Bookmarked Say yes and never do it by Austin Kleon (Austin Kleon)

Whenever I’m bottomed out with my reading, I like to pick up a music book, and preferably an oral history. Anatomy of a Song is very hit-or-miss depending on who’s talking, but there’s some fun stuff in there, and some good “swimming upstream.” For example: the riff of The Beatles’ “I Feel Fine” came from one of John Lennon’s favorite records, Bobby Parker’s “Watch Your Step,” which came from Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say” and Dizzie Gillespie’s “Manteca.” (If you want something a little deeper on songcraft, I’d recommend Paul Zollo’s Songwriters on Songwriting.) And speaking of songwriting, I’m looking forward to catching Song Exploder at SXSW.

In March 12th edition of Austin Kleon’s newsletter, he discusses some books he returns to in regards to digging deeper into songs and songwriting.

The post 📑 Say yes and never do it (Austin Kleon Newsletter) first appeared on Read Write Collect.