The Girl in the Song: The Real Stories Behind 50 Classic Pop Songs. by Michael Heatly - Hardcover

Michael Heatley

3.31

400 ratings by Goodreads

9781907554032: The Girl in the Song: The Real Stories Behind 50 Classic Pop Songs. by Michael Heatly

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1907554033 ISBN 13: 9781907554032

Publisher: Portico, 2010

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

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).

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Michael Heatley has written over 100 books, ranging from rock and pop biographies to popular science, humour and sports titles. He has contributed to many rock music encyclopedias, including the Virgin Encyclopedia of Rock (1996), and music biographies, including Eminem (2001) and Deep Purple (2007). He has written for magazines including Music Week, Billboard and Record Collector. His most recent titles for Anova include: Music That Shook The World (2008), Stars and Guitars (2010) and The Girl in The Song (2010). Frank Hopkinson is a photographer with a wide variety of commissions in books, websites and magazines. His most recent work for Pavilion Books has been for Puerto Rico Then and Now, Savannah Then and Now, Brooklyn Then and Now and Paris Then and Now.

From Booklist:

Many of us know that Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” was inspired by Caroline Kennedy and that “Peggy Sue” was the girlfriend of Buddy Holly’s drummer. But who among us knew that “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby,” by Counting Crows, was written about Monica Potter, the actress? Or that the first verse of “Fire and Rain,” James Taylor’s classic, was a eulogy for a dead friend? Or that “The Girl from Ipanema” was Heloisa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto, a 15-year-old head-turner in Rio de Janeiro? Well, maybe pop-music fanatics will know all of these facts, just like they’ll know most of the rest of this book’s stories. But the book isn’t written for them; its audience is the ordinary reader, to whom the songs are familiar, but their origins remain a mystery. The author, a music historian and biographer, writes in a lively style, devoting a few pages to each song and then moving on to the next. A slim book but one packed with entertaining information. --David Pitt

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.