Life of A Song: Volumes 1 and 2

by Jan Dalley, David Cheal

Overview

Discover the stories behind the songs THE LIFE OF A SONG contains the stories of 100 songs exploring each song's biography and how they took on a new life following their release. Packed with intriguing factoids, these bite-sized essays will delight music fans and send you scurrying back to listen to the songs in all their beauty and mystery. Who knew that Paul McCartney originally referred to Yesterday as 'Scrambled Eggs' because he couldn't think of any lyrics for his heart-breaking tune? Or that Patti LaBelle didn't know what 'Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?' actually meant? These and countless other back stories fill this book. Each 600-word piece gives a mini-biography of a single song, from its earliest form through the various covers and changes, often morphing from one genre to another, always focusing on the 'biography' of the song itself while including the many famous artists who have performed or recorded it. This book collects 100 of the best pieces from the highly successful The Life of a Song columns from the FT Weekend every Saturday. Inside you'll find rock, pop, folk, jazz and more. Each piece is pithy, sparkily written, knowledgeable, entertaining, full of anecdotes and surprises. They combine deep musical knowledge with the vivid background of the performers and musicians, and of course the often intriguing social and political background against which the songs were created.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399800587
Publisher:	Mobius
Publication date:	12/06/2022
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction vii

Contributors ix

1 My Way 1

2 Starman 5

3 Like a Rolling Stone 8

4 Stairway to Heaven 12

5 Yesterday 17

6 Every Rose has its Thorn 21

7 Surf's Up 24

8 Midnight Train to Georgia 27

9 Lady Marmalade 31

10 God Bless the Child 35

11 In the Air Tonight 39

12 Amsterdam 42

13 Without You 46

14 It's the Hard Knock Life 51

15 Apache 54

16 1999 57

17 Smells Like Teen Spirit 61

18 La Vie En Rose 65

19 Some Velvet Morning 68

20 Hallelujah 72

21 Amazing Grace 77

22 The Long Black Veil 80

23 I Heard It through the Grapevine 83

24 By the Time I Get to Phoenix 87

25 Toxic 93

26 Smoke on the Water 97

27 The House of the Rising Sun 100

28 Shipbuilding 103

29 Rocket 88 107

0 Johnny Remember Me 110

31 Red Red Wine 113

32 A Change is Gonna Come 116

33 Downtown 120

34 Born in the USA 123

35 Song to the Siren 127

36 Over the Rainbow 130

37 Enter Sandman 135

38 Wade in the Water 139

39 Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground 142

40 This Land is Your Land 145

41 Because the Night 148

42 My Favorite Things 152

43 Baltimore 157

44 The Chain 160

45 IKE's Rap II 164

46 I Believe in Father Christmas 168

47 Sukiyaki 171

48 Me and Bobby McGee 175

49 My Funny Valentine 178

50 Auld Lang Syne 182

51 I'm a Believer 185

52 Wuthering Heights 189

53 Let It Go 193

54 Hotel California 196

55 Rasputin 201

56 Seven Nation Army 204

57 Heartbreak Hotel 208

58 Georgia on My Mind 211

59 Waterloo Sunset 215

60 CDE to Billie Joe 218

61 Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) 222

62 Greensleeves 227

63 Jealous Guy 230

64 I Put A Spell on You 234

65 Misirlou 238

66 A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall 241

67 Night Train 244

68 Bridge Over Troubled Water 248

69 You're So Vain 251

70 Mr Tambourine Man 255

71 I am the Walrus 258

72 Wild Thing 261

73 Time After Time 265

74 She's Lost Control 269

75 Je T'Aime … Moi Non Plus 273

76 Mack the Knife 276

77 Will You Love Me Tomorrow 281

78 (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction 285

79 Tainted Love 288

80 When the Levee Breaks 292

81 Tutti Frutti 295

82 It's a Long Way to Tipperary 298

83 Golden Slumbers 302

84 9 to 5 305

85 Take Five 309

86 Walk on the Wild Side 312

87 Me and Mrs Jones 316

88 I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free 320

89 No Scrubs 323

90 Nature Boy 327

91 Teardrop 330

92 Strange Fruit 332

93 O Sole MIO 337

94 Summertime 340

95 A Whiter Shade of Pale 344

96 I've Got You Under My Skin 347

97 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face 350

98 Everything I Own 354

99 I Fought the Law 356

100 You'll Never Walk Alone 361

Photo Credits 364