The title eases the pressure: How to Write One Song. Not an album’s worth, just one. In reality, this short and winsome book by Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy is full of motivation and practical advice to make the creative process part of your everyday life.

Tweedy is passionate about songwriting.

[S]ongs, to me, are much more like individual thoughts than other works of art are. They’re hard to hold on to—airlike and ephemeral. They pass through time. They’re here, then gone . . . Yet they’re portable, they can linger as a memory, and, even crazier, they can just pop into our minds for no discernible reason. Other art forms like paintings and books have physical shapes and permanence, but how many of them can you hum a few bars of? (2)

His approach to lyricism is fascinating. He uses a variety of techniques to inspire his creativity, from leafing through the gnostic gospels to matching nouns within his field of vision to verbs associated with another domain. The title of his song, “Muzzle of Bees,” is the fruit of one of these association techniques. Meaning attaches itself over time.

Perhaps the most important advice Tweedy has to share is relevant for any passion: just do it. Stuck with it and make it a regular daily practice. Over time, the cream will rise to the top.

If you’re like me—someone who has dabbled in songwriting but gets stuck in the details and self-doubt—How to Write One Song is a breath of life from one of the greatest songwriters of our time.

Tweedy, Jeff. How to Write One Song. Penguin Random House, 2020.