
World Within a Song
Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music
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Narrated by:
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Jeff Tweedy
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By:
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Jeff Tweedy
About this listen
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.
* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF with song credits and permissions.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2023 Jeff Tweedy (P)2023 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"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
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Story
Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers his insight into the nature of popular music. He writes over sixty essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone. He analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are written in Dylan’s unique prose. And while ostensibly about music, they are really meditations on the human condition.
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Needs chapter headings
- By kaon on 12-22-22
By: Bob Dylan
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The Addiction Formula
- A Holistic Approach to Writing Captivating, Memorable Hit Songs. With 317 Proven Commercial Techniques & 331 Examples
- By: Friedemann Findeisen
- Narrated by: Friedemann Findeisen
- Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Discover the songwriting technique used in 97% of all hit songs. Music is a tough industry to break into. With production gear being affordable for the first time in history, it seems like everyone is making music these days. Getting noticed in the continuous stream of information that is the Internet seems almost impossible. But: There is a technique designed specifically to captivate and hook an audience and with The Addiction Formula, you can learn it in a couple of hours.
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I’m a successful producer for Sony, and this STILL upped my game.
- By SpookyRockstar on 04-09-18
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Fortunate Son
- My Life, My Music
- By: John Fogerty
- Narrated by: John Fogerty
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Creedence Clearwater Revival is one of the most important and beloved bands in the history of rock, and John Fogerty wrote, sang, and produced their instantly recognizable classics: "Proud Mary", "Bad Moon Rising", "Born on the Bayou", and more. Now he reveals how he brought CCR to number one in the world, eclipsing even the Beatles in 1969. By the next year, though, Creedence was falling apart; their amazing, enduring success exploded and faded in just a few short years.
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Great book
- By Cargod63 on 10-23-15
By: John Fogerty
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How Music Works
- By: David Byrne
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman, David Byrne
- Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Utilizing his incomparable career and inspired collaborations with Talking Heads, Brian Eno, and many others, David Byrne taps deeply into his lifetime of knowledge to explore the panoptic elements of music, how it shapes the human experience, and reveals the impetus behind how we create, consume, distribute, and enjoy the songs, symphonies, and rhythms that provide the backbeat of life. Byrne’s magnum opus uncovers thrilling realizations about the redemptive liberation that music brings us all.
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Kind of all over the place
- By Amazon Customer on 02-17-23
By: David Byrne
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The Name of This Band Is R.E.M.
- A Biography
- By: Peter Ames Carlin
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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In the spring of 1980, an unexpected group of musical eccentrics came together to play their very first performance at a college party in Athens, Georgia. Within a few short years, they had taken over the world–with smash records like Out of Time, Automatic for the People, Monster and Green. Raw, outrageous, and expressive, R.E.M.’s distinctive musical flair was unmatched, and a string of mega-successes solidified them as generational spokesmen.
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Sometimes good guys win
- By Roger D. Plothow on 11-27-24
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12 Notes
- On Life and Creativity
- By: Quincy Jones
- Narrated by: JD Jackson, Quincy Jones
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Wisdom and musings on creativity and life from one of the world’s most beloved musicians, producers, and mentors, Quincy Jones. 12 Notes is a self-development guide that will affirm that creativity is a calling that can and should be answered, no matter your age or experience.
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I lived these notes with Quincy
- By Thomas Bähler on 04-29-22
By: Quincy Jones
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3 Shades of Blue
- Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool
- By: James Kaplan
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1959, America’s great indigenous art form, jazz, reached the height of its power and popularity. James Kaplan’s magnificent 3 Shades of Blue captures how that golden era came to be, and its pinnacle with the recording of Kind of Blue. It’s a book about music, and business, and race, and heroin, and the cities that gave jazz its home, and the Black geniuses behind its rise. It’s an astonishing meditation on creativity and the strange environments where it can flourish most.
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Great deep dive into a pinnacle of jazz, marred by author bias against later jazz years
- By Michael J. Anderson on 04-08-24
By: James Kaplan
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Effortless Mastery
- Liberating the Master Musician Within
- By: Kenny Werner
- Narrated by: Kenny Werner
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Playing music should be as simple and natural as drawing a breath, yet most musicians are hindered by self-consciousness, apprehension, self-doubt, and stress. Before we can truly express our inner self, we must first learn to be at peace and overcome the distractions that can make performance difficult. Kenny's remarkable work deals directly with these hindrances, and presents ways to let our natural creative powers flow freely with minimal stress and effort.
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Very Meh
- By Chemical_Messiah on 04-05-22
By: Kenny Werner
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Waiting on the Moon
- Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses
- By: Peter Wolf
- Narrated by: Peter Wolf
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Peter Wolf grew up in the Bronx, a child of “fellow travelers” whose artistic inclinations influenced both his love of music and his initial desire to become a painter. Stories of his loving and sometimes eccentric parents complement scenes depicting a very young Bob Dylan as he arrived on the Greenwich Village folk scene. Reflections on Wolf’s studies in Boston—where he shared an apartment with David Lynch—are braided with accounts of first love, an untraditional literary education, and early musical influences such as Muddy Waters.
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Should have been called “Name Dropping with Peter Wolf”
- By Placeholder on 03-19-25
By: Peter Wolf
What listeners say about World Within a Song
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- Anonymous User
- 01-09-24
Jeff is an interesting and captivating storyteller. I enjoy listening to him read his books. I’ve listened to all of his.
Self deprecating, funny, poignant, painful. Just like life. Try to keep it light but it’s dark a lot of the time.
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- A Picky Reviewer
- 02-10-24
Jeff Tweedy’s Plain Spoken, Direct, Funny, Touching, Vulnerable, & Honest Meditation on Music is Perfection
To kibble about his choices or omissions misses the whole point. This book is not so much about the list itself, but rather the way music moves us and why, and illustrates why Jeff Tweedy is just so damn good at making it. The guy can really write too. I didn’t want it to end.
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- Bryan
- 01-24-24
Music is Life
Interesting stories on the music that shaped or had profound impact on Mr. Tweedy. He could easily do 4 more volumes of this type of song realted story telling. Great listen/read!
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- Big D
- 05-02-24
I could listen to Jeff all day
This was my third Tweedy book after the memoir and How to Write One Song. As usual, solid insights and storytelling.
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- Anonymous User
- 02-20-24
Tweedy is the Man
A candid and thoughtful account of not only the songs that have shaped Tweedy’s approach of songwriting and life, but a brilliant consideration of why we as humans love listening to music. I highly recommend this book.
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- Foobin
- 07-05-24
Loved it
Jeff is so down to earth, listening to this felt like hangin out with a friend.
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-14-23
Keep it coming, Jeff!
I just finished listening. This audiobook kept me company on my commute and - as always - I found myself sitting in the parking lot wanting just a few minutes more. Tweedy’s dry sense of humor really shines through. I have the book, too (my wife bought it for me), and I’ll read that next, but listening to Jeff’s narration really lets you know how it’s intended to sound. And, let’s face it, sound matters. Thanks, Jeff!
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- John B Allnutt
- 11-10-23
Great one
If you are a Tweedy fan or a fan of music this is a great book. So many great stories in here as well. You are in for a treat.
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Jeff’s willingness to share his inner and outer worlds of life and music
We all have a private and personal relationship with music. Jeff does a quite a good job at sharing his with us.
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- Dan Fenyvesi
- 12-25-23
Great window into Jeff’s mind
Fun, insightful deep dive into music by one of our great modern songwriters. Easy listen and rewarding.
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