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My initial impression of Nick Hornby's SONGBOOK was that it was going to be the equivalent of a bowl of Kix cereal --- pleasant enough to digest, but ultimately a bowl of air. How wrong I was.
Hornby's book consists of chapters named after 31 different rock/pop tunes that in turn comprise one of his mixtapes, and five additional essays regarding different aspects of popular music. A "mixtape" (or mix CD) is a compilation of songs from disparate sources and is put together at the whim of the listener. Mixtapes can vary wildly from listener to listener, or even within the tape itself. Hornby's tape consists of an obscure 35-year-old Bob Dylan song, a 40-year-old Beatles tune, a recent Ani DiFranco track, and a cutting edge sample by The Avalanches. I initially thought that each chapter would accordingly be an essay about the particular tune the chapter was named for, and thus would be of limited interest, for a limited time. But no … Hornby goes into far weightier matters, with a light but definitive touch.
Hornby and I are (roughly) the same age and grew up in an era when music was more than entertainment. The music, and the people who made it, meant something to us. Now on the downside of middle age, we both still listen to current music, with the understanding that a pop song does not have to be necessarily weighty or momentous; it need be nothing more than what it is supposed to be, which is entertainment. And sometimes it's not even that. When Hornby describes hearing the fourth track --- a skit rather than a song --- entitled "Bizarre" on the D-12 disc Devil's Night, and describes it as "...the single most dispiriting moment of (his) professional life so far this Millennium," I know exactly what he's talking about.
Hornby is extremely insightful. He notes that since Elvis, the job of pop music has been to challenge the mores of an older generation. If we consider ourselves hipper or more tolerant than our parents, it's a mistake (in his words) or a conceit (in mine). I remember, 33 years ago, sitting in a concert hall watching Alice Cooper stage his own hanging and wondering not if someone would top this theatrically, but how. The question made me uneasy then, the answer more so now. Hornby indeed finds the loud guitar rock of Staind (sic) and Linkin Park welcome by comparison. He also discusses how one used to have to work to hear songs by the Beatles and such, whereas now the music has been co-opted for jeans commercials (and, indeed, as I write this, "Rock 'n' Roll" by Led Zeppelin is playing as the soundtrack for a ... Cadillac commercial).
But Hornby doesn't merely deal with music as a commodity. He discusses, without angst or self-pity, his concern for providing for his son Danny, a child with significant medical needs (the account of how Danny Hornby disses Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Sevens is worth the price of admission all by itself). He agonizes over his choice of "Caravan" by Van Morrison as the song of choice for his funeral (and it's a good choice, making my own selection of "I Want You" by Bob Dylan seem trite by comparison). Along the way he discusses the breakup of his marriage in a brief but heartfelt way, speaking in generalities but telling the reader --- a stranger --- everything one would need, or certainly would want, to know.
And if, per chance, you'd like to shine up that CD collection of yours a bit, you could do far worse than read SONGBOOK as a guide to do just that. An essay entitled "The Entertainers" initially had me howling as Hornby discussed the reasons why no one ever, ever listens to all of a CD boxed set. This gave way, however, to a serious discussion regarding the music of Los Lobos. Hornby isn't quite as persuasive with his essay concerning Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. But that's the beauty of the music --- you're probably not going to like all of it. With SONGBOOK, however, you're sure to like most of it.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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