’s “Rememories,” dream-like short pieces that related key moments from Jeff’s life, this book is a mix of the musical, the emotional, and the inspirational in the best possible way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593472521
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/07/2023
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	222,497
Product dimensions:	2.30(w) x 7.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

As the founding member and leader of the Grammy Award–winning American rock band Wilco, and before that the cofounder of the alt‐country band Uncle Tupelo, Jeff Tweedy is one of contemporary music’s most accomplished songwriters, musicians, and performers. Jeff has released four albums, written original songs for thirteen Wilco albums, and is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Let's Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco, Etc. and How to Write One Song. He lives in Chicago with his family.

Read an Excerpt

1

Smoke on the Water

I'd love to claim that at the age of six, hearing the brief passage of Mozart (incorrectly identified as Rachmaninoff) performed in the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was the catalyst that set me on my way to a lifetime of music-making . . . or that I was somehow introduced to some Jacques Brel or Leonard Cohen by an eccentric den mother at a Cub Scout meeting and I never looked back, having immediately absorbed the nuance and depth of the wordplay and how the simple melodic arcs embrace eternity . . .

In fact, I'd much prefer to have you believe just about anything other than what truthfully made the first dent in my musical mind. That's because the truth is that it was "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple. It kills me to admit this for a lot of reasons. Foremost of which is the fact that as I grew older and as this song maintained an ominous loitering presence on the airwaves of St. Louis rock radio, it became more and more indefensible as something I could admit to myself that I liked.

Things were different then. Without much else to distinguish ourselves from each other as adolescents (fewer clothing options, same shoes, our moms all cut our hair), we were forced to broadcast our allegiances (jock, nerd, sosh, etc.) by the music we professed to love. By the time I was a full-blown teenager, this bong-bruised, coughed-up lung of a song had evolved, in terms of the people who liked it at the time, to signify a distinct type of danger to a sensitive boy like myself. Kind of the way some insects develop brightly colored wings to tell predators, "Trust me, you're better off not fucking with me." This song came to indicate a certain toxicity, in other words.

But alas, I cannot deny its importance to me, and countless others, as a budding musician. Because the fact is, this riff (I'm not even sure I could speak to the rest of the song considering how much I've avoided it in the nearly fifty years since my first introduction; I know it has something to do with Frank Zappa and some semiautobiographical band exploit, but to me, even if I HAD paid more attention to the words, this riff is so dunderheaded and massive it blots out the sun-hippie mumbo jumbo lyrics don't stand a chance) . . . this riff is absolutely the first thing I ever played on a guitar, back when I was seven or eight years old. This, my friends, was the "Seven Nation Army" of my day. The likelihood you could teach yourself these four notes on the bottom string of a guitar within a few minutes was very very high.

So I must bow to the rock gods. Who cares if it took a riff so demeaning and dumb to instill a little belief in myself as a potential musician. We all start somewhere. I started with "Smoke on the" goddamn "Water."

2

Long Tall Glasses

You know, not everything that ends up having a profound influence in your life is easily identified as enjoyable. In fact, I think I could safely argue that it's pretty rare for life lessons to be imparted free of concern and full of mirth. Songs, or at least most of the songs I've chosen to talk about here, are unique in that way. They really can teach with serenity, form wisdom while the mind drifts carelessly, or even shine a little light into the dark corners of a banging head.

But not always. There are still important kernels of knowledge that can only be whipped into us through discomforting experience. Take this Leo Sayer song for example. Sure, it seems pleasant enough. And taken as a single dose, I'm almost certain one would recover fairly quickly from its mild toxins. But let's take this same song and play it . . . oh . . . let's say roughly forty-five times between six p.m. and nine p.m. on weekday evenings, and upwards of seventy times a day on the weekends. Let's continue this ritual for several months and try to imagine the world-warping effect this little ditty might have on one's psyche.

If it weren't for the fact that I believe my father sincerely enjoyed such a routine, I would find it easy to subscribe to the possibility that the method behind such madness was in service to a DARPA program set up by the DOD to study the mind-altering potential inherent in repeated exposure to a single insipid storytelling pop song.

If you're unfamiliar with the song . . . first of all, CONGRATULATIONS . . . but I should give you a little outline of what its "deal" is. It's a musical tale of a man down on his luck (natch) who stumbles upon an establishment offering up food and drink to one and all. It goes on to describe said spread (which is where he unloads one of the most diabolically infuriating rhymes of all time: "There was ham and there was turkey / There was caviar / And long tall glasses / With wine up to . . . YAR"). It ambles along for a while before we get to the kicker: If he wants to partake in the bounty before him, he's gonna have to dance for it. But alas, he doesn't know how to dance, and he's sad, the music is sad, we're sad . . . but then . . . but THEN . . . Spoiler alert: Turns out he CAN dance after all.

Incredible. At this point in the song the refrain "You know I CAN'T dance" sung like a donkey doing a Bogart impression becomes "I CAN dance!" This is the moment where my beer maudlin-ed father would jump out of his chair and spill his Pabst (Extra Light) dancing and bellowing along. "I CAN DANCE!" EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

So what did I learn from this hardship? Why am I writing about this particular song in a book designed to highlight the inspiration I've taken from the music I've consumed?

Well, I guess I'm not sure how to answer that. But I can tell you that at the time this was all happening, I was sure I was learning about things I would never do and ways that I would never be. As a musician, as a songwriter, as a father, and as a human, I guess.

Every now and then I throw this song on, and as I sit and listen, as this smug bauble of pop arcana winds its way through the paths in my mind that it's beaten down to dust, the memories of my father become so vivid I swear I can smell him. I am with him again. But this time without judgment. Only joy for his joy. Name something else in the world that can do that.

Editorial Reviews

09/04/2023

Tweedy (Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back)), cofounder of the rock band Wilco and alt-country group Uncle Tupelo, delivers a spirited memoir centered on his relationships to such songs as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright,” and Judy Collins’s cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.” In short sections organized by song, Tweedy holds forth on the ways these tunes­—which he often loves, sometimes hates, and occasionally feels indifference toward—have shaped his life and relationships, delving into his own creative process along the way (“When you hear the occasional whistled refrain in my own songs,” he writes, “it’s only there because Otis let me sit down on the dock beside him” in “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay”). “Shotgun” by Junior Walker and the All-Stars stirs up memories of marrying his wife, Susie (a tongue-in-cheek selection, as she was pregnant at the time); “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five convinced him, at 15, that hip-hop was “a vitally important new form of musical expression” rather than “some pop music anomaly.” Tweedy’s snappy prose (“I reflexively reject everything Bon Jovi does”) and dry wit elevate the proceedings. This entertaining and enlightening survey hits the right note. Agent: Josh Grier, Ember Lab. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Is it possible that the whole time Jeff Tweedy was impressing us as one of his generation’s most consistently moving songwriters, he was only warming up for his role as an equally insightful essayist? The Wilco frontman’s third bestseller is an extraordinary memoir disguised as a collection of music criticism.”—Rolling Stone, The Best Music Books of 2023

"The Wilco frontman delves into his inspiring relationship with music through 50 songs (from "Gloria" to "Free Bird") and adds heart-wrenching memories of childhood friendship, gun-wielding tour bus drivers and more. If life's a movie, Tweedy's has a pretty great soundtrack." —People

“A beautiful, effervescent, and introspective journey.” —Shelf Awareness

“Tweedy’s storytelling skills are as sharp as his songcraft…a joy to read.” —Performer Magazine

“It’s the chance to see the master at work if you will, even though World Within a Song is entirely about other people’s songs.” —American Songwriter

"Tweedy is a smart, witty and empathetic writer. His unabashed joy in introducing readers to the music that delights him is infectious and will unleash a flood of associations and memories for anyone who shares that passion." —BookPage

"Tweedy’s way with words shine with shimmering eloquence." —Grammys

"Tweedy hits the page with approachable, almost-conversational prose (what’s the opposite of a music snob?) while still providing the reader with tight, evocative sentences sprinkled with silly witticisms, heartfelt anecdotes, pop-culture references and, of course, music history...Tweedy’s writing helps readers relive their own little flashbacks, as if they were listening to an old, cherished tune." —Brooklyn Magazine

“Every chapter of World Within a Song is a little gem, offering insights not only on the song on which it focuses and the reasons it sang and continues to sing — or not — to Tweedy, but also more depth on what it means to write a song that continues shape listeners’ lives.” —Henry Carrigan, No Depression

"You won’t even have to already love Wilco to find joy in the experience of reading Jeff Tweedy’s new book... Full of anecdotal pleasures that get at more universal truths about how we’re shaped by art." —Variety

"A disarming, beautiful, and inspirational book about why we listen to music, why we love songs, and how music can connect us to each other and to ourselves... this book is a mix of the musical, the emotional, and the inspirational in the best possible way." —Rough Trade

"World Within a Song... is something like a book-length version of Pitchfork’s own 5-10-15-20 interview series, where stray memories become reflexively intertwined with certain lyrics or melodies...Tweedy writes like he talks—direct, enthusiastic, relatable, self-aware when he’s corny—and it’s a quick and enjoyable read." —Pitchfork

"In his inimitable voice, [Tweedy] digs into the ways that songs invite us into the worlds within them, illustrating how music connects us to each other. He reveals how the sonic structure of a song can make us fall in love with it and how it lives within us, shaping and reshaping our experience of music and life whenever we hear it." —No Depression

“Mr. Tweedy’s navigation of these songs is an entertaining and intimate read that gives us the opportunity to spend quality time with him.” —Pittsburgh Post Gazette

"Here we’ve got humor merged with memoir; snippets of his life that feel so messy and real that you can’t help but be drawn in." —Fatherly

"Notorious hilarious grump and frontman of Wilco shares his thoughts on songs by the Replacements, Mavis Staples, the Velvet Underground, Joni Mitchell, Otis Redding, Dolly Parton, and Billie Eilish." —All Music

“Following the generosity of the best-selling How to Write One Song (2020), Tweedy extends his largesse and candor in this delightfully inspiring blend of memoir and guidance.” —Booklist

"A deeply personal, Dylan-esque, “philosophical” take on the works that have influenced him as a songwriter and a person… thoroughly entertaining.” —Kirkus

"This entertaining and enlightening survey hits the right note." —Publishers Weekly

“In the same way that Jeff Tweedy is just miraculously there in every line he sings, he’s here in these pages: disarmingly frank, relentlessly exploratory; funny, earnest, wide-open, and brilliant.  Like his songs, this book felt like a gesture of warm reassurance, an inspiring reminder of the role art can play in keeping a person alert to life and moving forward.  Tweedy is a generous, insanely gifted national treasure.” —George Saunders, New York Times bestselling author of A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

“World Within a Song is a treasure trove, a crate of LPs left behind by a cooler sibling. It reveals the DNA of influence of a brilliant artist while feeling like a cherished mixtape gifted to you by an old friend. It’s equally an ode to music from one of the greatest songwriters of our time, punctuated by hilarious memories of a life spent in the music industry with its unique capacity for both sublime glamor and devastating humility. Jeff Tweedy’s reverence for great songwriting...is infectious. Songs are our companions, bands are human scale miracles, and we should never forget it.” —Michelle Zauner, New York Times bestselling author of Crying in H Mart

From the Publisher

10/23/2023

With three solid books under his belt, Grammy winner and Wilco front man Tweedy (How To Write One Song) may become as famous for his authorship as his musicianship. After writing about his own life and process in previous books, he has chosen this time to look at the songs of others through the lens of how they can absorb, enhance, and store listeners' experiences and memories. In doing so, there is a fair amount of autobiography, along with the wonderful caveat that everyone's choice of life-changing songs will be different. Tweedy himself states that he could have selected completely different tunes than these, and that's part of the book's magic. Music is love (and joy and sorrow and empathy and connection), and although there is a lot of inspiring music—perhaps readers will make some new discoveries—the choice of songs analyzed in this book matters less than what Tweedy has to say about them and the way the most beloved songs touch people. VERDICT Another excellent work from an American treasure. Tweedy's enthusiasm and exuberance does for readers what the best songs do for listeners: inspire, delight, connect, linger, and drive people back for more.—Bill Baars

Library Journal

2023-08-29
The Wilco front man muses on 50 favorite songs.

Describing his latest as a “weird little book of love letters to songs,” Tweedy offers a deeply personal, Dylan-esque, “philosophical” take on the works that have influenced him as a songwriter and a person. Woven in and out of his diverse choices are Rememories, “dreamlike passages recounting specific events” in his life. A “bong-bruised, coughed-up lung of a song,” Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” made the “first dent in my musical mind.” Next, the author writes about how Leo Sayer’s “Long Tall Glasses” makes him think about his father. Bob Dylan is Tweedy’s favorite artist, and he chooses “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” because it’s the first of Dylan’s songs he fell for. Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” feels “like it’s been a part of me for as long as I’ve had a me to feel,” and Patti Smith’s “Horses” is a “shard of poetry sung with the spirit and cadence of a taunt.” At age 12, Tweedy was blown away by “My Sharona”—and still is. Whenever he thinks about Volcano Suns’ “Balancing Act,” he feels “frozen forever in the amber of my youth.” The New Lost City Rambler’s “Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down” helped the miserable teenaged author feel better, and the Minutemen’s “History Lesson—Part II” is the “ground on which I stand.” The song “Little Johnny Jewel,” by Television, “simultaneously ripped me apart and held me together.” Tweedy adores the Ramones and “The Weight,” especially the version with Mavis Staples from The Last Waltz. In the early days of Wilco, he often sang Carole King’s “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” as an encore. He wishes he had written Souled American’s “Before Tonight,” and his jog down memory lanes closes with the Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There.”

Easygoing and thoroughly entertaining.

Kirkus Reviews