50 More Stories and Songs


Book Description

50 More Stories and Songs is a continuation of Rev. James D. Wood’s delightful memoir, This Is My Story, This Is My Song. Remembering other “forgotten events” in his life, Reverend Wood writes about them and concludes each story with resonating words from a hymn. Readers will find these additional stories to be charming and engaging. Reverend Wood has served nine congregations during his fifty years with the United Methodist Church. Previously, he served in the US Navy and with the Port District of San Diego as a civil engineering draftsman. In ministry though, Reverend Wood discovered life to be even more meaningful and adventurous than he ever imagined. He is married to Martha, herself the author of Out of My Mind, has three children, seven grandchildren, and three great-granddaughters. They have lived in Arizona for the past forty-four years and currently reside in Sun Lakes, Arizona.




Life of a Song


Book Description

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 couches avec moi ce soir?' actually meant? These and countless other fascinating back stories of some of our best-known and best-loved songs fill this book, a collection of the highly successful weekly The Life of a Song columns that appear in the FT Weekend every Saturday. Each 600-word piece gives a mini-biography of a single song, from its earliest form (often a spiritual, or a jazz number), 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. The selection covers a wide spectrum of the songs we all know and love - 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.




Fifty Sides of the Beach Boys


Book Description

“A vivid account . . . Young and old fans alike will enjoy” (Publishers Weekly). This book offer a unique journey through The Beach Boys’ long, fascinating history by telling the stories behind fifty of the band’s greatest songs from the perspective of group members, collaborators, fellow musicians, and notable fans. Filled with new interviews with music legends such as Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Alan Jardine, Bruce Johnston, David Marks, Blondie Chaplin, Randy Bachman, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Lyle Lovett, Alice Cooper, and Al Kooper, and commentary from a younger generation such as Matthew Sweet, Carnie Wilson, Daniel Lanois, Cameron Crowe, and Zooey Deschanel, this story of pop culture history both explores the darkness and difficulties with which the band struggled, and reminds us how their songs could make life feel like an endless summer.




The Girl in the Song


Book Description

The Girl in the Song tells the stories of 50 women who have inspired classic rock songs. Who was Emily in Pink Floyd's See Emily Play? What happened to Suzanne Verdal, immortalised in Leonard Cohen's Suzanne? Did life change for Prudence Farrow after John Lennon penned Dear Prudence? And whatever happened to 'the girl with mousy hair', an ex-girlfriend Bowie sings about in Life on Mars? This fascinating book explains how each song came about, when it was released, the impact it had on the charts and then gives a mini-biography of the song's muse. Suzanne Verdal was living a bohemian lifestyle by the river in Montreal when Cohen wrote his poem Suzanne, which he subsequently set to music. Later in life she tried to get in touch with the star who blanked her backstage at a gig. She was last heard of living in a car in California. Apart from songs, the book features sidebars on the performers who wrote about the women in their life - Syd Barrett famously included four girls in the same song. Other examples include:Under My Thumb - The Rolling Stones (Chrissie Shrimpton),She's Leaving Home - The Beatles, Layla - Derek and the Dominoes (Patti Boyd), Peggy-Sue - Buddy Holly (Peggy-Sue Gerron), Maggie May - Rod Stewart, Light of Day - Bruce Springsteen (Julianna Phillips), Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond (Caroline Kennedy).




No More!


Book Description

Combines first-person historical accounts, traditional black spirituals, and passages about the daily lives of slaves to provide a chronicle of slavery in America.




Life: Rock & Roll At 50


Book Description

Here are 50 years of Rock Roll, from Chuck Berry to the Beatles to Beck, with an introduction by Dick Clark. On March 21, 1952, rock roll was forged in fire as Alan Freeds Moondog Coronation Ball in Cleveland ended up in a riot when frenzied fans stormed the arena. There was a new sound and it caused an entirely new reaction: loud, passionate, no-holds-barred, Katie-bar-the-door.This was rock roll, and even as things were getting out of hand in Cleveland, a producer named Sam Phillips was debuting his Sun record label in Memphis, the future launching pad for Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and, of course, the King, Elvis Presley. In the 1960s came the Beatles. Bob Dylan counseled Dont Look Back, and rock never did, as the music defined the times: the Whos My Generation, the Rolling Stones Street Fighting Man, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Youngs Woodstock.Today, rock lives on, and not just in reunions of KISS and Yes, nor in age-defying gigs by Aerosmith. It has seeped into our culture and into the new music. It changed America then, and, at 50, it continues to do so.




50 Thematic Songs Sung to Your Favorite Tunes


Book Description

Using familiar tunes, songs cover popular thems such as weather, apples, dinosaurs, animals, neighborhood, and many many more.




Girl in the Song


Book Description

A fascinating true story Chrissy grew up surrounded by the beauty of love and the ugliness of pain. The daughter of a pastor whose church was located in a rough-and-tumble area of Brooklyn, she witnessed the ravaging effects of the streets on the lives of the most desperate—drug addicts, derelicts, and other destitute people. Yet her own home was a haven of warmth, filled with affection and love. Then something happened that tore her away from it. With the flip of a switch, Chrissy fell deeper and deeper into deception where haunting images and songs pointed to one thing—perfection. Longing to be the girl in the song, she became entangled in an obsessive relationship. Before long, secret after secret led her down the path to becoming someone she didn’t even recognize. Locked in to an impossible life, Chrissy found release from a surprising direction. Girl in the Song tells the gripping, true story of a young woman whose choices led her to despair and incredible triumph. More than the story of one lost girl, Chrissy’s experience points to the power of hope to lead us away from destructive relationships and into a life that just might end happily ever after.




Fifty Famous Stories Retold


Book Description

Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin, first published in 1896, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.




Rocks Off


Book Description

To Bill Janovitz, all artists reveal themselves through their work and the Rolling Stones are no different. Each exposes a little more of their soul. Written by Stones fanatic, musician, and writer Bill Janovitz, this is a song-by-song chronicle that maps the landmarks of the band's career while expanding upon their recording and personal history through insightful and energetic prose. With its conversational tone - much like friends pouring over old records on a Saturday afternoon - the book presents the musical leaps taken by the band and a discussion of how the lyrical content both reflected and influenced popular culture. The song choices - fifty in all - are chronological and subjective. Most of them are the classic hits, however, the book digs deeper into beloved album tracks and songs with unique stories behind them. Rocks Off is the ultimate listening guide and thinking man's companion that will spur readers to dust off those old albums and listen in with a newfound perspective on one of the most famous and acclaimed rock'n'roll bands of all time.