by Mike Errico | Jul 20, 2021 | live shows, Music, Music Lyrics and Life, Teaching
NOW LIVE ON ALL STREAMING SERVICES Someday (Live) Recorded at the 2019 Mike Errico Holiday Show Rockwood Music Hall, NYC You good? I hope so. Here’s a very special live version of “Someday,” with Gabriella De La Cruz on background vocals and Matt Beck on electric guitar. This song seems to get more relevant every year, and I feel grateful to be able to play it for you. Can I ask a favor? Small favor, not “Could you drive me to the airport?”-level favor. Simply this: Tell a friend about the song. Sounds like not a big deal, but it’s the single greatest thing you can do to bring others on board. Speaking of: READ AN EXCERPT FROM “MUSIC, LYRICS, AND LIFE” Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide for the Advancing Songwriter Release Date: November 1, 2021 Publisher: Backbeat Books You’ve already pushed pre-sales to #1 on Amazon in both the Songwriting and Music Composition charts. THANK YOU. Another favor? I know, I know. But it’s the same favor: Tell a friend. They can read the excerpt, and pre-order there, or at the links below. (I buy from Books Are Magic, personally, but they all work.) PREORDER LINKS AMAZON | BOOKSHOP | BARNES & NOBLE | TARGET | BOOKS ARE MAGIC ADVANCE PRAISE FOR “MUSIC, LYRICS, AND LIFE”: “Others may have written Bibles on songwriting. This is the Talmud.” — Eric Bazilian, writer, “One of Us” (Joan Osborne); founding member of the Hooters; collaborator, Cyndi Lauper, Ricky Martin, Bon Jovi, LeeAnn Rimes “Mike Errico changed my life. He has an unwavering belief in his students’ ability to succeed in whatever they set their minds to. This belief...
by Mike Errico | Jul 6, 2021 | Music Lyrics and Life, Press, So Good, Teaching
I’m so grateful to hear back from mentors and heroes on their reactions to the book. Here are the first to get back to me: “Others may have written Bibles on songwriting. This is the Talmud.” — Eric Bazilian, writer, “One of Us” (Joan Osborne); founding member of the Hooters; collaborator, Cyndi Lauper, Ricky Martin, Bon Jovi, LeeAnn Rimes, Jonatha Brooke “Songwriting is a mystical art, and Mike Errico joins all the dots, helping us visualize the process as well as igniting our passion for the ultimate freedom of creativity.” — Martin Page, cowriter, “We Built This City” (Starship); “King of Wishful Thinking” (Go West); writer, “In the House of Stone and Light”; collaborator, Chaka Khan, Heart, Earth, Wind & Fire, Robbie Williams, Josh Groban “Mike Errico’s book on songwriting (and more) is an inspirational tool and a wonderful reference for artists and musicians involved in a creative effort. Highly recommended.” — Patricia Barber, composer, songwriter; Guggenheim Fellow, Composition; American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2019) Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide for the Advancing Songwriter “The songwriting class you always wish you’d taken, taught by the professor you always wish you’d had.” Coming November 1, 2021 on Backbeat Books PRE-ORDER HERE: Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads | Books Are Magic...
by Mike Errico | Jun 29, 2021 | live shows, Music, Music Lyrics and Life, Teaching
Someday (Live) Recorded at the 2019 Mike Errico Holiday Show Rockwood Music Hall, NYC Release Date for streaming: July 20, 2021 I’ve always loved playing “Someday” live, and this version is special. Former student Gabriella DeLa Cruz sang backgrounds, and I asked guitarist Matt Beck to go noir, “like it’s in a David Lynch film or something.” It was a highlight of a beautiful night, and as we open back up, it’s a reminder of the return of live music. PRESAVE NOW so that you, and the algorithms, know when it’s released. (Or download it on Bandcamp) Mixed and mastered: Jamie Siegel Cover design: Kristen Schleifer Photo: Jeanette Moses ALSO: “THE SONGWRITING CLASS YOU ALWAYS WISH YOU’D TAKEN, TAUGHT BY THE PROFESSOR YOU ALWAYS WISH YOU’D HAD.” Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide for the Advancing Songwriter Release Date: November 1, 2021 Publisher: Backbeat Books PREORDER: AMAZON | BOOKSHOP | BARNES & NOBLE | TARGET | BOOKS ARE...
by Mike Errico | May 18, 2021 | and Life, Books, Music Lyrics and Life, Teaching
Holy… Last week was the kind of start I could not have imagined. To be bouncing around in this company is unreal. And this came directly from you, because it’s not even out yet. My goal was to create the class I always wish I’d taken (I even teach it at the place I wish offered it), and I’ve tried to capture not just the ideas, but the spirit in the room. I’m humbled, and super-nervous, too. This is a whole new world. There’s more to come, but for now…thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide for the Advancing Songwriter Release Date: November 1, 2021 Publisher: Backbeat Books PRE-ORDER HERE: Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads | Books Are Magic WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Music, Lyrics, and Life is the songwriting class you always wish you’d taken, taught by the professor you always wish you’d had. It’s a deep dive into the heart of questions asked by songwriters of all levels, from how to begin journaling to when you know that a song is finished. With humor and empathy, acclaimed singer-songwriter Mike Errico unravels both the mystery of songwriting, and the logistics of life as a songwriter. For years, this set of tools, prompts, and ideas has inspired students on campuses including Yale, Wesleyan, Berklee, Oberlin, and NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. Alongside his own lessons, Errico interviews the writers, producers, and A&R executives behind today’s biggest hits, and investigates the larger questions of creativity through lively conversations with a wide range of innovative thinkers: astrophysicist Janna Levin explains the importance of repetition, both in choruses and in...
by Mike Errico | Mar 29, 2021 | Books, Lessons, Music Lyrics and Life, Teaching
The songwriting class you always wish you’d taken, taught by the professor you always wish you’d had. ORDER NOW: AMAZON | BOOKSHOP | BARNES & NOBLE | TARGET | BOOKS ARE MAGIC Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide for the Advancing Songwriter Publisher: Backbeat Books MUSIC, LYRICS, AND LIFE is the songwriting class you always wish you’d taken, taught by the professor you always wish you’d had. With humor and empathy, acclaimed singer-songwriter Mike Errico examines both the mystery of songwriting and the logistics of life as a songwriter. For years, this set of tools, prompts, and ideas has inspired students on campuses including Yale, Wesleyan, and New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. Alongside his musical lessons, Errico investigates larger questions of creativity with a wide range of innovative thinkers: astrophysicist Janna Levin theorizes on choruses; painter John Currin tackles song form; actor Phil LaMarr counsels on cowriting; author George Saunders unpacks authenticity; and much more. The result is that Music, Lyrics, and Life ends up revealing as much about the art of songwriting as it does about who we are and where we may be going. MIKE ERRICO is a New York-based recording artist, writer, and lecturing professor. His opinions and insights have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and...
by Mike Errico | May 11, 2020 | Lessons, Teaching
Songwriting Prompt No. 5: Not a prompt, just an observation: Some of the “demos” you’ve decided to release during this time rank among your best work, in my opinion. In fact, some of these “demos” are suspicious—suspiciously awesome, and suspiciously ambitious. Don’t forget, I listen to a lot of demos, and these? These are not demos. They aren’t Voice Notes of you on the side of your bed with your inconsiderate roommate washing frying pans in a nearby sink. They get me wondering: Are these “demos” really songs you wanted to put out but didn’t because you felt they were “off-brand?” Does it take a pandemic for you to admit that MAYBE you don’t know what your brand is? Or better: that your brand is YOU and you’ve been amputating parts of yourself in order to appear orderly? Because that’s nuts. Are you slapping the word “demo” on a track as if it’s a “might delete later” post, or an admission you’ll be able to deny? Well, fine. If that helps for now, knock yourselves out. But know that the sharing you’re doing is not only helping others, it’s maybe helping you to widen your definition of yourself. So keep on doing it. And what a great opportunity to retire two jerseys to the dust bin of your personal histories: #0 “DEMO;” #00 “BRAND”...
