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The Life of a Song
The stories behind 100 of the world's best-loved songs
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The Life of a Song
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
This book is ideal for music enthusiasts, cultural historians, and readers who enjoy engaging, well-researched essays about popular songs and their legacies. Its accessible yet insightful style suits those curious about the stories behind the music they love.
The back stories behind 100 of the world's best-known and best-loved songs as featured in the FT Weekend's Life of a Song column every Saturday
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
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Description
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, sparingly 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.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781399800587
Publisher: John Murray Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 04 August 2022
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: John Murray Publishers Ltd
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 28.0mm
Width: 128.0mm
Height: 196.0mm
Weight: 271g
Pages: 384
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About the Author
David Cheal has been reviewing music since the early 1980s, and was a pop critic for the Daily Telegraph for 20 years. He now works on the Financial Times arts pages, where he writes and commissions the weekly Life of a Song column and also contributes reviews and features. When he was growing up, he wanted to be Jack Bruce but never got round to learning how to play the bass.
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