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“All I have to say about these songs is that I love them, and want to sing along to them, and force other people to listen to them, and get cross when these other people don’t like them as much as I do.” —Nick Hornby, from Songbook
A wise and hilarious collection from the bestselling author of Dickens and Prince, Just Like You, Funny Girl and About a Boy.
Songs, songwriters, and why and how they get under our skin…
Songbook is Nick Hornby’s labor of love. A shrewd, funny, and completely unique collection of musings on pop music, why it’s good, what makes us listen and love it, and the ways in which it attaches itself to our lives—all with the beat of a perfectly mastered mix tape.
1. Introduction
"Your Love Is the Place Where I Come From"—Teenage Fanclub
2. "Thunder Road"—Bruce Springsteen
3. "I'm Like a Bird"—Nelly Furtado
4. "Heartbreaker"—Led Zeppelin
5. "One Man Guy"—Rufus Wainwright
6. "Samba Pa Ti"—Santana
7. "Mama You Been on My Mind"—Rod Stewart
8. "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?"—Bob Dylan
9. "Rain"—The Beatles
10. "You Had Time"—Ani DiFranco
11. "I've Had It"—Aimee Mann
12. "Born for Me"—Paul Westerberg
13. "Frankie Teardrop"—Suicide
14. "Ain't That Enough"—Teenage Fanclub
15. "First I Look at the Purse"—the J. Geils Band
16. "Smoke"—Ben Folds Five
17. "A Minor Incident"—Badly Drawn Boy
18. "Glorybound"—The Bible
19. "Caravan"—Van Morrison
20. "So I'll Run"—Butch Hancock and Marce LaCouture
21. "Puff the Magic Dragon"—Gregory Isaacs
22. "Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 3"—Ian Dury & the Blackheads
23. "The Calvary Cross"—Richard and Linda Thompson
24. "Late for the Sky"—Jackson Browne
25. "Hey Self Defeater"—Mark Mulcahy
26. "Needle in a Haystack"—The Velvelettes
27. "Let's Straighten It Out"—O. V. Wright
28. "Röyksopp's Night Out"—Röyksopp
29. "Frontier Psychiatrist"—the Avalanches
30. "No Fun/Push It"—Soulwax
31. "Pissing in a River"—the Patti Smith Group
...And 15 Albums
It's a Mann's World
Alternative Earle
Sweet Misery
The Entertainers
Pop Quiz
Discography
"Delivered in a hugely enjoyable, invisible prose that does in words what Hornby’s tunesmiths do with sound. He writes good."—Time Out London
"Quintessentially Hornby: an idiosyncratic and charming exploration of the meaning of music and how it changes as we grow up and grow old."—SeattleWeekly.com
"A book about the joy of listening to great pop songs, about the elusive genius of a catchy chorus...what shines most is Hornby himself—his wry self-awareness, his disarming honesty. Effortlessly readable, every chapter reminds us how special an observer of human behavior Hornby is"—Heat
“A small, singular, delightful collection [about] the power of songs to bind people culturally and to reach deeply into the human spirit, bending the heart into new shapes with new potential.”—The New York Times Book Review
"When Hornby writes about his enthusiasms and how they intertwine with his life, he's amusing and inspiring."—Rolling Stone
“All I have to say about these songs is that I love them, and want to sing along to them, and force other people to listen to them, and get cross when these other people don’t like them as much as I do.” —Nick Hornby, from Songbook
A wise and hilarious collection from the bestselling author of Dickens and Prince, Just Like You, Funny Girl and About a Boy.
Songs, songwriters, and why and how they get under our skin…
Songbook is Nick Hornby’s labor of love. A shrewd, funny, and completely unique collection of musings on pop music, why it’s good, what makes us listen and love it, and the ways in which it attaches itself to our lives—all with the beat of a perfectly mastered mix tape.
1. Introduction
"Your Love Is the Place Where I Come From"—Teenage Fanclub
2. "Thunder Road"—Bruce Springsteen
3. "I'm Like a Bird"—Nelly Furtado
4. "Heartbreaker"—Led Zeppelin
5. "One Man Guy"—Rufus Wainwright
6. "Samba Pa Ti"—Santana
7. "Mama You Been on My Mind"—Rod Stewart
8. "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?"—Bob Dylan
9. "Rain"—The Beatles
10. "You Had Time"—Ani DiFranco
11. "I've Had It"—Aimee Mann
12. "Born for Me"—Paul Westerberg
13. "Frankie Teardrop"—Suicide
14. "Ain't That Enough"—Teenage Fanclub
15. "First I Look at the Purse"—the J. Geils Band
16. "Smoke"—Ben Folds Five
17. "A Minor Incident"—Badly Drawn Boy
18. "Glorybound"—The Bible
19. "Caravan"—Van Morrison
20. "So I'll Run"—Butch Hancock and Marce LaCouture
21. "Puff the Magic Dragon"—Gregory Isaacs
22. "Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 3"—Ian Dury & the Blackheads
23. "The Calvary Cross"—Richard and Linda Thompson
24. "Late for the Sky"—Jackson Browne
25. "Hey Self Defeater"—Mark Mulcahy
26. "Needle in a Haystack"—The Velvelettes
27. "Let's Straighten It Out"—O. V. Wright
28. "Röyksopp's Night Out"—Röyksopp
29. "Frontier Psychiatrist"—the Avalanches
30. "No Fun/Push It"—Soulwax
31. "Pissing in a River"—the Patti Smith Group
...And 15 Albums
It's a Mann's World
Alternative Earle
Sweet Misery
The Entertainers
Pop Quiz
Discography
"Delivered in a hugely enjoyable, invisible prose that does in words what Hornby’s tunesmiths do with sound. He writes good."—Time Out London
"Quintessentially Hornby: an idiosyncratic and charming exploration of the meaning of music and how it changes as we grow up and grow old."—SeattleWeekly.com
"A book about the joy of listening to great pop songs, about the elusive genius of a catchy chorus...what shines most is Hornby himself—his wry self-awareness, his disarming honesty. Effortlessly readable, every chapter reminds us how special an observer of human behavior Hornby is"—Heat
“A small, singular, delightful collection [about] the power of songs to bind people culturally and to reach deeply into the human spirit, bending the heart into new shapes with new potential.”—The New York Times Book Review
"When Hornby writes about his enthusiasms and how they intertwine with his life, he's amusing and inspiring."—Rolling Stone
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