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Lisnaholic 07-10-2020 06:47 AM

Books By Famous Musicians
 
Not sure, but I suspect that this is a relatively small sub-genre of books. Of course there's a huge quantity of books on music theory, music history, biographies of musicians, etc, etc, but I hope the topic of this thread is more manageable. Off the top of my head I can only think of a handful of famous musicians who have had the time, discipline or inspiration to write a book, but I am prepared to be surprised:

Brian Wilson: Wouldn't It Be Nice
John French: Beefheart Through the Eyes of Magic
Leonard Cohen: Beautiful Losers
Bob Dylan: Tarantula (which generated this huge thread: https://www.musicbanter.com/media/60...tarantula.html)
Bob Dylan: Chronicles
John Lennon: In His Own Write and A Spaniard In The Works (frequently published in one volume)
Gerald Moore: Am I too loud?
Eric Clapton: The Autobiography
Posh Spice: Learning To Fly

So this is an invitation to expand that list, and talk about the books by famous musicians that you've read, would recommend, or have just heard of and wondered about.

Plankton 07-10-2020 07:34 AM

Neil

grindy 07-10-2020 07:44 AM

Derek Bailey - Improvisation
A great look into the way improvisation was and is prevalent in lots of diverse musical styles.

Chris Cutler - File Under Popular
A collection of essays about mostly experimental music and and its political and societal aspects. Some good stuff there and lots of bands that one should check out.

Marie Monday 07-10-2020 07:54 AM

I've only read two books by musicians: the memoirs of Keith Richards and Carrie Brownstein

OccultHawk 07-10-2020 08:57 AM

Quote:

Bob Dylan: Chronicles
Boring af

Frownland 07-10-2020 09:13 AM

Can't really go wrong with any of John Cage's books. So far I've read For the Birds and Silence: Lectures and Writings and both were brilliant.

Harry Partch's Genesis of a Music is a pretty enlightening look at microtonality, equal temperament, and music education but it is a damn chewy read that I'd only recommend for those willing to put a lot of effort into it. It was tough for me, at least.

Deathconsciousness is a booklet that accompanies the album of the same name by Have a Nice Life. Daniel Barrett of HANL repeated this concept with the self-titled debut from his project Giles Corey. I've yet to read either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by grindy (Post 2125666)
Derek Bailey - Improvisation
A great look into the way improvisation was and is prevalent in lots of diverse musical styles.

I read this recently and predictably loved it. He gets pretty snarky about non-improvisers at the end.

Lucem Ferre 07-10-2020 11:20 AM

What about Violent J's Behind The Paint?

He talks about how he used to throw bricks at prostitutes and the time he sexually assaulted Sheryl Crow at the final Woodstock.

Lisnaholic 07-11-2020 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OccultHawk (Post 2125687)
Boring af

I wonder if you arrived at this conclusion after going through the same reactions as me:
i) Relief that it wasn't Tarantula vol II
ii) Surprise at how accessible and unpretentious Bob's writing was
iii) Disappointment at how little it ultimately revealed about the great man
__________________________________________________ _________

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland (Post 2125690)
Harry Partch's Genesis of a Music is a pretty enlightening look at microtonality, equal temperament, and music education but it is a damn chewy read that I'd only recommend for those willing to put a lot of effort into it. It was tough for me, at least.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucem Ferre (Post 2125708)
What about Violent J's Behind The Paint?
He talks about how he used to throw bricks at prostitutes and the time he sexually assaulted Sheryl Crow at the final Woodstock.

I guess I'll forever be a dillitante about music because Violent J's book sounds so much more interesting than Harry Partch's.
__________________________________________________ ______

I'd forgotten that Keith Richards wrote a book, Marie. Thanks for the reminder. His book falls into what is probably the biggest category of musicians' books: Memoirs and autobiogs. And if your journals get published posthumously, does that count as writing a book? If so, Kurt Cobain deserves a mention here too.

To judge from grindy and Frownland's reading, the next category could be Musical Analysis and Manifestos, with a last category of Other. I don't know how big the "Other" category might be, but it includes a fair amount of self-indulgent material that probably doesn't appeal much today. That certainly describes Cohen's Beautiful Losers, which I once attempted to read - and here are two samples from books by J Lennon and J Morrison, whose books at least share the great virtue of brevity:

https://beatlesblogger.files.wordpre...rite-pages.jpg...https://41.media.tumblr.com/6215d3b1...2o1_r2_500.jpg

OccultHawk 07-11-2020 08:43 AM

Quote:

Disappointment at how little it ultimately revealed about the great man
That was really the crux of it.

Mindfulness 07-11-2020 09:35 AM

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/KJUAA...wAN/s-l600.jpg

Waited outside in line at the base mall (px) to buy this back when it came out. Read it and realized it wasn't for listeners like me. More for people who literally don't understand some lyrics and have to be "decoded" for others who don't get it. It had photos in it and made it fun to read.

Raime 07-12-2020 07:58 PM

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....4,203,200_.jpg

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon...._AC_SY400_.jpg

I'm getting the first book in the mail soon, and I've read a good portion of the second. I haven't been able to get ahold of the David Berman's works until after he passed away, but his lyrics are great, and I've read really good things about both of his books of poetry.

OccultHawk 07-12-2020 08:23 PM

Miles’ autobiography really wild

Frownland 07-12-2020 10:08 PM

I forget where I heard this, but Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart) allegedly worked on two novels throughout his life that he never finished. I feel like Hey Garland I Dig Your Tweed Coat is an excerpt from one of these unreleased novels because even though his lyrics are always top notch, the imagery in that one is viscerally vivid in a more prose-y way for Beefheart.



Similarly, billy woods has the lyric "Too scared to write the book, took it, put it in the hook of a song. No one listened to it, looks like I wasn't wrong" and hopefully he comes through with something because he's definitely got the mind to write a real classic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic (Post 2125827)
I guess I'll forever be a dillitante about music because Violent J's book sounds so much more interesting than Harry Partch's.

lol even as someone who's pretty interested in what Partch was writing about, the Violent J book does sound a lot more interesting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OccultHawk (Post 2126015)
Miles’ autobiography really wild

I've heard the same from a lot of people. It's in my reading queue and I have pretty high expectations.

grindy 07-13-2020 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raime (Post 2126010)
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....4,203,200_.jpg

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon...._AC_SY400_.jpg

I'm getting the first book in the mail soon, and I've read a good portion of the second. I haven't been able to get ahold of the David Berman's works until after he passed away, but his lyrics are great, and I've read really good things about both of his books of poetry.

I was tryng to find Actual Air a few months ago and it seemed to be out of print, with older copies going fo hundreds of dollars. But now it seems to be easier to get. Thanks for the reminder.

Psy-Fi 07-13-2020 06:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic (Post 2125827)
To judge from grindy and Frownland's reading, the next category could be Musical Analysis and Manifestos, with a last category of Other. I don't know how big the "Other" category might be, but it includes a fair amount of self-indulgent material that probably doesn't appeal much today. That certainly describes Cohen's Beautiful Losers, which I once attempted to read - and here are two samples from books by J Lennon and J Morrison, whose books at least share the great virtue of brevity:

https://beatlesblogger.files.wordpre...rite-pages.jpg...https://41.media.tumblr.com/6215d3b1...2o1_r2_500.jpg

The first time I read 'The Lords and the New Creatures' by Jim Morrison, I was tripping on acid and I thought the book was brilliant psychedelic poetry. I re-read it later, after the LSD wore off, and I thought it was silly, self-indulgent twaddle.

Lisnaholic 07-15-2020 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psy-Fi (Post 2126034)
The first time I read 'The Lords and the New Creatures' by Jim Morrison, I was tripping on acid and I thought the book was brilliant psychedelic poetry. I re-read it later, after the LSD wore off, and I thought it was silly, self-indulgent twaddle.

That's interesting, Psy-Fi: perhaps you had a wilder youth than I imagined.

Of course your confusion of judgement is what many of us go through: consumers, critics and artists themselves. In Brian Wilson's autobiog he details a cocaine-fuelled writing frenzy with Van **** Parks one weekend; after some all-nighters of drugs and inspiration, they had no ability to assess the worth of what they'd written.

I haven't read "The Lords and New Creatures", but just on that one page I posted, this bit seems very good to me:-

We are not constant
We are an arrow in flight
The sum of the angles of change
__________________________________________________ _____________

And as for John Lennon, I should have praised his books more. They are not just brief, they are fun. JL is not trying to be an artist with some exhaulted, portentious message, he's just enjoying the English language, and is a worthy heir to a long tradition going back to Edward Lear and Lewis Carrol.
At one pre-internet time I used to regulary dip into his books to enjoy the likes of the following:-

Spoiler for Quotes from In His Own Write:
In His Own Write Quotes

“I'm a moldy moldy man
I'm moldy thru and thru
I'm a moldy moldy man
You would not think it true
I'm moldy til my eyeballs
I'm moldy til my toe
I will not dance I shyballs
I'm such a humble Joe.”
__________________________________________________ __________
“I sat belonely

I sat belonely down a tree,
humbled fat and small.
A little lady sing to me
I couldn't see at all.

I'm looking up and at the sky,
to find such wondrous voice.
Puzzly puzzle, wonder why,
I hear but have no choice.

'Speak up, come forth, you ravel me',
I potty menthol shout.
'I know you hiddy by this tree'.
But still she won't come out.

Such softly singing lulled me sleep,
an hour or two or so
I wakeny slow and took a peep
and still no lady show.

Then suddy on a little twig
I thought I see a sight,
A tiny little tiny pig,
that sing with all it's might.

'I thought you were a lady'.
I giggle, - well I may,
To my suprise the lady,
got up - and flew away.”
__________________________________________________ ___________________

“I was bored on the 9th of Octover 1940 when, I believe, the Nasties were still booming us led by Madolf Heatlump (who only had one). Anyway they didn't get me. I attended to varicous schools in Liddypol. And still didn't pass -- much to my Aunties supplies. As a member of the most publified Beatles my (P, G, and R's) records might seem funnier to some of you than this book, but as far as I'm conceived this correction of short writty is the most wonderfoul larf I've every ready.

God help and breed you all.”


― John Lennon, In His Own Write


And yes, Frownland, now you mention it, Hey Garland sounds much more like an extract from a story than a song.

ribbons 07-15-2020 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic (Post 2126400)
And as for John Lennon, I should have praised his books more. They are not just brief, they are fun. JL is not trying to be an artist with some exhaulted, portentious message, he's just enjoying the English language, and is a worthy heir to a long tradition going back to Edward Lear and Lewis Carrol.
At one pre-internet time I used to regulary dip into his books to enjoy the likes of the following:-

Lisna, John's In His Own Write and A Spaniard In The Works still make me larf and larf like Araminta Ditch, larfing to myselve and to udders to the point of hysteriffs. :)

Quote:

"Araminta Ditch was always larfing. She woof larf at these, larf at thas. Always larfing she was. Many body peofle woof look atat her saying, 'Why does that Araminta Ditch keep larfing?' They could never understamp why she was ever larfing about the place. 'I hope she's not larfing at me,' some peokle would say, 'I certainly hope that Araminta Ditch is not larfing at me.

One date Araminta rose up out of her duffle bed, larfing as usual with that insaje larf peojle had come to know her form. 'Hee! Hee! Hee!' she larfed all the way down to breakfart. 'Hee! Hee! Hee!' she gurgled over the morman papiers. 'Hee! Hee! Hee!' continude Araminta on the buzz to wirk. This pubbled the passages and condoctor equally both. 'Why is that boot larfing all the time?' inqueered an elderberry passengeorge who trabelled regularge on that roof and had a write to know.

'I bet nobody knows why I am always larfing,' said Araminta to herself privately, to herself. 'They would dearly love to know why I am always larfing like this to myselve privately to myselve. I bet some peoble would really like to know.' She was right, off course, lots of peotle would.

Araminta Ditch had a boyfred who could never see the joke. 'As long as she's happy,' he said. He was a good man. 'Pray tell me, Araminta, why is it that you larf so readily. Yeaye, but I am sorly troubled sometimes when thy larfter causes sitch tribulation and embarresment amongst my family and elders.' Araminta would larf all the more at an outburp like this, even to the point of hysteriffs. 'Hee! Hee! Hee!' she would scream as if possesed by the very double himself.”

ribbons 07-15-2020 12:35 PM

Have read these over the years and would generally recommend:

Ravi Shankar – Raga Mala
Jah Wobble – Memoirs of a Geezer
John Lydon – Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs; and Anger Is An Energy
Richard Lloyd – Everything Is Combustible
Richard Hell – I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp
Jim Dickinson – I’m Just Dead, I’m Not Gone
Loretta Lynn – Coal Miner’s Daughter
Chris Stamey – A Spy In The House Of Loud
Johnny Ramone – Commando: The Autobiography of Johnny Ramone
Steve Jones – Lonely Boy
Sun Ra – This Planet Is Doomed: The Science Fiction Poetry of Sun Ra
Chris Difford – Some Fantastic Place
Will Carruthers – Playing The Bass With Three Left Hands

Lisnaholic 07-16-2020 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ribbons (Post 2126460)
Lisna, John's In His Own Write and A Spaniard In The Works still make me larf and larf like Araminta Ditch, larfing to myselve and to udders to the point of hysteriffs. :)

That's a great quotation about Araminta Ditch, ribbons, with so many funny details in JL's story. Thanks for the post. It's good to meet another enthusiast of JL's books; I have often wondered why they don't get more attention than they do - but then even JL didn't talk about them much, afaik, especially given that he had a platform to promote them like other authors could only dream of. Perhaps he preferred to keep the writing separate from his career as a musician.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ribbons (Post 2126462)
Have read these over the years and would generally recommend:

Ravi Shankar – Raga Mala
Jah Wobble – Memoirs of a Geezer
John Lydon – Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs; and Anger Is An Energy
Richard Lloyd – Everything Is Combustible
Richard Hell – I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp
Jim Dickinson – I’m Just Dead, I’m Not Gone
Loretta Lynn – Coal Miner’s Daughter
Chris Stamey – A Spy In The House Of Loud
Johnny Ramone – Commando: The Autobiography of Johnny Ramone
Steve Jones – Lonely Boy
Sun Ra – This Planet Is Doomed: The Science Fiction Poetry of Sun Ra
Chris Difford – Some Fantastic Place
Will Carruthers – Playing The Bass With Three Left Hands

Those books are all completely new to me. Best Title Award goes to Chris Stamey: A Spy In The House Of Loud :laughing:

ribbons 07-19-2020 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic (Post 2126552)
That's a great quotation about Araminta Ditch, ribbons, with so many funny details in JL's story. Thanks for the post. It's good to meet another enthusiast of JL's books; I have often wondered why they don't get more attention than they do - but then even JL didn't talk about them much, afaik, especially given that he had a platform to promote them like other authors could only dream of. Perhaps he preferred to keep the writing separate from his career as a musician.

Lisna, it did appear that John was somewhat uncomfortable with his literary success. As you may know, John was guest of honor at a Foyle’s literary luncheon shortly after the publication of In His Own Write (on the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, no less). A hungover John did not realize he was expected to make a speech – and stood at the mic merely to mumble, “Thank you very much, and God bless you. You’ve got a lucky face.” The assembled literati were disappointed and Beatles manager Brian Epstein cleaned up with a longer speech.

However: John later had the chance to put his oar in when a woman, while asking for his autograph, remarked, “I never thought I would stoop to asking for such an autograph.” To which John stooped to reply, “And I never thought I would be forced to sign my name for someone like you.” :laughing:


ribbons 07-19-2020 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic (Post 2126552)
Best Title Award goes to Chris Stamey: A Spy In The House Of Loud :laughing:

Yes - a play on titles by Anais Nin or Jim Morrison, or both! :laughing:

Lisnaholic 07-20-2020 08:06 AM

No, I didn't know that story about Lennon's speech at Foyles. Surely B Epstien should've prepped him about what to expect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ribbons (Post 2126966)
However: John later had the chance to put his oar in when a woman, while asking for his autograph, remarked, “I never thought I would stoop to asking for such an autograph.” To which John stooped to reply, “And I never thought I would be forced to sign my name for someone like you.” :laughing:

Hungover or not, at least JL had gathered his wits enough to give a snappy answer to that extremely rude woman.

It's been modernised since, but Foyles used to be a confusing labrynith covering 4 floors and a basement; you'd get lost trying to find the section you wanted, then get lost again trying to find your way out! Did you ever get a chance to go there, ribbons?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ribbons (Post 2126968)
Yes - a play on titles by Anais Nin or Jim Morrison, or both! :laughing:

Thanks, I'd forgotten where Jim got that title from. Jim could have done more to acknowledge this bit of thievery too:-

https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1...05l/527509.jpg

...which is right on topic for this thread , of course, and a good excuse to post this charming song, wth a gallery of great photos:-


ribbons 07-22-2020 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic (Post 2127027)
It's been modernised since, but Foyles used to be a confusing labrynith covering 4 floors and a basement; you'd get lost trying to find the section you wanted, then get lost again trying to find your way out! Did you ever get a chance to go there, ribbons?

I've never been to Foyles, unfortunately; your description of its original labyrinthine layout reminds me of The Strand Bookstore in NYC.

And I've realized that I misspelled Foyles in my earlier post! We Yanks are much more liberal (greedy?) than the Brits in the placement of the possessive apostrophe in business and place names. :)

Good catch on Jim Morrison's "thievery" of Richard Fariña's title, Been Down So Long It Looks Up To Me. You have piqued my interest in that book - I've heard about it for years but never managed to read it. Thanks for sharing that lovely song and video, as well. I've watched a few YouTube videos of Richard & Mimi appearing on Pete Seeger's show Rainbow Quest. I like Richard's dulcimer playing (almost an American-raga sound), and Mimi's vocals are so similar to sister Joan! Time to dig deeper into Richard & Mimi's music. :cool:

Frownland 09-19-2020 07:32 PM

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....4,203,200_.jpg
The Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons by Igor Stravinsky

A series of lectures that Stravinsky presented to Harvard. There's a great deal of insight as is to be expected, but it's also weirdly authoritarian and reminds me a lot of the "dancing about architecture" trope whenever he digs into aesthetics specifically. The language, flow, and style of it is rough too, but I'll let the translator take the blame for that. Valuable for musicians and Stravinsky heads.

adidasss 09-28-2020 08:09 PM

I think Patty Smith is the only musician whose books I've read. I loved Just kids.

Frownland 12-31-2020 07:25 AM

https://d1w7fb2mkkr3kw.cloudfront.ne...0520266087.jpg

Theory of Harmony by Arnold Schoenberg

A textbook on harmony and everything surrounding it by the master. Better than most theory books I've looked at since Schoenberg tries to show what music is capable of as opposed to looking in the rearview mirror and dictating what music has done. Stravinsky should've stuck to doing and not teaching but Schoenberg is boss at both.

A must for musicians really, but readable enough for nonmusician fans of Schoenberg to take a gander. If you've read Cage's work, this would be a good supplement because you can spot some of Schoenberg's influence on his student.

https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/com...44l/922398.jpg
Orientations: Collected Writings by Pierre Boulez

An incredibly thorough look at historical approaches to music and where it's going, informed by his own compositions and those that he's conducted. Received this on christmas so I've only taken a glance at it but have high hopes.

Spoiler for table of contents:
I. The Shaping Imagination
Fundamentals
1. Aesthetics and the Fetishists
2. Taste: ‘The Spectacles Worn by Reason’?
3. Putting the Phantoms to Flight
4. Time, Notation and Coding
5. Form
6. Towards a Conclusion
7. Periform
Seeing and Knowing
8. The Composer as Critic
9. Demythologizing the Conductor
10. On Musical Analysis
11. The Teacher’s Task
Frenzy and Organization
12. The System Exposed: Polyphonie X and Structures for two pianos
13. ‘Sonate, que me veux-tu’: Third Piano Sonata
14. Constructing an Improvisation: Deuxiéme Improvisation sur Mallarmé
15. Pli selon pli
16. Sound, Word, Synthesis
17. Poetry—Centre and Absence—Music
18. An Interview with Dominique Jameux: Polyphonie X, Structures for two pianos and Poésie pour pouvoir

II. Exemplars
19. Beethoven: Tell Me
20. Berlioz and the Realm of the Imaginary
21. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique and Lélio
22. Richard Wagner: The Man and the Works
23. Cosima Wagner’s Diary: ‘R. is Working’
24. Parsifal: The First Encounter
25. Wieland Wagner: ‘Here Space Becomes Time’
26. Approaches to Parsifal
27. The Ring
-Time Re-explored
-A Performer’s Notebook
28. Gustav Mahler: Why Biography?
29. Mahler: Our Contemporary
30. Mahler: Das klagende Lied
31. Reflections on Pelléas et Mélisande
32. Debussy: Orchestral Works
33. Satie: Chien flasque
34. Schoenberg the Unloved?
35. Speaking, Playing, Singing: Pierrot lunaire and Le Marteau sans maître
36. Kandinsky and Schoenberg
37. Bartók: Music for strings, percussion and celesta
38. Stravinsky: Style or Idea?—In Praise of Amnesia
39. Stravinsky: The Firebird
40. Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
41. The Stravinsky–Webern Conjunction
42. Varèse: Hyperprisme, Octandre, Intégrales
43. Berg: The Chamber Concerto
44. Wozzeck and its Interpretation
45. Lulu
-The Second Opera
-Questions of Interpretation
-A Short Postscript on Fidelity
46. Olivier Messiaen
-A Class and its Fantasies
-In Retrospect
-Vision and Revolution
-The Utopian Years
-The Power of Example
47. Oriental Music: A Lost Paradise?

III. Looking Back
The ‘Domaine muscial’
48. First and Second Hearings
49. Experiment, Ostriches and Music
50. Mini-Editorial
51. Ten Years On
Point of Departure
52. Why I Say ‘No’ to Malraux
Composer and Audience
53. Where Are We Now?
54. The Bauhaus Model
55. Orchestras, Concert Hall, Repertory, Audiences
56. Arousing Interest in New Music
57. What’s New?
58. Freeing Music
59. Technology and the Composer
Tributes
60. Wolfgang Steinecke
-Accidental
-From the distance
61. Edgard Varèse
62. Hermann Scherchen: the Adventurous Patriarch
63. Roger Désormière: ‘I Hate Remembering’
64. Hans Rosbaud
-The Conductor and his Model
-‘…to cut me off before night’
65. T. W. Adorno
66. Heinrich Strobel
-The Friend
-The Intermediary
67. Brudno Maderna: A Portrait Sketch
By Way of Conclusion
68. The Elliptical Geometry of Utopia

Trollheart 12-31-2020 12:59 PM

Nick Cave - And the Ass Saw the Angel and also The Death of Bunny Munro

Steve Earle - Dog Roses and I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive

Mindfulness 12-31-2020 01:12 PM


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxeSvSeVqQY

The Batlord 12-31-2020 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucem Ferre (Post 2125708)
What about Violent J's Behind The Paint?

He talks about how he used to throw bricks at prostitutes and the time he sexually assaulted Sheryl Crow at the final Woodstock.

I've listened to a few chapters of the audio book and it's pretty great. I like how he just wrote like he talks so can just sound like a grimy ******* for a whole book.


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