September 4, 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.
October 1, 2023
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.
COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
October 15, 2023
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. Early on he writes, "Life's too short to let your critical thinking get in the way of being moved by music." Tweedy was snapped to attention at the tender age of six, he confides, by Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water." Throughout the revelry that ensues, Tweedy's enthusiasm is contagious; readers will want to search the internet to hear for themselves the music he describes and loves. "Because I'm still here. And I can. And they can't tell you. They didn't get a chance. I love them." Tweedy is referring to teenagers who died in a car accident on their prom night in Portland, Maine. He didn't know them, but across time, geography, and chance, an affinity grew. Throughout 50 spirited chapters, Tweedy expresses his heartfelt love of music and of life and how he and music have fused beyond matters of craft. Life itself is music; all one needs to do is listen.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Wilco front man Tweedy has pull and given the success of his previous books this will be on many a must-read list.
COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
October 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
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.