Comments on: Songs about writing

Question: Songs about writing

NickDouglas — Mon, 16 May 2005 12:41:46 -0800

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.

By: filmgeek

filmgeek — Mon, 16 May 2005 12:46:18 -0800

Soulcoughing's Screenwriters' Blues

By: misteraitch

misteraitch — Mon, 16 May 2005 12:46:28 -0800

Every Day I Write the BookElvis Costello.

By: COBRA!

COBRA! — Mon, 16 May 2005 12:46:52 -0800

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").

By: saladin

saladin — Mon, 16 May 2005 12:48:33 -0800

Sloan's "Autobiography".

By: boost ventilator

boost ventilator — Mon, 16 May 2005 12:50:14 -0800

"Mr. Writer" - Stereophonics

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Mon, 16 May 2005 12:53:45 -0800

Dire Straits' "Lady Writer"

By: scratch

scratch — Mon, 16 May 2005 12:59:20 -0800

The Decemberists' "Song for Myla Goldberg."

By: occhiblu

occhiblu — Mon, 16 May 2005 13:00:56 -0800

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.

By: doctor_negative

doctor_negative — Mon, 16 May 2005 13:02:17 -0800

MC 900 Foot Jesus, "The Killer Inside Me" is based on Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me

By: davey_darling

davey_darling — Mon, 16 May 2005 13:03:41 -0800

"Bukowski" by Modest Mouse (site plays music)

By: eckeric

eckeric — Mon, 16 May 2005 13:33:35 -0800

Cemetry Gates by the Smiths

By: ITheCosmos

ITheCosmos — Mon, 16 May 2005 13:49:08 -0800

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...

By: davey_darling

davey_darling — Mon, 16 May 2005 13:54:27 -0800

"Tribute" by Tenacious D

By: jmcmurry

jmcmurry — Mon, 16 May 2005 14:09:30 -0800

Writing as metaphor: The Book of My Life by Sting.

By: DandyRandy

DandyRandy — Mon, 16 May 2005 14:19:44 -0800

Well, there's "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes, about writing a personals ad...

By: Razzle Bathbone

Razzle Bathbone — Mon, 16 May 2005 14:24:34 -0800

Ford Maddox Ford by the Ass Ponys.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Mon, 16 May 2005 14:28:39 -0800

10,000 Maniacs, "Hey Jack Kerouac"
Rockpile, "When I Write the Book"

By: xmutex

xmutex — Mon, 16 May 2005 14:39:32 -0800

Loosely, The Decemberists' The Engine Driver.

Curiously also one of the best songs ever.

By: calico

calico — Mon, 16 May 2005 14:45:29 -0800

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.

By: ludwig_van

ludwig_van — Mon, 16 May 2005 15:04:21 -0800

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

By: initapplette

initapplette — Mon, 16 May 2005 15:14:21 -0800

"Wreck of the Day," Anna Nalick

By: jodic

jodic — Mon, 16 May 2005 15:23:54 -0800

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)

By: cyphill

cyphill — Mon, 16 May 2005 15:24:29 -0800

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

By: cmonkey

cmonkey — Mon, 16 May 2005 15:25:40 -0800

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

And they throw books at people.

Top notch.

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 16 May 2005 16:53:33 -0800

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

By: naomi

naomi — Mon, 16 May 2005 16:57:17 -0800

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.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Mon, 16 May 2005 18:44:58 -0800

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

Romeo and Juliet, ~~Indigo Girls~~ Dire Straits

By: librarina

librarina — Mon, 16 May 2005 22:00:14 -0800

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.

By: obloquy

obloquy — Mon, 16 May 2005 22:45:21 -0800

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

By: Vervain

Vervain — Mon, 16 May 2005 23:59:20 -0800

Gotta be "Graham Greene," by John Cale.

By: TimothyMason

TimothyMason — Tue, 17 May 2005 04:10:30 -0800

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

Scritti Politi recorded a song called "Jacques Derrida".

By: kindall

kindall — Tue, 17 May 2005 07:06:20 -0800

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...

By: initapplette

initapplette — Tue, 17 May 2005 07:35:36 -0800

Oops, I meant "Breathe (2AM)" by Anna Nalick, from the album Wreck of the Day.

By: mrs.pants

mrs.pants — Tue, 17 May 2005 08:36:44 -0800

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)

By: salmacis

salmacis — Tue, 17 May 2005 08:38:22 -0800

Losing It by Rush

By: attercoppe

attercoppe — Tue, 17 May 2005 09:09:48 -0800

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"

By: NickDouglas

NickDouglas — Sun, 22 May 2005 15:22:58 -0800

Thanks so much, everyone!