Songs about writing

May 16, 2005 12:41 PM

I want songs about writing and writers. So far I have Cake's "Shadow Stabbing," Moxy Fruvous' "My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors," and the Beatles' "Paperback Writer."

I'm more interested in the songs about writing than those about writers. Google is no help -- results for "songs about writing" all include "songs about writing songs," and that's not what I want.

posted by NickDouglas to media & arts (37 comments total)

Soulcoughing's Screenwriters' Blues
posted by filmgeek at 12:46 PM on May 16, 2005

Every Day I Write the Book—Elvis Costello.
posted by misteraitch at 12:46 PM on May 16, 2005

Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" appears to be about a frustrated writer ("I'm sick of sittin' around here trying to write this book").
posted by COBRA! at 12:46 PM on May 16, 2005

Sloan's "Autobiography".
posted by saladin at 12:48 PM on May 16, 2005

"Mr. Writer" - Stereophonics
posted by boost ventilator at 12:50 PM on May 16, 2005

Dire Straits' "Lady Writer"
posted by nicwolff at 12:53 PM on May 16, 2005

The Decemberists' "Song for Myla Goldberg."
posted by scratch at 12:59 PM on May 16, 2005

I'll Be a Writer by Soltero.

I've also always thought their laundrydaydreams was about a writer, but re-reading the lyrics, it seems it's just about artistic fame in general.
posted by occhiblu at 1:00 PM on May 16, 2005

MC 900 Foot Jesus, "The Killer Inside Me" is based on Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me
posted by doctor_negative at 1:02 PM on May 16, 2005

"Bukowski" by Modest Mouse (site plays music)
posted by davey_darling at 1:03 PM on May 16, 2005

Cemetry Gates by the Smiths
posted by eckeric at 1:33 PM on May 16, 2005

A song about writing songs: "Number Three" by They Might Be Giants.

Tenuous:
"The Empty Page", Sonic Youth (as for songs about writers, their album Sister, especially the opening track, "Schizophrenia", is about Philip K. Dick)
"Stranger Than Fiction", Bad Religion (writing as metaphor, & some writer namedroppinh)

& likewise tenuosly, you could get into epistolic songs...
posted by ITheCosmos at 1:49 PM on May 16, 2005

"Tribute" by Tenacious D
posted by davey_darling at 1:54 PM on May 16, 2005

Writing as metaphor: The Book of My Life by Sting.
posted by jmcmurry at 2:09 PM on May 16, 2005

Well, there's "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes, about writing a personals ad...
posted by DandyRandy at 2:19 PM on May 16, 2005

Ford Maddox Ford by the Ass Ponys.
posted by Razzle Bathbone at 2:24 PM on May 16, 2005

10,000 Maniacs, "Hey Jack Kerouac"
Rockpile, "When I Write the Book"
posted by kirkaracha at 2:28 PM on May 16, 2005

Loosely, The Decemberists' The Engine Driver.

Curiously also one of the best songs ever.
posted by xmutex at 2:39 PM on May 16, 2005

About writing (in that it's about not writing): "There She Goes, My Beautiful World" by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, a hymn to writer's block.

Includes the line "And Philip Larkin, he stuck it out in a Library in Hull..." so I don't see how you can improve on that.
posted by calico at 2:45 PM on May 16, 2005

The Decemberists

xmutex, you beat me to it. I really wanted to use the line "I'll see your Myla Goldberg and raise you one Engine Driver."

I wrote a song about writing: Crestfallen
posted by ludwig_van at 3:04 PM on May 16, 2005

"Wreck of the Day," Anna Nalick
posted by initapplette at 3:14 PM on May 16, 2005

Oh! I have this playlist on my iPod, though my requirements might be a bit looser. Those not mentioned thus far:
A Perfect Sonnet, Bright Eyes
I Type for Miles, Jets to Brazil
Walt Whitman's Niece, Billy Bragg/Wilco (off Mermaid Avenue)
Romeo and Juliet, Indigo Girls
Sylvia Plath, Ryan Adams,
Crackle and Drag, Paul Westerberg
Don't Stand so Close to Me, The Police
Bookmark, Paul Westerberg
Books about UFOs, Husker Du
Rollerskate Skinny, Olds 97's (a Salinger reference)
posted by jodic at 3:23 PM on May 16, 2005

I was going to suggest both the Decemberists songs but since I got beaten to it, I'm just going to stress how good they are.

stress
posted by cyphill at 3:24 PM on May 16, 2005

The world's greatest metal band, Bloodhag, only writes songs about writers.

And they throw books at people.

Top notch.
posted by cmonkey at 3:25 PM on May 16, 2005

Cake: Shadow Stabbing; Open Book

And if you're looking for an ironic coda to the whole thing, there's always Backstreet Boys: u wrote the book on love
posted by cortex at 4:53 PM on May 16, 2005

Related songs from my iTunes library:

"Letter to the President" - Tupac & Outlawz
"Last Love Letter" - Alison Krauss
"I'd Write a Letter" - Al Green
"Tear Stained Letter" - Johnny Cash
"The Letter" - PJ Harvey
"E-Bow the Letter" - REM
"Wrapped Up in Books" - Belle & Sebastian
"The Book of Right-On" - Joanna Newsom
"I Write the Book" - Patty Griffin
"Writer's Block" - Cake

Ooh, and "The Book I'm Not Reading" by Patty Larkin.
posted by naomi at 4:57 PM on May 16, 2005

The Monotones, "The Book of Love"
The Go-Betweens, "The House that Jack Kerouac Built"

Romeo and Juliet, Indigo Girls Dire Straits
posted by kirkaracha at 6:44 PM on May 16, 2005

The Old 97s' Rhett Miller also has a song about Kafka & Richard Wagner writing letters to their mistresses, "Our Love." Lyrics are here, as are lyrics for "World Inside The World," in which he mentions DeLillo (I assume that means Don).
He also has a super geeky one called "Four-Eyed Girl" that I love.

Also yes the Decemberists songs mentioned are very good. Totally unlike the rest of their songs, of course.
posted by librarina at 10:00 PM on May 16, 2005

X: Adult Books
Liars: Read the Book That Wrote Itself
Box Tops: The Letter
REM: Letter Never Sent
Shuggie Otis: Strawberry Letter 23
Neko Case: Ghost Writing
Hoodoo Gurus: Poison Pen
Fastbacks: Which Has Not Been Written
posted by obloquy at 10:45 PM on May 16, 2005

Gotta be "Graham Greene," by John Cale.
posted by Vervain at 11:59 PM on May 16, 2005

Stephin Merrit of Magnetic Fields has a whole opera on Hans Christian Andersen

Scritti Politi recorded a song called "Jacques Derrida".
posted by TimothyMason at 4:10 AM on May 17, 2005

Piano Magic has a whole record called "Writers Without Homes," perhaps something from that... although looking at the titles it doesn't look like any of the songs are actually about writing or writers.

In the same vein, anything by The Books...
posted by kindall at 7:06 AM on May 17, 2005

Oops, I meant "Breathe (2AM)" by Anna Nalick, from the album Wreck of the Day.
posted by initapplette at 7:35 AM on May 17, 2005

Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty - The Letter
Elvis - Return to Sender
Ketty Lester - Love Letters
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Love Letter
Sufjan Stevens - The Transfiguration (loosely about writing, sort of, damn good song tho)
Timesbold - ee cummings (lyrics are from his poems)
Andrew Bird - First Song (using lyrics from a Galway Kinnell poem)
posted by mrs.pants at 8:36 AM on May 17, 2005

Losing It by Rush
posted by salmacis at 8:38 AM on May 17, 2005

To Sir, With Love

According to the intarweblog:

Lyrics by Don Black, music by Marc London
Title song from the film starring Sidney Poitier and Lulu
Originally recorded by Lulu in 1967
Recorded by Vonda Shepard and Al Green on "Heart and Soul: New Songs from Ally McBeal"
posted by attercoppe at 9:09 AM on May 17, 2005

Thanks so much, everyone!
posted by NickDouglas at 3:22 PM on May 22, 2005