Jeff Tweedy's book World Within a Song

Jeff Tweedy: World Within a Song

Here’s the description on Amazon of this book by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, full title World Within a Song: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music: “An exciting and heartening mix of memories, music, and inspiration from Wilco front man and New York Times bestselling author Jeff Tweedy, sharing fifty songs that changed his life, the real-life experiences behind each one, as well as what he’s learned about how music and life intertwine and enhance each other.” “What makes us fall in love with a song? What makes us want to write our own songs? Do songs help? Do songs help us live better lives? And do the lives we live help us write better songs?” I’ve provided the list here of the 50 songs Tweedy writes about. They are not ranked or listed in chronological order. They are simply listed in the order in which they appear in the book. It should also be noted that these are not necessarily songs Tweedy loves. For example, he despites “I Will Always Love You” and “Wanted Dead or Alive.” Click here to see other lists from critics and individuals and here to see other lists from publications and/or organizations. Spotify Playlist: You can listen to all these songs via the Spotify playlist World Within a Song. Deep Purple “Smoke on the Water” (1973) Leo Sayer “Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)” (1974) Bachman-Turner Overdrive “Takin’ Care of Business” (1974) Bob Dylan “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” (1963) Paul McCartney & Wings “Mull of Kintyre” (1977) Aphrodite’s Child “Loud, Loud, Loud” (1972) Joni Mitchell “Both Sides Now” (1968) Lene Lovich “Lucky Number” (1978) Patti Smith “Gloria (In Excelsis Deo)” (1976) Slovenly “As if It Always Happens” (1987) Over the Rainbow” (1939) The Clash “Death or Glory” (1979) The Knack “My Sharona” (1979) Randy Newman “In Germany Before the War” (1977) Abba “Dancing Queen” (1976) Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five “The Message” (1982) Volcano Suns “Balancing Act” (1985) Suicide “Frankie Tearrdrop” (1977) 10cc “I’m Not in Love” (1975) The Rolling Stones “Connection” (1967) The Undertones “Forever Paradise” (1981) Uncle Tupelo “Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down” (1975) The Replacements “God Damn Job” The Allman Brothers Band “Ramblin’ Man” (1973) The Minutemen “History Lesson Part 2” (1984) Television “Little Johnny Jewel” (1975) John Cage “4:33” (1952) Michelle Shocked “Anchorage” (1988) Otis Redding “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” (1968) Jimmie Davis “You Are My Sunshine” (1940) Dolly Parton “I Will Always Love You” (1974) Bon Jovi “Wanted Dead or Alive” (1986) Souled American “Before Tonight” (1996) Junior Walker & the All Stars “Shotgun” (1965) The Band “The Weight” (1968) The Shirelles “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (1960) Lynyrd Skynrd “Free Bird” (1973) Francis Scott Key (words), John Stafford Smith (music) “The Star-Spangled Banner” (1814) R.E.M. “Radio Free Europe” (1981) Ramones “I’m Against It” (1978) Rosalía “Bizcochito” (2022) The Beatles (no particular song noted) Arthur Russell “Close My Eyes” (2008) Patty S. Hill & Mildred J. Hill (songwriters) “Happy Birthday to You” (1893) Diane Izzo “Love Like a Wire” (2014?) Billie Eilish “I Love You” (2019) Velvet Underground “Who Loves the Sun” (1970) Herman’s Hermits “I’m into Something Good” (1964) Duke Ellington “I’m Beginning to See the Light” (1944) The Staple Singers “I’ll Take You There” (1972) Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: lists from critics and individuals Dave’s Music Database: lists from publications and/or organizations Jeff Tweedy (11/7/2023). World Within a Song. Dutton/Penguin Radom House. First posted 1/22/2024.

Concert: Wilco

image from axs.com

Venue: Midland Theater in Kansas City, MO

Opening Act: Creamer

I didn’t know a lot about Wilco, other than a handful of songs and their alt-country roots. I was surprised that the performance was much more electric and genre-bending than I expected. It definitely will get me exploring their catalog more.

Set 1:

1. Ashes of American Flags
2. If I Ever Was a Child
3. Cry All Day
4. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
5. Art of Almost
6. Pickled Ginger
7. Side with the Seeds
8. Passenger Side
9. Someone to Lose
10. Via Chicago
11. Bull Black Nova
12. Reservations
13. Impossible Germany
14. Whole Love
15. California Stars
16. Christ for President
17. Heavy Metal Drummer
18. I’m the Man Who Loves You
19. Casino Queen
20. Hummingbird

Encore:

21. Random Name Generator
22. Jesus Etc.
23. Locator
24. Spiders (Kidsmoke)

Encore 2:

25. Monday
26. Outtaside (Outta Mind)

Wilco “Jesus, Etc.” released

Jesus, Etc. Wilco

Writer(s): Jeff Tweedy, Jay Bennett (see lyrics here) Released: April 23, 2002 First Charted: -- Peak: 11 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 9.16 video, 127.90 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: When singer Jay Farrar left the alternative rock group Uncle Tupelo, the remaining members formed Wilco in Chicago in 1994. The band’s lineup changed frequently over their first decade with only singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt being constants. On the band’s fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the lineup also included multi-instrumentalists Jay Bennett and Leroy Bach as well as drummer Glenn Kotche. The album, initially scheduled for released on September 11, 2001, was pushed back in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. However, the album’s song “Jesus, Etc.” eerily sounded like it could have been written about the horrific events with lines like “Tall buildings shake, voices escape” and “Skyscrapers are scraping together.” Tweedy acknowledged that the album had “a lot of eerie echoes of 9/11” WK saying it focused a lot on “being introspective about America. I understood how people could hear that in it. I’m obviously very, very honored if anybody found any kind of consolation in that record.” WK “Jesus, Etc.” “is often hailed as one of the best…from the band’s entire discography.” WK “The production is about as fine as the band would ever achieve; a keyboard and bass line bounce over a snare drum; the string section melts over Tweedy’s lost landscapes.” CO Stereogum.com’s Chris Deville called it “a tender midtempo glide that strikes some impossible balance between the Eagles and Steve Reich. It may be the finest song of Tweedy’s lifetime, and it continues to turn my orbit around to this day.” WK The song was one of the last recorded for the album. Tweedy fired Bennett and drummer Ken Coomer during the making of the album and this was one of the only things new drummer Glenn Kotche played on. Tweedy said, “It's one of the first songs of the new lineup and it came about very quickly. And then it got a really inspired performance.” SF He explained that the song also featured “the first string arrangement that I've done untutored or without someone else charting stuff out and helping.” SF Jay Bennett said the original title was intended to be “Jesus Don’t Cry” but he got lazy, writing “Jesus, Etc.” and the name stuck. WK Resources: CS ColoradoSound.org “The Song That Changed My Life” SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 7/6/2025.

 

Wilco released Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Wilco

Released: September 18, 2001 Charted: May 4, 2002 Peak: 13 US, 40 UK, 43 AU Sales (in millions): 0.67 US Genre: alternative country rock

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Kamera Radio Cure War on War (5/21/02, --) Jesus, Etc. Ashes of American Flags Heavy Metal Drummer I’m the Man Who Loves You Pot Kettle Black Poor Places Reservations Total Running Time: 51:51 The Players: Jeff Tweedy (vocals, guitar) John Stirratt (bass) Leroy Bach (keyboards, guitar, bass, saxophone) Glenn Kotche (drums) Jay Bennett (mixing, multiple instruments)

Rating: 4.047 out of 5.00 (average of 28 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Few bands can call themselves contemporaries of both the heartbreakingly earnest self-destruction of Whiskeytown and the alienating experimentation of Radiohead’s post-millennial releases, but on the painstaking Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco seem to have done just that. In early 2001, the Chicago-area band focused on recording their fourth album, which ultimately led to the departure of guitarist Jay Bennett and tensions with their record label.” AMG Wilco wouldn’t change the album and Reprise Records dropped them. Welco bought the studio tapes for $50,000, left the label, AMG and posted the album for free on the internet. RS’20 “Two-hundred-thousand downloads later, Nonesuch Records (owned by the same company as Reprise) released the album, and it became critical and commercial gold.” RS’20 “The turmoil surrounding the recording and distribution of the album in no way diminishes the sheer quality of the genre-spanning pop songs written by frontman Jeff Tweedy and his bandmates. After throwing off the limiting shackles of the alt-country tag that they had been saddled with through their 1996 double album Being There, Wilco experimented heavily with the elaborate constructs surrounding their simple melodies on Summerteeth. The long-anticipated Yankee Hotel Foxtrot continues their genre-jumping and worthwhile experimentation.” AMG “Its pretty acoustic-guitar melodies battled noise, skidded into dissonance, or got chopped off abruptly. Its lyrics pitted hope against doubt, with all bets off.” RS’20 “The sprawling, nonsensical I Am Trying to Break Your Heart is as charmingly bleak as anything Tweedy has written to date, while the positively joyous Heavy Metal Drummer jangles through bright choruses and summery reminiscences. Similarly, Kamera dispels the opening track’s gray with a warm acoustic guitar and mixer/multi-instrumentalist/ ‘fifth Beatle’ Jim O’Rourke’s unusual production.” AMG “The true high points of the album are when the songwriting is at its most introspective, as it is during the heartwrenching Ashes of American Flags, which takes on an eerie poignancy in the wake of the attacks at the World Trade Center. ‘All my lies are always wishes,’ Tweedy sings, ‘I know I would die if I could come back new.’” AMG “As is the case with many great artists, the evolution of the band can push the music into places that many listeners (and record companies for that matter) may not be comfortable with, but, in the case of Wilco, their growth has steadily led them into more progressive territory. While their songs still maintain the loose intimacy that was apparent on their debut A.M., the music has matured to reveal a complexity that is rare in pop music, yet showcased perfectly on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Wilco AMG All Music Guide review by Zac Johnson RS’20 Rolling Stone (9/22/2020). “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time” WK Wikipedia First posted 3/29/2008; last updated 4/23/2022.