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228 reviews for:
Let's Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco, Etc.
Jeff Tweedy
4.38 AVERAGE
228 reviews for:
Let's Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco, Etc.
Jeff Tweedy
4.38 AVERAGE
“I like to believe most people's natural state is to be creative. It definitely was when we were kids, when being spontaneously and joyfully creative was just our default setting. As we grow we learn to evaluate and judge, to navigate the world with some discretion, and then we turn on ourselves. Creating can't just be for the sake of creating anymore. It has to be good, or it has to mean something. We get scared out of our wits by the possibility of someone rejecting our creation.”
Definitely recommend listening to the audiobook read by Jeff with appearances by his wife and son.
It was short and sweet and poignant and he read the audiobook and it was solid.
I love Jeff with my whole heart and this was a really beautiful look into his life and mind.
Would I have loved this as much if I weren't a Wilco fan? Hard to say, but it was everything I wanted it to be: honest, hilarious, inspiring, informative and occasionally heartbreaking. I Iistened to the audiobook and would recommend that format.
My eyes has been my camera taking pictures of the world and my songs has been my messages that I tried to scatter across the back sides and along the steps of the fire escapes and on the window sills and through the dark halls...
- Woody Guthrie
One of the first adjectives I think of with rock is excess. Think of the great memories on the stadium rock gods Led Zeppelin in “Hammer of the Gods” or Keith Richards drug-fueled journey in “Life”. Even the anti-rock manifestos, like the 80s DYI classic compendium, “Our Band Could Be Your Life”, is full of high octane stories of the weirdos who fought against the establishment. That's not this story. And that's a good thing.
Although Wilco is clearly influenced by the messianic breed of the 1970s rock stars, they have neither the desire or the arrogance to believe that rock can save the world. Jeff Tweedy’s memoir is a tame affair. Despite the band breakups, drug addictions, fights with record labels and continual journey to stay inspired...Tweedy’s story is well...relatable. Tweedy’s incidents with fame, such as his dismal by P. Diddy at the Grammys, showcase his own uncomfortablity with the rockstar lifestyle. Similarly, his broken relationship with Jay Farrar, is honest and relatable. When he describes the sadness of not measuring up to Farrar’s expectations, it’s not a dramatic story you’d read in the NME, it’s just a heart-breaking story about two people that can’t cross the bridge to each other. This isn’t Oasis people.
What became more clear to me as I read this book, is how much my love of Wilco is from the inviting warmth of his lyrics. He describes the albums as very emotionally representative of the time when they were created. The poppy-sadness of “Summerteeth” takes on a deeper sadness when Tweedy confesses how hard it is for his wife to hear the material that reflected their marital struggles. Similarly the fragile vocal arrangements on “A Ghost is Born”, an album that Tweedy recorded as a the rebuilding of his life from a painkiller addiction, showcase the emotional turmoil of this experience. Their collectively recognized masterpiece “Yankee Foxtrot Hotel”, released in the wake of 9/11 (though recorded before), delivers poetry on matters of the heart - loss, love, cosmic order and hope not yet realized. It's not the most complex work they've made, but Tweedy readily admits he'll be playing "Jesus Etc" the rest of his life. People just love it too much.
There are very fun interludes with his wife and son throughout the autobiography. These outside forces of family extend the frame of the story. Funny enough, they reminded me of how Tweedy added space noises to “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” to recontextualize it. There is always a broader narrative of family and the joy of being a professional musician. And so much of that joy to see his son’s interest in creative projects.
And what's not to enjoy about a memoir from a man who has brightened so many of my days. When I pull into myself some of my favorite Wilco memories, they end up being some of my favorite memories period. Holding hands with my Karen to “I’m Always in Love” to their live show at a minor baseball stadium. Hearing a guitar class play the “Jesus Etc” at Old Town School of Folk”. My sister playing “I’m the Man Who Loves You” from her car soundsystem. Walking around Ravenswood after a breakup to “You and I”. And i’ve continued to follow and enjoy them too..as they’ve gotten weirder..and take themselves less seriously still (cat album artwork!?). That Wilco have given me a musical frame to process my great loves and emotional inner life...well to that I will always be thankful.
Top 10 Wilco songs:
1. I’m Always in Love
2. Jesus Etc.
3. Passenger Side
4. I Can’t Stand It
5. Impossible Germany
6. You and I
7. Monday
8. Casino Queen
9. Radio Cure
10. Pot Kettle Black
- Woody Guthrie
One of the first adjectives I think of with rock is excess. Think of the great memories on the stadium rock gods Led Zeppelin in “Hammer of the Gods” or Keith Richards drug-fueled journey in “Life”. Even the anti-rock manifestos, like the 80s DYI classic compendium, “Our Band Could Be Your Life”, is full of high octane stories of the weirdos who fought against the establishment. That's not this story. And that's a good thing.
Although Wilco is clearly influenced by the messianic breed of the 1970s rock stars, they have neither the desire or the arrogance to believe that rock can save the world. Jeff Tweedy’s memoir is a tame affair. Despite the band breakups, drug addictions, fights with record labels and continual journey to stay inspired...Tweedy’s story is well...relatable. Tweedy’s incidents with fame, such as his dismal by P. Diddy at the Grammys, showcase his own uncomfortablity with the rockstar lifestyle. Similarly, his broken relationship with Jay Farrar, is honest and relatable. When he describes the sadness of not measuring up to Farrar’s expectations, it’s not a dramatic story you’d read in the NME, it’s just a heart-breaking story about two people that can’t cross the bridge to each other. This isn’t Oasis people.
What became more clear to me as I read this book, is how much my love of Wilco is from the inviting warmth of his lyrics. He describes the albums as very emotionally representative of the time when they were created. The poppy-sadness of “Summerteeth” takes on a deeper sadness when Tweedy confesses how hard it is for his wife to hear the material that reflected their marital struggles. Similarly the fragile vocal arrangements on “A Ghost is Born”, an album that Tweedy recorded as a the rebuilding of his life from a painkiller addiction, showcase the emotional turmoil of this experience. Their collectively recognized masterpiece “Yankee Foxtrot Hotel”, released in the wake of 9/11 (though recorded before), delivers poetry on matters of the heart - loss, love, cosmic order and hope not yet realized. It's not the most complex work they've made, but Tweedy readily admits he'll be playing "Jesus Etc" the rest of his life. People just love it too much.
There are very fun interludes with his wife and son throughout the autobiography. These outside forces of family extend the frame of the story. Funny enough, they reminded me of how Tweedy added space noises to “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” to recontextualize it. There is always a broader narrative of family and the joy of being a professional musician. And so much of that joy to see his son’s interest in creative projects.
And what's not to enjoy about a memoir from a man who has brightened so many of my days. When I pull into myself some of my favorite Wilco memories, they end up being some of my favorite memories period. Holding hands with my Karen to “I’m Always in Love” to their live show at a minor baseball stadium. Hearing a guitar class play the “Jesus Etc” at Old Town School of Folk”. My sister playing “I’m the Man Who Loves You” from her car soundsystem. Walking around Ravenswood after a breakup to “You and I”. And i’ve continued to follow and enjoy them too..as they’ve gotten weirder..and take themselves less seriously still (cat album artwork!?). That Wilco have given me a musical frame to process my great loves and emotional inner life...well to that I will always be thankful.
Top 10 Wilco songs:
1. I’m Always in Love
2. Jesus Etc.
3. Passenger Side
4. I Can’t Stand It
5. Impossible Germany
6. You and I
7. Monday
8. Casino Queen
9. Radio Cure
10. Pot Kettle Black
It's always such a relief when one of your favorite musicians turns out to be pretty cool, not a creep, and exceptionally nice to listen to while they read their audiobook. I really appreciate (and relate to) Jeff Tweedy’s particular brand of melancholy - yet joyful - neurosis, and I especially enjoyed the time he devoted in the book to the creative process of music-making.
But is no-one going to talk about the
But is no-one going to talk about the
Spoiler
statutory rape Tweedy went through as a 14-year-old? Hearing that chapter made me so incredibly sad as I realized I was listening to someone describe a very formative trauma.
This was much better than it should have been: funny, candid, and just plain good.
4.5 stars. Recommend the audiobook. Fascinating if you love Wilco, probably not so much if you don’t. Insightful on things like songwriting, addiction and grief without being maudlin or didactic.