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Music, Lyrics, and Life is the songwriting class you always wish you’d taken, taught by the professor you always wish you’d had. It’s a deep dive into the heart of questions asked by songwriters of all levels, from how to begin journaling to when you know that a song is finished. With humor and empathy, acclaimed singer-songwriter Mike Errico unravels both the mystery of songwriting and the logistics of life as a songwriter. For years, this set of tools, prompts, and ideas has inspired students on campuses including Yale, Wesleyan, Berklee, Oberlin, and NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.
Alongside his own lessons, Errico interviews the writers, producers, and A&R executives behind today’s biggest hits and investigates the larger questions of creativity through lively conversations with a wide range of innovative thinkers: astrophysicist Janna Levin explains the importance of repetition, both in choruses and in the exploration of the universe; renowned painter John Currin praises the constraints of form, whether it’s within a right-angled canvas or a three-minute pop song; bestselling author George Saunders unpacks the hidden benefit of writing, and revising, authentically; and much more. The result is that Music, Lyrics, and Life ends up revealing as much about the art of songwriting as it does about who we are, and where we may be going.
This is a book for songwriters, future content creators, music lovers, and anyone who wants to understand how popular art forms are able to touch us so deeply. Mike Errico has honed these lessons over years of writing, performing, teaching, and mentoring, and no matter where you are on your songwriting journey, Music, Lyrics, and Life will help you build a creative world that’s both intrinsic to who you are, and undeniable to whoever is listening.
From the Publisher
Mike Errico is that rare thing: He’s an original.
Soulful, funny, and searing. And he’s also a gem of a person.
—Jonathan Bernstein, artistic director, the Performing Arts Project
People come to songwriting from all different directions… I think I can help you.
I say this because I’ve been teaching college-level songwriting for years now, and every semester, I have students who want to meet with me for office hours. This means they volunteer to sit with me—no credit, no cash payout, just coffee—and some of them aren’t even in school anymore. The ones who are often take my classes multiple times. My inbox is packed with demos, remixes, and private links to upcoming releases. They’re all repeat customers, and over the years, I’ve noticed that many of them ask repeat questions. The point of this book is to try to address those repeat questions because chances are good that you have them, too, and I can’t have coffee with everyone, much as I’d like to.
Excerpt, Introduction — Four Big Ideas
When I teach, I touch on four main themes and weave them through pretty much everything. In the back of the book, I recommend outside materials that go deep on each.
Big Idea One: Journaling
Journaling is the unrestricted generation of raw material from which work can be made. It’s probably the most important Big Idea of the bunch because it’s the most flexible, and the most willing to stray into the heart of whoever’s doing the generating. Please do it and pay attention to whatever comes out, because if your journal morphs into an artist’s sketch pad or a schematic for a circuit board, you should follow that trail…
Big Idea Two: Mechanics
What’s happening in the songs you love, or the popular songs on the charts, and what can we use in our own work? I liken this to an owner’s manual you should actually read… To that end, we’ll get granular, logical, and clear. There will be graphs, and lists, and troubleshooting items.
Big Idea Three: The Wisdom of Your Fellow Practitioners
These are the people who’ve internalized the mechanics, blown up a few lawnmowers, and are willing to share what they’ve learned. They are generous mentors, and that makes them indispensable.
Big Idea Four: Constantly Asking, “Why?”
What binds the mechanics to the practitioner and the practitioner to the page? As poet Mary Ruefle put it, “Why did you come here, to this place, if not in the hope of being understood?”
Publisher : Backbeat (November 15, 2021)
Language : English
Hardcover : 280 pages
ISBN-10 : 1493059874
ISBN-13 : 978-1493059874
Item Weight : 1.3 pounds
Dimensions : 6.39 x 0.9 x 9.34 inches
Customers say
Customers find the book provides practical advice and wisdom on living a creative life. They appreciate the engaging writing prompts and songwriting assignments. The book is enjoyable and well worth their time. Readers enjoy the humor and pop song selection, saying it’s inspiring.
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