World Within a Song: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music
Jeff Tweedy
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. more
256 pages, Hardcover
First published Dutton
4.05
Rating
1488
Ratings
228
Reviews
Jeff Tweedy
14 books 209 followers
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What a fun companion this was for a few days, and such an interesting way to look at music. This is a memoir told through music. Rather than picking favorite songs, Tweedy chooses songs that had great impact on him and/or are meaningful because of the moment he heard them. The stories and explanations are quite brief. I listened to this, read by Jeff, at 1. more
I'm a huge Wilco fan and found solace in Jeff Tweedy during the pandemic. And yet I wasn't expecting to get much of anything from this book except a few deep cut discoveries that only a musical genius could pass along. I was thinking something akin to a Nick Hornsby book. Anyway, no, it wasn't a music nerd's musings on music, and I didn't discover any new artists - not even a song - but it was enough to be allowed in Tweedy's surprisingly ordinary brain, and get to "hear" his inner workings. He is, as he admits, just a normal flawed human, a low-key rock star, and a little odd, but also honest and genuine and very conversational. more
New York Times bestselling author and Wilco front man, Jeff Tweedy is back with another fun music inspired journey. Tweedy shares the fifty songs that have impacted his life the most, for better or for worse. He’s very clear that these aren’t what he considers the best fifty songs of all time, that is too daunting of a list to try. Rather this compilation of songs represents moments in his life where the song is crucial to the memory. From childhood to his wedding, music has been involved in every aspect of his life and these fifty songs highlight some important and unforgettable moments. more
If you don’t love Jeff Tweedy’s writing, you’re wrong. . more
The parasocial relationship I have with this guy is kind of intense. more
I only discovered Wilco, Jeff Tweedy and the wonderful album “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” (2002) on a road trip through Texas at the beginning of this year. (Thank you, Mark. ) How timely, though, was the nearly simultaneous discovery of this, Tweedy’s recently published musical memoir. I was immediately charmed by Tweedy’s voice and writing style, and in his Introduction, he made a claim for music that I, too, have long believed: “songs absorb and enhance our own experiences and store our own memories. ” I didn’t love, or even know, all of Tweedy’s own choices - it was nice to utilise Spotify as I read this book - but I did identify with all of the underlying ideas and enthusiasm. more
A love letter to kindness, humanity and good tunes . more
Loved this. It's below-freezing here and we don't have school because of the weather, so I've been keeping warm working on some yarny crafts and listening to audiobooks. I love a good narrator, and listening to memoirists read their own work. This fits both. Tweedy is a generous, gifted storyteller, both in song and in his books. more
A great stocking stuffer for any Tweedy fan. I was able to procure an autographed copy at my local Barnes and Noble which was awesome. Tweedy chose 50 songs which impacted him and wrote vignettes as to why they did. I've read his autobiography and he had the good fortune of living near a hip record store, growing up at a time when big business didn't dictate what was played on the radio, and some fantastic bands played in small venues when he was a teen. Unfortunately, I am more than 15 years younger than Tweedy, so I did not have the same experience. more
This was a really nice read. Wouldn’t it be great if you could read about all your favorite musician’s favorite songs. Short but sweet ❤️. more
As a music lover, I have always been fascinated by what musicians say about other people's songs. That means this book by Jeff Tweedy, formally of Uncle Tupelo (one of my favorite bands) and currently in Wilco, is the perfect book. Tweedy writes short chapters on his favorite songs, not by way of scrutinizing analysis, but by connecting the songs to his own life experience and demonstrating how his favorite songs remind him that he is not alone in this world. Tweedy seems like a genuinely good dude – a guy who loves his family, who makes a point to encourage all of the his warm-up acts, who even regrets lost opportunities to show "grace and acknowledgment" to others (p. 116). more
"One of the amazing things songs can do in the mind of a single listener is to transform, over time, from something, reviled and loathed to the point of avoidance--an instant radio-dial-lunge type of track--to something breathtakingly beautiful and essential. "I love Jeff Tweedy. I have for what feels like forever. My best friend, who also loves Jeff, bought me this book (a SIGNED copy, no less. ) for Christmas this year and it was just a perfect little read. more
Jeff Tweedy writes about how different songs have affected his life and he tells some more stories about traveling with his band. He is a kind, generous, and thoughtful soul and he tells touching stories. I love the one about seeing The Replacements do “God Damn Job. ” Being in the room with them must have been cathartic. “The self-liberating promise of punk rock. more
“As ridiculous as that all sounds, it's a true revelation of an internal dialogue that is always happening just below the surface of any song I'm singing. Singing ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’ back in the day was my effort to come clean. I'm in love with you people out there listening. Please don't hurt me. ”. more
I love Tweedy and Wilco’s music but the book didn’t really hold my attention. It would be better with fewer songs and chapters and more depth per song. . more
This book was just an incredible experience. I listened on audio with Jeff reading, I felt like he was telling me these wonderful, sometimes sad memories. These songs he chose also brought back my own memories of these songs. Mull of Kintyre brought me back to the days of listening to nothing else but Wings greatest. Thank you for sharing your life with us, I will cherish this book always. more
Going out of 2023 with a high note. Listened to the audiobook because I LOVE YOU JEFF. more
Last couple of Wilco records have been a little hit or miss for me but I continue to enjoy these Tweedy books. The man certainly stays busy. This one was an especially quick read; thought the chapter about the makeshift memorial he describes in Portland, Maine was touching. more
When we explore an artist we love expressing themself outside of their primary medium it’s interesting and novel, but seldom something worth revisiting. I’ve never tossed David Lynch on Spotify while going for a walk. Jerry Garcia’s paintings have never graced the wallpaper of my phone. On those rare occasions when it does work something really special happens; both forms of art add context to one another, complimenting each other and adding new depth. Two artists sit in the lens of the van diagram between people who’ve made music that moves me and people that have written books that move me: Jeff Tweedy and Michelle Zauner. more
Listening to the World Within a Song by Jeff Tweedy, the audio version, checked out from my local library was a great first read for the new year. Taking parts of it in on a Henderson Nevada desert, Mars planet looking, arid landscape hike. Listening to Jeff Tweedy recollect songs that effected him with stories and his thoughts on music and his own past events, eloquently laying it out for us to enjoy and take in. I’m all for reading the hard copy or electronic version, but the audio version read by Jeff with his voice takes you to all those Wilco songs he sings that you might know and love. There’s a poetry to it all. more
World Within a Song will be published on November 7, 2023. Penguin Group has provided an early galley for review. Looking back, I was on the groundfloor when Tweedy's band Wilco released their first album in the mid-90's. I really enjoyed those early releases. So, given this book's author and subject, I was definitely interested in hearing him tell about some of the many songs that inspire him. more
Just barely hit four stars for me. It’s hard to be critical of a book that’s so light and earnest but there were a few frustrating things that took away from the experience of me enjoying this book. The heart of this book is Tweedy writing about 50 songs that have had a personal impact on his life. It’s in an interesting premise but he doesn’t put the name of the artist along with the title at the beginning of each chapter. He mentions the artist somewhere in each chapter but it annoyed me because my focus was on finding out who did the song. more
Jeff Tweedy is always a reassuring voice to me, whether as frontman for Wilco or as an author. His latest book brings together fifty songs that have had some impact on his life, whether as inspiration, a source of joy or amusement, or - in a couple of cases - songs he truly despises, but still was able to extract a life lesson from. He's charming, self-effacing, and has a deep appreciation of music across many genres. In a year when Bob Dylan released a pretty epic book focusing on a similar expanse of songs, Tweedy takes the more straightfoward approach, speaking from a very personal place. Dylan is all about the myths, the storytelling, and layers of connective history. more
This delightful book is Jeff Tweedy's love letter to 50 songs, the songs and the musicians that impacted his own life and work as a singer/songwriter. Co-founder of the band Uncle Tupelo and founding member of Wilco, Tweedy refers to these songs, and songs in general, as "our companions . . . some become friends for life. more
I've been an intermittent fan of Uncle Tupelo and Wilco since my mid-twenties, and I was delighted to discover that Tweedy's writing is just as engaging as his songs. He's a philosopher of music, but not nearly as detached and abstract as that may suggest. These short essays about songs which have made an impact on him (one to two pages long, typically) are both vulnerable and deeply felt as well as thoughtful. And many of the songs that Tweedy selects are unfamiliar to me, but it's a credit to his writing that more often than not, I'm compelled to look them up on Spotify and give them a listen. As a professed agnostic, Tweedy finds himself occasionally wrestling with the power ("authenticity") of songs that praise and worship a god he doesn't believe in. more
I haven't read Tweedy's earlier books, but I've been crushing on Wilco lately and so felt inspired to pick this one up. I don't know quite what I was expecting but this was a gem of a book. He's a funny and thoughtful writer and his outlook is genuine and lovely. I don't know and am not going to love a good chunk of the songs on his list, but I loved the personal way he wrote about them. His chapter on Dancing Queen is a stand alone essay on reevaluating our misconceptions that the whole world needs to read. more
Big swoon for Jeff’s sweet soul. The whole book is great but the vignette on rocking out to My Sharona in the drive thru line with his mom is just perfect. Then Jeff had to go and write the nicest, most tender essay about You Are My Sunshine and not taking our beautiful world (or beautiful songs) for granted. Once again, Tweedy has made me laugh, cry, think, and feel *deeply* about what it is to be a person with a heart in this world. <3. more
Jeff had me laughing hysterically in certain parts of the book. I'll have to start by saying thank you to him for writing a good book that was easy to read for my attention deficit brain. Short stories wrapped around songs, and his musical odyssey. For younger audiences, they might learn a thing or two about the joy of listening to music and the emotions embodied in our memories. Thumbs up 👍. more
This was a pretty solid first book of 2024. I always like hearing what Jeff Tweedy has to say, and these were some nice thoughts on some really good songs. Due to its scattered and episodic nature, it’s a pretty disorganized read, but it makes up for that in its content. I wish I could’ve gone through and listened to every track after Tweedy discussed them. . more