Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting - Hardcover

Webb, Jimmy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786861312 ISBN 13: 9780786861316

Publisher: Hyperion, 1998

Synopsis

Jimmy Webb has given the American songbook more hits, in more styles, than any other songwriter of his generation. He is also the only artist to ever receive Grammy Awards for music, lyrics, and orchestration. The wunderkind of pop music, Webb became the hottest songwriter around when, starting at age twenty-one, he wrote a string of hits recorded by Glen Campbell ("By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Galveston"), The 5th Dimension ("Up, Up and Away"), and Richard Harris ("MacArthur Park"). The list of artists who have performed or recorded his songs over the years is a spectacular and varied one: Linda Ronstadt, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Cash, Carly Simon, Bob Dylan, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mathis, Roberta Flack, Ray Charles, Tony Bennett, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Liza Minelli, and R.E.M. In addition to his prolific work with individuals, Webb has also made lasting musical contributions to the worlds of motion pictures, television, and theater. Now, Jimmy Webb uses the grace and eloquence that have characterized his lyrics to write Tunesmith, the ultimate book for aspiring songwriters -- the first ever with such an insider's knowledge and experience. With a combination of anecdotes, meditations, humor, and advice, Webb breaks down the entire process of creating a song from beginning to end, including coping with writer's block, song construction, rhyme schemes, chord progression, and the art of collaboration. He then goes beyond the techniques of song crafting and the realms of creativity to shed light on the machinations of marketing yourself, selling a song, and coping with big business, be it in Hollywood, Nashville, or on Broadway. Webb also provides a glimpse into the inner circle of the professional music world. From the legendary American songwriter Time magazine called “our best revealer of the blind spots of the heart", Tunesmith is the new bible of songwriting.

About this title

About the Author:

A minister's son from Eld City, Oklahoma, Jimmy Webb has been writing songs for over twenty-five years. The only artist to receive Grammy Awards for music, lyrics, and orchestration, he is a member of the National Academy of Popular Music Songwriters' Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters' Hall of Fame. According to BMI, his song "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" is the third most-performed song in the last fifty years, with "Up, Up and Away" on the same list in the Top Thirty. Jimmy Webb lives in New York State. For more information, visit Jimmy Webb's official website: www.jimmywebb.com.

From Publishers Weekly:

The only artist to receive Grammy Awards for music, lyrics and orchestration, Webb has written many of the most memorable songs performed by the Fifth Dimension ("Up, Up and Away"), Donna Summer ("MacArthur Park") and Amy Grant ("If These Walls Could Speak"), among others. Here he seeks to impart the tools of the trade to songwriters "who may be attempting the delicate transition from amateur to professional." Covering technical matters from basic chord theory and rhyme schemes to the protocol of pitching songs, Webb draws on a trove of personal anecdotes from a career spanning more than two decades. In addition to salient comments on today's music scene, Webb cites numerous examples from the past and includes sections on writing for the stage and film. Of greatest value, perhaps, are the exercises suggested for developing song ideas, which will help anyone stumbling through a period of writer's block. While Webb's fans will revel in the behind-the-scenes details of his career and a candid view of his artistic process, others may wish that the asides, finger pointing (at arrogant co-writers) and Webb's own pet peeves (e.g., no-talent spouses who insist on songwriting credits on their partner's records) had been left out. And Webb's nuts-and-bolts approach somehow undercuts every songwriter's need for that spark of absolute inspiration. For those interested in the latter, Songwriters on Songwriting: The Expanded Version (Da Capo, 1997), a collection of interviews between editor Paul Zollo and a variety of songwriters, including Webb, is the ticket.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hyperion
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0786861312
• ISBN 13: 9780786861316
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 448