SKU: 19991219849

Words and Music Into the Future: A Songwriting Treatise and Manifesto

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Description

Words and Music Into the Future: A Songwriting Treatise and ManifestoLiterary criticism, songwriting analysis, and cultural commentary, Words and Music Into the Future is an uncompromising examination of the current state of popular songs and songwriting in the English speaking world. Devoid of hero worship and celebrity gossip, using mostly well known songs from recent decades as examples, Michael Koppy presents a compelling case that we listeners have been force fed a steady diet of industrial illiteracy, and that

Literary criticism, songwriting analysis, and cultural commentary, Words and Music Into the Future is an uncompromising examination of the current state of popular songs and songwriting in the English-speaking world. Devoid of hero worship and celebrity gossip, using mostly well-known songs from recent decades as examples, Michael Koppy presents a compelling case that we listeners have been force-fed a steady diet of industrial illiteracy, and that the timer has come for songwriting and song criticism to riser to greater heights.

Whether you agree or disagree with the challenging, even heretical ideas presented in Words and Music Into the Future, it will forever change how you think about and hear popular music.

Sample chapters:

1. No, Don, the Levee Wasn't Dry--And No One Was Drinking Whiskey and Rye

2. There Goes The Robert E. Lee?

3. To What End?

4. A Personal Remembrance

5. A Later Kick in the Pants

6. Don't Shoot, Dammit I'm Just the Messenger

7. Politics? Religion? How About SONGS? ?

8. Ground Rule Number One

9. I'm Your Fan You're My Hero

10. Herds of Wildebeests Stampeding Across the Veldt

11. Why Peeing Your Pants Beats the Hell Out Of Nostalgia

12. Madonna, Kanye, Coldplay, Bieber, U2, One Direction--Effluvia, Ephemera, Etcetera, Etcetera

13. See You at the Grammys --A Note on Industrial Smarm Festivals

14. Ethics? In Popular Music...? ?

15. Dunno Much 'Bout Art, But I Know What I Like

16. Ever Notice the Worst Writing in an Insightful Pop Music Review--Even a Rave--Usually Shows Up When the Critic Quotes the Band's Lyrics?

17. Those Pesky, Over-Idealized Nineteen-Sixties

18. So Where Are We?

19. "Yeah, But You Really Hafta See 'Em Live "

20. Over the Top? Ya Think?

21. Yes, We Too Are All So Very Sorry You Weren't Born on a Mississippi Cotton Plantation

22. Art School Confidential

23. Dance? Okay, Fine. Dance Now Go Away.

24. It's All Greek--French, Swahili, Latin, Klingon--To Me.

25. Country Music is "Three Chords and the Truth" Computerized Drums, a Catering Truck, and a Smirk

26. Country's Brainier Half-Sibling: Americana

27. Tradition and Illusions of Same

28. The Disarmingly Enabling Inscience of Rap and Hip-Hop

29. Come to the Cabaret, Old Chum

30. Under a Stack of Marshall Amplifiers

31. Ethics? In SONGWRITING ITSELF...? ?

32. The Twentieth Century Ended Two Decades Ago

33. The Insolvency of 'Po-Mo'

34. Song Lyrics vs. Poems

35. "But It's Poetry "--Refuge for the Inarticulate

36. Sincerity Ain't Depth

37. The Kids Are Alright

38. La-Da-Da / Sha-La-Ti-Da

39. Is 'The Folk Process' an Expired Merchanism?

40. Lessons from Browne's "These Days" and Kristofferson's "Bobby McGee"

41. How About That Some Country Music Is...

42. Get Me Rewrite

43. Bob Dylan: Bad Writer, Bad Influence

44. Shallowness, Thy Name is Bob

45. Dying is Easy, Comedy is Hard

46. If Ya Wanna Send a Message...

47. McCartney's Song Writing Lesson

48. Steve Sondheim Desperately Wishes He Were Right

49. Didn't I Just Hear That Song in a Commercial for Paper Towels? Insurance? Gum?

50. Should We Use A Number 37-A?

51. On Brightly Wrapped Packages

52. On Gilded Frames

53. Making Sausages

54. Making Music

55. Sure 'Authenticity' is Great--But It Doesn't Guarantee Good Work

56. Form Follows Function

57. Words Seek Music. Object: Matrimony.

58. Rules Were Made to be Broken. However--

59. Swan Song



Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Good Track Records
Published: 08/07/2019
ISBN: 9780996640022
Pages: 358
Weight: 1.16lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.80d

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 06/24/2019
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SKU: 19991219849

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Ignis
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★★★★★ 2
knocked 3 stars off because no shirt pocket
Size: X-Large, Color: Light Grey Vertical Stripe
Two stars because there's no pocket. Shirt is actually nice otherwise but I was so focused on finding shirts with button-down collars (so my Sony WXB400 headphones don't escape) that I didn't notice these didn't have a pocket. I always carry a fountain pen so I need that, also for my phone if I'm not wearing cargo shorts with a "technology" pocket. If pockets are important to you, this shirt should suffice. Price is right.
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Size: Large, Color: Blue Shark-white
Shirt was the perfect gift for my 21 year old son. The small pattern was perfect and he said that made the shirt cool. The material is comfortable and light enough for warm weather without feeling cheap. Shirt is versatile with the ability to dress up or down.
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Tammy Nickles
Dallas, US
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Great quality! Very nice color! Fits to size.
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Saúl Castillo
Port Orchard, US
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Is a great product, it fit perfectly, the materials are great.
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jerseymca
West Palm Beach, US
★★★★★ 4
Looks great
Size: Large, Color: Black
Looks great, comfortable to wear, love that the buttons are the same color as the shirt, easy to wash, appears to be durably made. Significantly exceeded expectations (I ordered 2 more). 4 stars instead of 5 because it’s possible to move your arms in a way that makes the shirt slightly tight in the bicep area, but that’s unnoticeable almost all of the time (and minor anyway). Note: even after a couple of wash - wear - wash cycles, there were creases along the same places as where the shirt was shipped; this was easily remedied by a quick iron on a low setting and I think reflects that it is quite resistant to wrinkles.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2025

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