Song Man: A Melodic Adventure, or, My Single-Minded Approach to Songwriting

by Will Hodgkinson

Song Man is the endearing sequel to Will Hodgkinson's Guitar Man, wherein our hero, having learned to play guitar (badly) in six months, endeavors to unlock the process of songwriting and ultimately record a single. Featuring pithy, humorous, and illuminating one-on-one songwriting lessons with Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Ray Davies of the Kinks, Andy Partridge of XTC, Arthur Lee of Love, Chan Marshall of Cat Power, Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, and a host of others who run the gamut from unknown muses to cult icons to superstars-including Hodgkinson's lovable crew of ne'er-do-wells first introduced in Guitar Man -- Song Man is at once an investigation into the most ephemeral of arts and a highly readable journey of discovery.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

306 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Hodgkinson is a journalist and author from London. He has written for The Guardian,The Independent and Vogue.Hodgkinson presents the Sky Arts TV show Songbook, in which he interviews contemporary songwriters.

Written in 2014, The House Is Full Of Yogis is his memoir.

Abridged from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a charming book on a thirty-something British man's attempt to write songs. Especially when he doesn't have any obvious talents in doing so. So what he has done is made a goal for himself to write some songs and record them.

And with that in mind he interviews Andrew Loog Oldham, Lawrence (from Felt), Andrew Webber, Ray Davies, Richard Hawley, Lamont Dozier, Jake Holmes, Chan Marshall (Cat Power), Keith Richards, Chip Taylor, among others about the nature, the craft and the art of songwriting. And on top of that he interviews Patti Boyd of Layla and George Harrison fame on the subject matter of being a muse.

But it is not just the subject matter of the book that makes this a charmer, but Will Hodgkinson's personality comes through the written page, and you are rooting for this guy to make good with respect to making music. He also has great taste when it comes to songwriters. It's nice that he chit chats with Webber on how to communicate in a song, and then noticing that underground iconic cult figure Lawrence is not that far off from Webber's aesthetic (as well as being a lot poorer, he also lived a few blocks away from the Titan of the Music stage.)

An incredible engaging narrative and I think this book belongs to the rock n' roll book classic category.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming first person account of a journo learning to write songs, interspersed with marginally enlightening interviews with Cat Power, Andy Partridge, Ray Davies, Keith Richards, and others. The premise is a little too cutesy to get too deeply into the craft. While it's a pleasant read, I think I learned more about songwriting from Paul Williams' deeply dorky books about Dylan.

[John L · Rating 5 out of 5]

As much as I love music and songwriting, I find most writing about it a pretty tedious exercise in celebrity worship, lists of biographical facts, and treacly nostalgia. The author sidesteps this pitfall by focusing on a much more interesting topic: The actual song craft. And by detailing his own journey, he provides a narrative arc that keeps us grounded in the present and interested in what comes next.

[DAVE STAINER · Rating 5 out of 5]

Follow up to Guitar Man. Will Hodgkinson, having learned to play the guitar attempts to write and record a single

[Shaun Belcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have just finished this book by Will Hogkinson. A companion to his first tome 'Guitar Man' it pretty much what it says on the label. A series of encounters with various songwriters underpinning his first and possibly last recorded work being recorded at Liam Watson's Toe Rag studios and then released as a 7" single.

A charming book. As my drunken Rockabilly band also recorded at Liam's Toe Rag as did a unheard of garage band called The White Stripes everything described rings true. I found the encounters with Andy Partridge, Chip Taylor and Richard Hawley the most engrossing and could possibly have done with more from their interviews.

Overall a worthwhile read if interested in songwriters and the un-pleasantries of trying to form and keep together a band. The final encounter with Shirley Collins and a brief reprise of Bert Jansch leads directly nicely onto his next book ' The Ballad of Britain' which next on my reading list.

Most interestingly the musicians comments were quite pertinent to my writers block with poetry/prose. I found hawley most entertaining with his comments where he quotes Hendrix..'learn everything, forget everything, play'...and how other people's music 'knocked him off his radar'.....

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned that most song writers don't want to think too much about how they create a song or where it comes for fear they may lose the muse.

Format is author's memoir about trying to write and record his own pop song so he talks to all these great song writers. Interesting sections on certain song writers. Andy Partridge from XTC sticks in my head for fact that he is a professional songwriter - it is what he does and he doesn't really do anything else. Author's voice and personal voyage gets a bit boring after awhile but it's worth sticking around for the discussions with the professionals.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. The sequel to Guitar Man finds our hero now learning to write songs. Both song and guitar man have inspired me beyond words to continue my own pursuit of playing guitar and making some sort of recording. Always funny and interesting it also contains some great pearls of wisdom from some of todays most prolific song writers. An entertaining read for anyone whether a musician or not. It's written as a memoir with the final goal being to record the songs he has written with a band. A spiritual quest if you will.

[Michael Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having learned to play the guitar in six months, badly, the author sets out to learn about writing a decent song and put out an album containing one or two of them. Following the format of his first book, he interviews a lot of established songwriters, some more famous than others, and companionably describes his journey to get his own songs recorded. All in all, I enjoyed this book as much as Guitar Man, and frankly would read about him learning drums, bass, keyboard, studio mixing, etc, for at least a few more volumes before tiring of this readable formula.

[Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are interested in the process of songwriting (a subject difficult to explain even by the "experts") you will enjoy the author's journey as an amatuer musician to write and record a song of his own devising. I especially enjoyed the interviews with some great songwriters I am familiar with, Ray Davies, Gruff Ryhs, Keith Richards, Andy Partridge, Arthur Lee & Chan Marshall. I do hope that Lawrence is able to get his act together someday...

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe I'm delusional, but Hodgkinson is coming off as somewhat sexist to me. Any woman in the book is a "muse" or a singer; all the songwriters he talks to are male. WTF? I do like when one of them can't stop deriding his hilariously bad first song, though.

(Later) I quit. This book is leaving on the next train to Half Price Books.

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure I gained any insight on songwriting or the songwriting processes of the musicians interviewed, but a very wry and entertaining book.
And Will has great taste in music heroes.
And I find myself searching for a copy of "Mystery Fox"!

[Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it because it's ostensibly about how to write a song. Well, you won't learn how to write a song by reading this book. But you will be thoroughly entertained by the author's journey. Laughed out loud a lot and loved this book.

[Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sincere but facile attempt to figure out how rock 'n' roll songs work (though not necessarily what they are).

[Ian Fiddes · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10. This is well worth a look. Fascinating insights from the various musicians Hodgkinson meets along the way.

[•*•.suprasixxcinco.•*• · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea, but I did enjoy the facts about other bands. I also liked learning the process to song writing. I just found the book to be boring, with some good stuff mixed in.

[Kiof · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite good- with an impressive cast of interviews

[Tilden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has lots of lovely laugh-out-loud sentences.

[Marcroman · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Jim Lemanowicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

​Reading through this book - a travelogue of a rank amateur interested in simply writing songs who somehow casually gets to visit with some of the most amazing cult musicians of our time - it's hard to believe that it's actually real...and I gotta say it doesn't matter anyway...a touch of Bangs and with the deaths of both Arthur Lee and Syd Barrett incorporated into the final garage band in a real studio experience...there is no other book like this...

Anyone interested in making music or anyone interested in people who make music should read this...indeed the intrusion of death should shed a little light on what art or music partially is about - a way to be immortal...