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Songwriters on Songwriting Paul Zollo

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This is an amazing book. It is a collection of Interviews published originally in Song Talk, the journal of the National Academy of Songwriters. The writers are mostly US based and are mostly from the 1980s and 90s. I didn’t read it from cover to cover initially, I jumped to the interviews with the people I admire most and then slowly read the rest. This is much better than the usual music magazine interview, much longer and far less showbiz, the focus is on the songs.
He asks most of the writers where they believe their songs come from, if there is some kind of creative spirit. This is an interesting question as many writers do have some sort of answer. He also discusses their work patterns, do they treat it as a job or just wait for inspiration.
At 730 pages there is a lot of material and at the price it’s a bargain.

Best Bit: This is really hard to answer but there are three. The interviews with Dylan, Paul Simon and Lamont Dozier.

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How To Write Songs On Guitar. Rikky Rooksby

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If I was only reviewing page 42 of this book it would get 5 Stars. It’s a list of song chords for each key, apparently initially developed to allow you to work out the chords in a song you are listening to. It’s really useful for exploring other areas to take the harmony in a song. The table starts with the usual harmonic scale chords but adds in another half dozen that can work but you might not have though of.
My second favourite part of the book is a large section on song sequences. Rikky takes sequence e.g I-III-IV-V: (in Am this is Am-C-Dm-Em) and then gives lots of examples where it is used. For this sequence the list includes Elvis Costello “I want you”.
There are also good sections on song structures, key changing and melody. Most of the rest of the book is chord diagrams, a pity since most guitarists will already have those.

Best Bit  Page 42 Song Chords table

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The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles Dominic Pedler

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This is the best book I’ve read on song writing so far. It uses the Beatles’ songs as examples so that even if I didn’t know a song I could look it up on-line.
The book begins with very simple two and three chord songs, each chapter then adds another layer of interest and complexity. It’s a great book just to read through, and there are lots of points where I suddenly understood how a part of a song worked.
You don’t need to read music to use the book but it helps as a lot of the examples use notation, there is an Appendix, “A beginners guide to music theory” that gives you the basics.
I bought the hardback (almost 800 pages) and the Kindle version. The Kindle is much easier to handle as the paper book is quite chunky. The only downside of the kindle version is that you need good eyesight to read some of the musical examples.
If you buy just one book on song writing then this is the one to get.

Best bit: Appendix 2 “Beatles chords in practice”, some great example of modulation when moving between song sections, e.g. Verse to Chorus or Chorus to bridge.

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Shooting Stars

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Shooting stars are one of the most magical things to watch. It’s partly the uncertainty that makes it so absorbing. Lying in the darkness waiting for the next one to appear can take seconds or minutes. It’s a lovely way to spend an August evening with someone.
I recorded the song simply so you can imagine lying in the darkness being serenaded by an acoustic guitar as you watch the sky and wait for the fireworks to begin.