Thanksgiving

A world in every song, Jeff Tweedy’s fourth Thursday is Thanksgiving for that mighty harvest, the songs one hears throughout one’s life; For that year that never ends because there’s always a new tune to catch your attention.

Perhaps, as cliché as it sounds, anyone could write such a book, that is, list and interpret the songs that have been decisive in your life for one reason or another. But Tweedy’s book does much more than that, and to be fair, he’s not one of us, even though he insists on writing from the place of the listener, not the musician. The Wilco leader insists his book is, simply put, about the power songs have over us. It’s not a list of favorite songs or even a book of stories like 31 Nick Hornby Songs. Although he shares with the Chicago musician, writer and Arsenal supporter the belief that existence without music is not worth it. The sincerity and humility that Tweedy establishes are key to the book’s appeal. Especially considering that we are talking about one of the brightest and most important musicians of recent times. A man who writes songs that stay true to the latest hits like Evicted, he was included in his latest album Cousin with his band.

Evacuation is such a song that when you walk anywhere with headphones on, sometimes you tell yourself that the world is a beautiful place.

There is a world within each song, in a way it also functions as a family memory whose subject is music. And in this plot, the passages in which the narrator/hero is in a worse situation are not ignored: songs that he hates but manages to be important; others whom he despised and who, as time passed, caused him to discover that he was wrong. We will read a Tweedy whose references are eclectic, but also consistent in terms of his tastes reflected in his compositions.

From Deep Purple to Rosalía, the book proposes a journey that seems impossible but is not for travelers with open ears ready to listen. Tweedy rejects those who claim that music is no longer made the way it used to be, but he recognizes where it comes from: a time when one was willing to wait days, weeks and even months to find the desired record as usual. shopping centre.

In the preface on page 12, he expresses some of his intentions, which to me are almost a mini-ethic about how to relate to a song: “This book is probably the first I would have written if I had been more ambitious.” and if I knew a little more clearly what is most important to me in this world and what I have ever thought about most: other people’s songs. And how much they taught me as a person: to think about myself and others. And listening to almost anything consciously and with an open mind can be a deeply personal experience with universal dimensions. And most of all: how do songs absorb and contribute to our own experiences and preserve our memories?

REM, Otis Redding, The Ramones, Dolly Parton, Abba… the aptly named Michelle Shocked and Diane Izzo. And of course, Mavis Staples, who was a very important name in Tweedy’s career. They are all part of this unique jukebox, where there is a world in every song.

There is only one band mentioned in the entire book, not with a single song, but with their entire discography: The Beatles. It wasn’t hard to guess.