Jeff Tweedy, _How to Write One Song_

 THE FIRST SECTION (on why you should definitely go ahead and try to write a song, if you have ever had the wish to) and the fourth section (on why you should be brave and perform the song for others, once you have written it) were not all that germane for me, since I have written dozens of songs and performed them for small but indulgent audiences here and there, but I nonetheless appreciated the core messages: first, that creating something is one of the best ways available to spend your time, and second, that sharing what you have created builds human community.

The middle sections, on generating lyrics and music to accompany them, were brilliant--they certainly accorded with my own experience and would be helpful, I think, both for someone who had never written a song and someone who had written a good many.

On the subject of lyrics, Tweedy does not say "look in your heart, and write" or recommend soul-baring confession. The exercises he recommends depend quite a bit on the aleatory and improvisational, on not taking yourself utterly seriously, and that's perfect. That way, the songwriter is going to come up with something to work with, and once the work begins, the heart and soul are going to be coming to the party in any case.

On the subject of music, Tweedy emphasizes (rightly, I'd say) that being an instrumental virtuoso is not at all required. If you can carry a tune most of the time and hit a few key notes on your piano or guitar, you are good to go. Tweedy recommends learning how to play songs you like, and I would second that--figuring out Lou Reed and Elvis Costello songs was my own training in song architecture. How much of the brilliance of Lennon and McCartney as songwriters derives from the hours of covers they learned to play in the Hamburg days? A lot, I bet.

He also recommends, bluntly, "steal." Well...yes. Take a song you know and like, re-jigger it some way, and there you are. As John Lennon remarked when George Harrison got legally dinged for the resemblances of "My Sweet Lord" to "He's So Fine," all songwriters steal, but you need to cover your tracks. 

A helpful, generous, and very down-to-earth book.