Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting
by Jimmy Webb
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 27)
Read in July, 2003
recommends it for:
songwriters. Period.
Absolutely, completely, ridiculously, inarguably the greatest book about songwriting ever written. Webb's one of those "behind the scenes" master songwriters of the twentieth century whose name most people have never heard but whose songs everyone has heard - "Wichita Lineman," "Didn't we," "By the time I get to phoenix," "The moon's a harsh mistress," and classic groaner "MacArthur Park" only scratch the surface. This isn't some...more
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Read in January, 2000
His life is pretty interesting, and instructive if you are unfortunate enough to attempt to make money in "the music industry". But the real gem is the fairly lengthy, textbook-level primer for writing songs; he really digs deep into technical aspects of songwriting (rhyme schemes, song structures, chord inversions) and illustrates with many of his own (often sub-par) works. Interesting to read, but really a product of a bygone era of songcraft that just isn't applicable to most peop...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
songwriters
there's good stuff in here: helpful tips and explanations on songs and songwriting. Unfortunately he meanders a lot, and often gets into such fine detail that it gets uninteresting. probably could have been 100 pages sorter. It's also a lot of autobiography that really is uninteresting (to me at least). I'd lose another 100 pages right there. Of course, I don't have as many hit songs as he does. Or any, really. The most helpful stuff I found was near the beginning, like through the first 4 ...more
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Read in September, 2004
An insightful look into Jimmy Webb's career in songwriting... a little disconcerting in the last chapter or so when Webb kind of goes on a bit about how 'songwriters today...', and 'musicians today...', and 'back when i was...' etc...
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So far, some rough patches and uneven ground but also clear vistas in songwriting land.
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