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Songwriters On Songwriting: Revised And Expanded | 
 enlarge | Author: Paul Zollo
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
Buy New: $10.55
You Save: $13.45 (56%)
New (38) Used (17) Collectible (1) from $8.75
Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 243856
Media: Paperback
Edition: 4
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 752
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 2
ISBN: 0306812657
Dewey Decimal Number: 782
EAN: 9780306812651
ASIN: 0306812657
Publication Date: June 18, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand New and Unused.
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Product Description
This expanded fourth edition of Songwriters on Songwriting includes ten new interviews--with Alanis Morissette, Lenny Kravitz, Lou Reed, and others. In these pages, sixty-two of the greatest songwriters of our time go straight to the source of the magic of songwriting by offering their thoughts, feelings, and opinions on their art. Representing almost every genre of popular music, from blues to pop to rock, here are the figures that have shaped American music as we know it.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 Very good book about the creative process August 6, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Paul Zollo interviews about 30 or so songwriters and gets them talking about their songwriting processes and how they go about it. Very interesting and shows you that everyone has a different way of doing it. Paul Simon, Tom Petty, Brian Wilson, Dylan, Lindsey Buckingham and many others are in there.
If you are a songwriter or interested in becoming a songwriter, you should buy this book.
If you aren't a songwriter and have no interest in becoming one, this is still an interesting look at the creative process and how different people approach it.
wow June 1, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Compilation of over a decade of interviews with songwriters talking about the way they write songs. Really helpful.
 very good book January 14, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
there is something incredible about Songwriting since it represents a special Gift that if done right lastes Era's,Decades&Perhaps centurys. it takes the right balance of structure, progression&the right feeland melody that captures words that will take you back to a time period&then will still move you in a future sense as well.this Book breaks down the many thought process's involved in crafting a song.
Very Interesting Compilation August 26, 2005
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
The title of this book might be slightly misleading. Don't expect this to be the great tome of deciphering the songwriting process, but it does contain a plethora of hugely influential artists talking about their craft. It covers the territory between Townes Van Zandt all the way to Madonna. The way it works is that Paul Zollo was an editor and journalist of sorts with different music magazines or something, and it is largely a compilation of interviews he has had, mainly around the early 1990s or late 1980s.
One of the highlights is the section with Paul Simon, which goes on for what must be near 30 pages. It is rather important to be familiar (more than just vaguely so) with most of the artists interviewed to really appreciate their comments, since most of them are regarding their own catalogues. And as mentioned above, the answers provided are mainly just cursory overviews with their own writing styles, nothing is concrete, just little stories about how they wrote this or that song. Bob Dylan is in his usual cryptic form as well, providing a funny and somewhat informative interview.
If you are a lover of music this book is for you. It does have some nice little suggestions too on the art of songwriting but most follow the mystical path of "grabbing what was out there" and decline to take credit for their own work. Altogether a great and interesting read though. And besides, like you would expect the greats to truly give away their secrets anyway, if there even are any.
fantastic inspiration January 13, 2005
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
the person who wrote that this book contains "dull rock stars" has obviously not read this book. the interviews are very comprehensive and go beyond the standard "so, how's the babes?" format of rock magazine interviews. zollo asks the artists about their inspirations, about the chord changes, about whether it should be done on piano, or guitar, about why that chord ended up being a 7th and so on, without being sycophantic like many interviewers. it's true, that if you are not a songwriter, you may not be too interested in this book. however, my brother who does not write music, but is a huge music fan, loved reading about his favourite recording artist's methods of madness. the leonard cohen interview stands out. one can almost sense the frustration he has with song writing....it seems almost love/hate. zollo describes cohen's living room and i can picture the master sitting cross legged on the floor, with a furrowed brow explaining why he re-writes and re-writes year after year each line of his songs before they see the light of day, if they ever do. get his book! you'll never tire of it.
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