by Litchatte Reviewer, Paul Ho
We welcome my longtime friend from Philadelphia, Paul Ho, who starts off with his Litchatte blog with 9 mini-reviews of books about notable popular musicians. Welcome him and let him know what you think about his reviews in the dialogue box after his offerings.
As an avid reader, I was curious if there were any songs about books. The only
one I could think of at first blush was The Bible Tells Me So which I was surprised
to find was written by the famous cow-woman, Dale Evans. When I did a further
search, however, I discovered there were plenty more I didn’t know about.
“Paperback Writer” by the Beatles is probably the most famous one. Perhaps you
will remember “Brave New World” by Iron Maiden (I don’t). Then there is “1984”
by David Bowie, “Romeo and Juliet” by Dire Straits, and “For Whom the Bell
Tolls” by Metallica (Never heard of them either). The list goes on and there are
countless other ones out there if you can find them. You’re also welcome to throw
some back at me if it suits your interactive fancy.
But what I really came here to discuss is not songs about books but books
about musicians and their songs. After all, like songs, books are vehicles for
heightened emotions. Books convey feelings of love, anger, wonder, lust, and
misery in great quantity. Like songs, they remind us of times in our life that we
want to remember, our suffering over lost loves and grand ideals that we hold
dear.
I’ve read plenty of books about musicians as I’m sure you have, and I’d like to
offer some mini-reviews that are more like Alice in Wonderland tags that say
“Read Me” than intellectual essays or detailed critical analyses. For the sake of
history, I just want to let someone out there know that I think these books are
worth reading, and to mention what I remember most about them.
BORN TO RUN by Bruce Springsteen
Even though he came from the Jersey Shore where I, myself, was born to walk
quickly, I never cared for the music of “The Boss,” except for a couple of his most
familiar radio songs. Listening to this audiobook, however, gave me new respect
for his writing which was cleanly poetic, thoughtful, and unguarded. The book
shares secrets of his artistic process, his pain growing up with a distant,
depressed father, and his own lifelong struggles with depression. As with many
great artists, athletes, etc., they start with considerable raw talent but spend way
more time than you could ever imagine practicing obsessively to perfect their
craft (He reads the story himself on the audiobook by the way).
LIFE by Keith Richards
A Keith Richards memoir? How can it be? I’ve seen interviews where he can
hardly articulate a simple thought without mumbling, stumbling, and chuckling to
himself like a crazy person. But somehow, he has made his 2010 book eminently
readable …What we didn’t know about him is that he kept careful journals
throughout his career. It turns out he is contemplative, smart and he remembers
well the events of his heroin-stained, confusing life, beginning with his blue-collar
roots all the way to his becoming rock music royalty. He complains endlessly
about his wiggly Siamese twin, Mick Jagger, and believe it or not, he claims to be
a shy romantic which is hardly the image of sex, drugs, and rock and roll that we
have come to know. I listened to this one on audiobook too and part of it was
read by Johnny Depp.
LUSH LIFE by David Hajdu
This is the bio of Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington’s brilliant alter ego who was a
a confident, openly gay man in the forties and fifties carousing in New York and
Paris, living the “lush life” as a tightly-wrapped composer and pianist.
Hajdu also wrote POSITIVELY FOURTH STREET about the early life and
personal development of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and the late Richard and Mimi
(Joan Baez’ sister) Farina. Both books are meticulously researched and
chronologically ordered, giving you a close-up view of their lives and times. If you
are interested in the subject matter, you won’t be disappointed by the incredibly
detailed factual writing.
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL: MY LIFE WITH PRINCE by Mayte Garcia
(Disclaimer: I am not nor have I ever been a fan of Prince and knew almost
nothing about him or his music before listening to this audiobook).
A lovely teenaged belly dancer (Mayte) goes to a Prince concert with her
indulgent mother and gets eyeballed by his purple majesty from the stage and,
like Elvis and Pricilla, they eventually marry after a long, winding, strange
courtship. Life is picture-perfect in their Minneapolis-based cocoon until their first
child is born horribly deformed which changes everything. Harsh reality sets in
and their fragile paradise begins to unravel. Prince compensates by becoming a
Jehovah’s witness (imagine him showing up at your front door in purple heels
with The Watchtower in hand), and he abandons her as he finds the next
perfect girl. Poor Mayte gets put out to pasture, broke and alone. Full of
emotional ups and downs, this audiobook, read by herself, portrays their unequal
love affair, full of romantic and creative energy, as she tries desperately to stay
ahead of their careening fantasies.
JUST KIDS by Patti Smith
The poignant story of young Patti before she ever considered becoming a punk
chanteuse and her first boyfriend, handsome aspiring photographer, the late
Robert Mapplethorpe, as they live together as creative paupers in 1960s New
York City. They will each eventually become world-famous artists in their own
right (spoiler alert: Mapplethorpe comes out to her as gay during their
relationship, eventually gets AIDS, and dies a miserable death before the last
chapter). The writing is a poetic, honest, and nostalgic tribute to her departed best
friend, muse, and soulmate. It is also a great vignette of hip sixties Manhattan,
including some great scenes in the Chelsea Hotel (It is particularly relevant to
me because I was hanging out there at about the same time and probably
walked right past them on the street).
THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE by Clive Davis
Endless streams of famous musicians that he discovered, signed and recorded
as head of Columbia and Arista Records march through the pages of his 586
page autobiography…He writes about the stars that helped make the wily NYC
lawyer rich and famous as a purveyor of talent. Davis was the godfather of the
music business for many years, mentoring the likes of Whitney Huston, Barry
Manilow, Janis Joplin, Alicia Keys, and the Grateful Dead. He knew them all
personally and he tells the fabulous details herein including a man bites dog story
about how Joplin famously wanted to seal her first record deal by having sex with
Davis. He politely demurred, saying it was better to let business remain business.
MISS ODELL by Chris O’Dell
Chris O’Dell, an attractive Apple employee, (that’s Apple Records, as in the
Beatles, not Apple as in the computer company) became the lover of Ringo
Starr, James Taylor, Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan (I think), and a long
list of others. Don’t you love the sixties! She tells all (or mostly all) as if it was just
another day at the office. (For George Harrison super-fans, he wrote a song
dedicated to her called “Miss O’Dell” that was a bonus track on his Material
World album). Amazingly she came out of it without getting rich, famous, or
married! But she does finally get sober somewhere along the way and
appropriately becomes a substance abuse counselor. Good for her!
BOYS IN THE TREES by Carly Simon
Carly came of age as the privileged daughter of Richard L. Simon, founder of the
publishing giant, Simon and Schuster. Early on, she tells of coming home as a
teenager to find luminaries like Jackie Robinson and Leonard Bernstein sitting at
the dinner table talking to her dad.
She is well known for her debilitating stage fright and for being the long-suffering
wife of heroin-addicted singer, James Taylor, but did you know she was the lover
of Cat Stevens, Mick Jagger, Jack Nicholson, and Warren Beatty (Warren, you
probably think this song is about you!) among dozens of other celebs revealed in
this intimate memoir. She also has an almost obsessive way of describing what
she was wearing at every important moment of her life, right down to the color,
patterns, and texture of each outfit.
THE MAN FROM MUSCLE SHOALS: MY JOURNEY FROM SHAME TO FAME
by Rick Hall
I knew from an excellent PBS documentary that many country stars, rockers and
R & B musicians recorded at Fame Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
The late Rick Hall, who came from an authentic Tobacco Road background, was
the musician/producer that originated this unique sound and this book is his
moving autobiography. But were those old southern novels often ended badly,
this story, despite plenty of ups and downs along the way, ends in soaring
success and he even experiences an authentic spiritual awakening.
Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Gregg Allman, The Stones, and Alabama,
among others, stroll through this wonderful story and light it up like the Fourth of
July. If you have any interest in this lesser-known cranny of popular music, this
book reads like good fiction only better. I would highly recommend it…
The above books should keep diehard music fans occupied for a few thousand
pages and if you get bored reading, fire up the iPod and rock out to some of their
iconic songs for a break…Meanwhile, it’s “Happy Trails To You” until we meet
again.
Paul and I would be delighted to receive your commentaries about any of these reviews or ideas for future ideas. Please write us in the dialogue box below -Murray
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