Theme Songs for Writers

Making a living from your self-published books.

L

Happy Birthday, P.J. Greystoke.

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Paul Whybrow

Full Member
Jun 20, 2015
Cornwall, UK
There are several well-known songs written about writers and writing, including The Beatle's Paperback Writer and Elvis Costello's Everyday I Write the Book.

Songwriters like to include literary references in their lyrics. Jefferson Airplane sang about Lewis Carroll's White Rabbit, Iron Maiden bellowed of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Led Zeppelin injected Tolkien imagery into their songs, and Kate Bush gave an eerie interpretation of Wuthering Heights.

The Doors took their name from Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception, which was written about his experiences on mescaline. Lead singer Jim Morrison was a voracious reader and wrote poetic lyrics referencing psychological issues. Several volumes of his poetry have been published.

Nick Cave wrote an angry song called We Call Upon The Author, in which he took swipes at various creative types including writers, politicians who've engineered social chaos and even God himself:

Bukowski was a jerk! Berryman was best!
He wrote like wet papier mache, went the Heming-way weirdly on wings and with maximum pain
We call upon the author to explain

Down in my bolthole, I see they've published another volume of unreconstructed rubbish
"The waves, the waves were soldiers moving". Well, thank you, thank you, thank you
And again I call upon the author to explain
Yeah, we call upon the author to explain

Prolix! Prolix! There's nothing a pair of scissors can't fix!


When people ask me what I do for a job, and I reply ''I'm an author" the next question is usually "What do you write?" The glib answer is simply to say "Words", but I like to go mystical on them by quoting Neil Young's song title replying that I write "Words (Between the Lines of Age)" which appeared on his album Harvest.

It's not that I'm going for immortality, more that what I write appears to immediately vanish into the ether of Time! :confused:

Do you have any favourite songs or lyrics about being a writer?

music-musician-guitarist-song-rent-rental-mban4510_low.jpg
 
There is a song by Clifford T Ward which I have absolutely loved ever since the first time I heard it. It contains the lines:

'I've been reading Browning, Keats and William Wordsworth
And they all seem to be saying the same thing for me...'

Even the title of the song is a literary reference in that it is called 'Home Thoughts From Abroad'. Well worth a listen if you get he chance and for no other reason that I like it so much please listen to Up In The World as well.
 
You write great posts about writing. Why don't you share them more widely? IMHO you should start a blog.

Thank you for the compliment, James. I'm a great believer in the dissemination of information—try saying that with a mouthful of cream crackers!

I actually started a blog using Wordpress, back in 2016, at a time when I was experimenting with social media. I haven't done anything with my blog, Facebook business page, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts since setting them up, but am considering going back to them as a way of supporting a return to self-publishing.

The problem is, that while I get joy from creative writing, the concept of selling myself in a 'like me, like me, like me' way is an anathema. Perhaps being a Grumpy Old Man could be part of my image, but I wish that my books could be judged solely on the strength of the writing.

As Bob Dylan pleaded at the time of his controversial electric performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival: 'Listen to the words, man.'
 
There is a song by Clifford T Ward which I have absolutely loved ever since the first time I heard it. It contains the lines:

'I've been reading Browning, Keats and William Wordsworth
And they all seem to be saying the same thing for me...'

Even the title of the song is a literary reference in that it is called 'Home Thoughts From Abroad'. Well worth a listen if you get he chance and for no other reason that I like it so much please listen to Up In The World as well.

'Home Thoughts From Abroad' is a charming and patriotic song, stronger lyrically than the better-known 'Gaye'—imagine writing a love song with that title these days!

One of my favourite folk singers, who writes thought-provoking lyrics referencing historical events and literature, is Al Stewart. Best-known for 'The Year of the Cat', he's referenced several wars, political figures, the sixteenth-century seer Nostradamus, Hollywood films and a Kurt Vonnegut novel 'The Sirens of Titan.'

 
The problem is, that while I get joy from creative writing, the concept of selling myself in a 'like me, like me, like me' way is an anathema. Perhaps being a Grumpy Old Man could be part of my image, but I wish that my books could be judged solely on the strength of the writing.

Don't see a blog as selling - just see it a sharing your beautifully (and hard-) crafted words. It's a way of putting your skills and craft on show. You would not be force-feeding anyone! You don't need to go through the 'Like me, Like me loop on Facebook. Wordpress is fine (IMHO of course).
 
Blogging is very satisfying. Not bad to get the discipline of regular writing. I enjoy having them all banked somewhere. Reminds me I must get back to it.
 
Not so much about the writing, per se, but I have been haunted by this song by John Martyn for a long time and dream of one day writing a novel inspired by it.
The tune is a traditional English folk song and I could listen to it on almost a permanent loop.

 
Not so much about the writing, per se, but I have been haunted by this song by John Martyn for a long time and dream of one day writing a novel inspired by it.
The tune is a traditional English folk song and I could listen to it on almost a permanent loop.


Yup, I always liked him. Shame the drink wrecked his talent & I guess his life. And if you like that, you might like this:
 
Yup, I always liked him. Shame the drink wrecked his talent & I guess his life.

Shared a few nights with the same Demons so I can sympathise ( 5 years sober now, one day at a time) although I do have a penchant for the tragically flawed when it comes to musical heros. Never really wanted to explore the reasons behind that too deeply.
 
Shared a few nights with the same Demons so I can sympathise ( 5 years sober now, one day at a time) although I do have a penchant for the tragically flawed when it comes to musical heros. Never really wanted to explore the reasons behind that too deeply.

Congratulations on your sobriety. I know addiction, having drunk like a whale for 27 years, eventually giving up in 1996 after having a minor stroke. I'll be 21 years dry this summer, and I can honestly say that I don't miss booze at all.

As William Blake said:
“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom...You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough.”
 
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Making a living from your self-published books.

L

Happy Birthday, P.J. Greystoke.

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