Beatlesongs

Bad book week has passed and not a moment too soon. Back to recommendations with this book that breaks down the Beatles' albums song by song listing which Beatle wrote what song (Song Title-- Lennon 50%, McCartney 45%, Harrison 5%)(I would give a real example, but I've already packed the book). There are also notes about the circumstances that each song was written under. The author used tons of interviews as his sources and even though there are several books like this for the Beatles, to me this one seems to be the most informative. And does anyone else think it's just a tiny bit creepy that that on the song "Piggies" (on the White Album) George Harrison's mother wrote the line "What they need is a damn good whacking"?

Songbook

Until very recently, I was never really a music person. My CD collection is a sad, pathetic mix of impulse buys of mostly one-hit or one-album wonders that I rarely listened to. I first read Nick Hornby's Songbook under those circumstances and liked it OK but wasn't really blown away by it. A funny thing happened in the past year or two, though. The policy at work changed so that we can now listen to music with headphones. I started checking out CDs from the library, listening to this site, and reading music magazines and websites. I bought an mp3 player and I now listen to music constantly and it's now almost as essential to me as books. I listened to the CD that comes with this book the other day and it inspired me to re-read the book. Now that I can better understand the passion he has for music, it may be my favorite Nick Hornby book. It is a collection of essays about some of his favorite songs and, by extension, the various ways that music permeates his life. I think this book contains Hornby's most beautiful writing--his description of finding the closest thing to God in his life in the perfect harmony of two voices; his joy when his autistic son finds the smallest connection to music; and how a song written for a movie based on one of his books perfectly captures his relationship to his son. The book has introduced me to some great songs, too--"Your Love is the Place that I Come From" by Teenage Fanclub, "One Man Guy" by Rufus and Martha Wainwright, and "You Had Time" by Ani DiFranco in particular.

Love is a Mix Tape

Above all, they loved music. Rob Sheffield and his wife, Renee, met over a conversation about a song and music was a central part of their relationship. So Rob begins each chapter with a mix tape that he and Renee listened to as he describes their marriage and her sudden death from a pulmonary embolism. Renee does not come across as a saint but as a complex, lively woman and the best chapters are how Rob copes after her death, when that spark is gone from his life. Music both soothes him and causes more pain, as he realizes there are songs he will never again be able to share with Renee. Be prepared to take a trip down memory lane at the songs on each mix tape and the popular culture references thrown in. (This was a couple that loved The Cutting Edge as much as I irrationally do--Toe-pick!). Though Rob is a music critic by trade, he is not a music snob and his and Renee's eclectic tastes will have you jotting down lots of songs to check out.