What do you think?
Rate this book
The Work: The Lyrics of Scott Hutchison
The Work is a book of lyrics and illustrations by the late Scott Hutchison, lyricist, vocalist and songwriter of Frightened Rabbit. This limited hardback edition presents the band’s complete lyrics (including B-sides and rarities) with handwritten excerpts by Scott, alongside his illustrations, many of which have never been seen before. The book is meant both as a celebration of and tribute to Scott’s unbridled creativity. It aims to fulfil his wishes by being the book that he wanted to create and had spoken of creating before his death.
Readers are advised that The Work includes content about topics that some may find upsetting, including references to suicide.
“Seeing this book come to life has been something of a bittersweet experience. Reading the lyrics without music really brings home the stark reality of what Scott was going through and at the same time highlights the talent of someone who I consider to be one of the best songwriters in the world. This would’ve been a different release had Scott been involved but we all felt it was important that his lyrics be celebrated and given the spotlight they deserve. As Scott has said, these words were always meant to be accompanied by music, but the impact of digesting them without is no less great. Pick up this book of words, hold it, share it and immerse yourself in the world Scott created by opening not only his heart but his whole soul to the world."
Grant Hutchison (Scott’s brother and drummer of Frightened Rabbit)
Readers are advised that The Work includes content about topics that some may find upsetting, including references to suicide.
“Seeing this book come to life has been something of a bittersweet experience. Reading the lyrics without music really brings home the stark reality of what Scott was going through and at the same time highlights the talent of someone who I consider to be one of the best songwriters in the world. This would’ve been a different release had Scott been involved but we all felt it was important that his lyrics be celebrated and given the spotlight they deserve. As Scott has said, these words were always meant to be accompanied by music, but the impact of digesting them without is no less great. Pick up this book of words, hold it, share it and immerse yourself in the world Scott created by opening not only his heart but his whole soul to the world."
Grant Hutchison (Scott’s brother and drummer of Frightened Rabbit)
- GenresMusicPoetryArtNonfiction
160 pages, Hardcover
Published November 1, 2021
9 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
May 16, 2022
5 stars is not nearly enough. Scott Hutchison was, and still is, my favorite artist, bar none. He expressed something with his music, lyrics, and artwork that even now strikes right to the core of me. This book beautifully captures what made his work so special: the humor, the pathos, the ability to boil down a complicated feeling into a simple, perfect phrase. To some extent, these are the hallmarks of all great lyricists. But Scott's lyrics were always a cut above even that. Maybe if I had his skill, I could express the way that his words make me feel. But as it is, I'll just say that I can't remember the last time a book made my cry. This one did.
December 30, 2021
A reminder how incredibly talented Scott Hutchison was at writing music. Seeing the words in typewriter font will bring both tears of sadness and joy as you make your way through this special book. A great keepsake for any Frightened Rabbit fan.
Read
April 8, 2023Hard to rate, but I’ve always said he is one of the best lyricists I have come across and this book showcases that wonderfully.
January 8, 2022
A beautiful collation of Scott Hutchison's complete Frightened Rabbit lyrics, handwritten scraps and assorted doodles. As a FR fanatic, I adore this. Would recommend to anyone who is interested in the lyrical side of music.
Would love to see an extended edition with his Owl John and Mastersystem lyrics too, but this is already wonderful. Scott had such a tremendous and devastating way with words.
Would love to see an extended edition with his Owl John and Mastersystem lyrics too, but this is already wonderful. Scott had such a tremendous and devastating way with words.
January 1, 2023
Don’t have much to say about this other than Scott’s lyrics have done more for me than anything else possibly can. He had this unique ability to tap into the very ugly, isolating, distressing aspects of human nature but also the opposite. Scott’s lyricism was that of unadulterated, unbridled candor with fleeting hope that can nourish a listener and allow them to hold on to it. I hope that, wherever he is, he can rejoice in what his artistic output and words allowed others to feel.
April 29, 2023
Scott's lyrics have helped me through many scenarios in my life: the ups, the downs, the nasty breakups, falling into love, the bright moments and even the dark ones.
While many of his lyrics provided insight into a tortured mind, you can't help but celebrate that even in the darkest moments there was a glimmer of hope.
Scott's untimely death, even though I've never met the guy, certainly left an impact and proved that even after we're gone, we still leave tiny changes to the earth. This collection of lyrics does exactly that.
While many of his lyrics provided insight into a tortured mind, you can't help but celebrate that even in the darkest moments there was a glimmer of hope.
Scott's untimely death, even though I've never met the guy, certainly left an impact and proved that even after we're gone, we still leave tiny changes to the earth. This collection of lyrics does exactly that.
February 23, 2022
This will be a treasured keepsake for all Frightened Rabbit fans. Wish there were more illustrations but I will take what I can get. Interesting to compare where lyrics started and ended in cases where Scott's sketches are available. Such a talent. His voice kept getting stronger. His showmanship without parallel. Their live shows were hilarious. I miss him all the time. Depression is a real bastard...
March 6, 2023
It's sad knowing the ending of this book will always ultimately be Scott's untimely death, but the book/lyrics/drawings help bring to life the style of Frightened Rabbit in a manner that I haven't experienced before.
December 28, 2021
- I love the look and texture of the cover. The artwork and colours make it a great display piece for your shelf.
- All lyrics from Frightened Rabbit are presented simply in an easy-to-read typewriter font with no annotations. (Apart from 'Snake' which will make you laugh out loud!)
- Some of the scans of Scott's handwriting and drawings aren't very clear so you can't see the tiny details or make out what some of the draft lyrics say.
- Promos for The Work promised "never before seen" illustrations but there are only a few and the best ones have already been seen in previews. This was disappointing. I hope the band eventually releases a book dedicated to Hutchison's drawings with better quality scans because he was a talented artist.
All in all I would highly recommend this book to FR fans and music lovers with an interest in lyrics.
PS The bookmark isn't bright pink! How could they miss that opportunity?!
- All lyrics from Frightened Rabbit are presented simply in an easy-to-read typewriter font with no annotations. (Apart from 'Snake' which will make you laugh out loud!)
- Some of the scans of Scott's handwriting and drawings aren't very clear so you can't see the tiny details or make out what some of the draft lyrics say.
- Promos for The Work promised "never before seen" illustrations but there are only a few and the best ones have already been seen in previews. This was disappointing. I hope the band eventually releases a book dedicated to Hutchison's drawings with better quality scans because he was a talented artist.
All in all I would highly recommend this book to FR fans and music lovers with an interest in lyrics.
PS The bookmark isn't bright pink! How could they miss that opportunity?!
December 16, 2022
A beautiful tribute to an amazing poet, lyricist, and artist lost too soon. I fell in love with this group from the first listen. It’s such a treasure to have Scott Hutchinson’s words compiled into one collection. He is greatly missed.
December 11, 2022
I took a walk with all my brightest thoughts
But the weather soon turned and they all ran off
– The Oil Slick
But the weather soon turned and they all ran off
– The Oil Slick
May 26, 2025
Why did no one actually listen to him
January 20, 2022
In an epigraph to The Work, Scott Hutchison says that he’s often been asked whether he writes stories or poems. The answer was no: he just wrote song lyrics. “The structure of music really appeals to my brain,” he explained. “The process of finishing songs and putting them into a neat little space isn’t cathartic, it’s more like, ‘OK, I understand that now.’”
While those were the feelings of the man who wrote and sang Frightened Rabbit’s lyrics, untold numbers of fans have had experiences with the Scottish band’s songs that could certainly be called cathartic. Songs like “I Feel Better” (from The Midnight Organ Fight, 2008) are seismic in their impact, with the band’s music surging behind Hutchison’s poignantly pained delivery.
“There was a line in the sand,” Hutchison’s bandmates write in a foreword to The Work. “The music is the band; the words, Scott.” That makes The Work, a complete collection of Frightened Rabbit’s lyrics, a very personal tribute to an artist who was lost too soon.
I reviewed The Work for The Current.
While those were the feelings of the man who wrote and sang Frightened Rabbit’s lyrics, untold numbers of fans have had experiences with the Scottish band’s songs that could certainly be called cathartic. Songs like “I Feel Better” (from The Midnight Organ Fight, 2008) are seismic in their impact, with the band’s music surging behind Hutchison’s poignantly pained delivery.
“There was a line in the sand,” Hutchison’s bandmates write in a foreword to The Work. “The music is the band; the words, Scott.” That makes The Work, a complete collection of Frightened Rabbit’s lyrics, a very personal tribute to an artist who was lost too soon.
I reviewed The Work for The Current.
February 15, 2022
This is a must have/must read for any FRabbit fan. As a collection it’s a fitting reminder just how incredibly talented Scott was, lyrically and artistically. Though his death was tragic, he’s left behind an incredible body of work and he certainly made tiny changes to earth during his life. A wonderful read.
September 14, 2022
One of the best lyricists of a generation and one of my absolute favorite musicians, Scott’s music literally speaks to heart, soul, life, love, anguish, the humanity in all of us. More a. Olle Tino of poetry than songs. And one of the books I am most proud to own.
January 9, 2023
Great collection of witty, morbid and self-deprecating lyrics from my favourite modern songwriter, I couldn’t not read it. I’ve been flicking through it for ages but finally sat down and listened to it along with the whole discography, and it was totally worth it.
February 17, 2022
A beautiful memento for any FR fan.
December 27, 2022
Goddammit. You were a wave across a bay never breaking out to the sea.. ever falling, never landing. Forever grateful for the music he left for the rest of us.
December 16, 2023
How could I rate this anything less. My favorite band. I put my headphones in and read each line as I listened from top to bottom. I was surprised to see a few moments in the lyrics where they say something slightly different than what I had always heard, or when looking at the scribbled first drafts included here sometimes there were other line possibilities or titles of songs, or little bits that you could make out how he originally worded it then honed and made adjustments to fit the song. Absolute must read for any Frightened Rabbit fan.
May 10, 2023
Decided to read through this on the day The Work stopped working 5 years ago. It's impossible for me to read them without hearing them sung in my various memories, and how I miss the person who wrote them. Scott's words hooked me immediately since I first heard them in 2008, in the midst of a breakup and loss of health, and continued to soundtrack my life until his death. I wish he was still continuing to do so.
So my main complaint with The Work is that it's just too short, stopped too abruptly.
So my main complaint with The Work is that it's just too short, stopped too abruptly.
December 22, 2021
Beautifully simple collection of what Scott did best, write haunting lyrics.
December 25, 2024
Adore a lot of these lyrics, although the presentation in this book is a bit threadbare. 4.5 for me.
April 12, 2025
Not much I can say about this besides: Make tiny changes on Earth.
July 29, 2024
A treasure, it reads like a collection of poems (because Scott’s music *is* poetry). I love the inclusion of first-draft notes & perfectly weird sketches. The foreword written by members of FR is charming and sad, beautiful, and I think does Scott’s memory & work a huge amount of justice.
March 25, 2024
The Work, by the late, great artist/musician/singer-songwriter, Scott Hutchison, is a nice tribute to the man and the lyrics he produced with his band, Frightened Rabbit. Full of the dark, emotional themes he was known for, and supplemented by copies of his handwritten notes and doodles, it is fascinating to see not only the evolution of a given song, but also his output over the span of his & "Frabbit"'s career(s).
The tricky thing about lyrics is, in my opinion, they are not the same as poetry. Cousins, maybe. Step-siblings, perhaps? And Scott's lyrics are great -- truly getting deeper and more refined with each subsequent album or EP released. But stripped of the emotive intonations, emphasis & nuances, and sublime musical accompaniment that layers in and compliments or contrasts the singing, they can be difficult to fully appreciate. So, while I might contend that Hutchinson's lyrics are some of the best I've ever heard, reading them alone left me wanting, so to speak. (Much like the experience of watching Scott share a stage with his friend Michael Pedersen; Hutchinson performing songs, and Pedersen reading his own poetry; the greater impact is in the resonance the lyrics have partnered with music.)
Not to shit on this book. If you are reading it, you are likely already a huge fan. It's beautiful that the band put this out and that we get to have it. I'd like to see the same done with several musical artists that I love (in particular, the late Gord Downie and his incredible lyrics for The Tragically Hip). In the end, you just wish there was more being made, more to come... and Scott was still with us.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
*Extra note: there are at least 2 other Frightened Rabbit songs I've come across that are not included in the book, and I'll share them here:
Cheap Gold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzff7...
She Screams Christmas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45Elc...
(...and of course, if you haven't already, check out Scott's other band projects; MASTERSYSTEM, and OWL JOHN.)
The tricky thing about lyrics is, in my opinion, they are not the same as poetry. Cousins, maybe. Step-siblings, perhaps? And Scott's lyrics are great -- truly getting deeper and more refined with each subsequent album or EP released. But stripped of the emotive intonations, emphasis & nuances, and sublime musical accompaniment that layers in and compliments or contrasts the singing, they can be difficult to fully appreciate. So, while I might contend that Hutchinson's lyrics are some of the best I've ever heard, reading them alone left me wanting, so to speak. (Much like the experience of watching Scott share a stage with his friend Michael Pedersen; Hutchinson performing songs, and Pedersen reading his own poetry; the greater impact is in the resonance the lyrics have partnered with music.)
Not to shit on this book. If you are reading it, you are likely already a huge fan. It's beautiful that the band put this out and that we get to have it. I'd like to see the same done with several musical artists that I love (in particular, the late Gord Downie and his incredible lyrics for The Tragically Hip). In the end, you just wish there was more being made, more to come... and Scott was still with us.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
*Extra note: there are at least 2 other Frightened Rabbit songs I've come across that are not included in the book, and I'll share them here:
Cheap Gold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzff7...
She Screams Christmas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45Elc...
(...and of course, if you haven't already, check out Scott's other band projects; MASTERSYSTEM, and OWL JOHN.)
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews