Author: Christopher R. Gabel
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1573567299
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
Sting has successfully established himself as one of the most important singer-songwriters in Western popular music over the past twenty years. His affinity for collaborative work and disparate musical styles has pushed his music into an astonishing array of contexts, but no matter what the style or who the collaborator, Sting's voice always remains distinct, and this fact has earned him success amongst a correspondingly broad audience. The Words and Music of Sting subdivides Sting's life and works into rough periods of creative activity and offers a fantastic opportunity to view Sting's many stylistic changes within a coherent general framework. After analyzing Sting's musical output album by album and song by song, author Christopher Gable sums up Sting's accomplishments and places him on the continuum of influential singer-songwriters, showing how he differs and relates to other artists of the same period. Aside from his commercial success, Sting is also interesting for the use of recurring themes in his lyrics (such as family relationships, love, war, spirituality, and work) and for his use of jazz and world music to illustrate or work against the meaning of a song. Sting's life also sheds light on his music, as his working-class roots in Newcastle, England are never far removed from his international superstardom. Throughout his life, he has been musically open-minded and inquisitive, always seeking out new styles and often incorporating them into his compositions.
The Words and Music of Sting
Author: Christopher R. Gabel
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1573567299
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
Sting has successfully established himself as one of the most important singer-songwriters in Western popular music over the past twenty years. His affinity for collaborative work and disparate musical styles has pushed his music into an astonishing array of contexts, but no matter what the style or who the collaborator, Sting's voice always remains distinct, and this fact has earned him success amongst a correspondingly broad audience. The Words and Music of Sting subdivides Sting's life and works into rough periods of creative activity and offers a fantastic opportunity to view Sting's many stylistic changes within a coherent general framework. After analyzing Sting's musical output album by album and song by song, author Christopher Gable sums up Sting's accomplishments and places him on the continuum of influential singer-songwriters, showing how he differs and relates to other artists of the same period. Aside from his commercial success, Sting is also interesting for the use of recurring themes in his lyrics (such as family relationships, love, war, spirituality, and work) and for his use of jazz and world music to illustrate or work against the meaning of a song. Sting's life also sheds light on his music, as his working-class roots in Newcastle, England are never far removed from his international superstardom. Throughout his life, he has been musically open-minded and inquisitive, always seeking out new styles and often incorporating them into his compositions.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1573567299
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
Sting has successfully established himself as one of the most important singer-songwriters in Western popular music over the past twenty years. His affinity for collaborative work and disparate musical styles has pushed his music into an astonishing array of contexts, but no matter what the style or who the collaborator, Sting's voice always remains distinct, and this fact has earned him success amongst a correspondingly broad audience. The Words and Music of Sting subdivides Sting's life and works into rough periods of creative activity and offers a fantastic opportunity to view Sting's many stylistic changes within a coherent general framework. After analyzing Sting's musical output album by album and song by song, author Christopher Gable sums up Sting's accomplishments and places him on the continuum of influential singer-songwriters, showing how he differs and relates to other artists of the same period. Aside from his commercial success, Sting is also interesting for the use of recurring themes in his lyrics (such as family relationships, love, war, spirituality, and work) and for his use of jazz and world music to illustrate or work against the meaning of a song. Sting's life also sheds light on his music, as his working-class roots in Newcastle, England are never far removed from his international superstardom. Throughout his life, he has been musically open-minded and inquisitive, always seeking out new styles and often incorporating them into his compositions.
Lyrics
Author: Sting
Publisher: Dial Press
ISBN: 0307421996
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Book Description
From the first Police album, Outlandos D'Amour, through Sacred Love, here are the collected lyrics written by Sting, along with his commentary. “Publishing my lyrics separately from their musical accompaniment is something that I’ve studiously avoided until now. The two, lyrics and music, have always been mutually dependent, in much the same way as a mannequin and a set of clothes are dependent on each other; separate them, and what remains is a naked dummy and a pile of cloth. Nevertheless, the exercise has been an interesting one, seeing perhaps for the first time how successfully the lyrics survive on their own, and inviting the question as to whether song lyrics are in fact poetry or something else entirely. And while I’ve never seriously described myself as a poet, the book in your hands, devoid as it is of any musical notation, looks suspiciously like a book of poems. So it seems I am entering, with some trepidation, the unadorned realm of the poet. I have set out my compositions in the sequence they were written and provided a little background when I thought it might be illuminating. My wares have neither been sorted nor dressed in clothes that do not belong to them; indeed, they have been shorn of the very garments that gave them their shape in the first place. No doubt some of them will perish in the cold cruelty of this new environment, and yet others may prove more resilient and become perhaps more beautiful in their naked state. I can’t predict the outcome, but I have taken this risk knowingly and, while no one in their right mind should ever attempt to set “The Waste Land” to music, in the hopeful words of T. S. Eliot, These fragments I have shored against my ruins.” —Sting, from the Introduction
Publisher: Dial Press
ISBN: 0307421996
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Book Description
From the first Police album, Outlandos D'Amour, through Sacred Love, here are the collected lyrics written by Sting, along with his commentary. “Publishing my lyrics separately from their musical accompaniment is something that I’ve studiously avoided until now. The two, lyrics and music, have always been mutually dependent, in much the same way as a mannequin and a set of clothes are dependent on each other; separate them, and what remains is a naked dummy and a pile of cloth. Nevertheless, the exercise has been an interesting one, seeing perhaps for the first time how successfully the lyrics survive on their own, and inviting the question as to whether song lyrics are in fact poetry or something else entirely. And while I’ve never seriously described myself as a poet, the book in your hands, devoid as it is of any musical notation, looks suspiciously like a book of poems. So it seems I am entering, with some trepidation, the unadorned realm of the poet. I have set out my compositions in the sequence they were written and provided a little background when I thought it might be illuminating. My wares have neither been sorted nor dressed in clothes that do not belong to them; indeed, they have been shorn of the very garments that gave them their shape in the first place. No doubt some of them will perish in the cold cruelty of this new environment, and yet others may prove more resilient and become perhaps more beautiful in their naked state. I can’t predict the outcome, but I have taken this risk knowingly and, while no one in their right mind should ever attempt to set “The Waste Land” to music, in the hopeful words of T. S. Eliot, These fragments I have shored against my ruins.” —Sting, from the Introduction
Broken Music
Author: Sting
Publisher: Dial Press
ISBN: 030741843X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 359
Book Description
“Sting’s gift for prose and reverence for language, nearly the equal of his musical gifts, shine on every page. Even when Broken Music addresses the quixotic life of an aspiring rock & roller, it reads like literature from a more rarified time when adults didn’t condescend to the vulgarities of pop culture.” —Rolling Stone Having been a songwriter most of my life, condensing my ideas and emotions into short rhyming couplets and setting them to music, I had never really considered writing a book. But upon arriving at the reflective age of fifty, I found myself drawn, for the first time, to write long passages that were as stimulating and intriguing to me as any songwriting I had ever done. And so Broken Music began to take shape. It is a book about the early part of my life, from childhood through adolescence, right up to the eve of my success with the Police. It is a story very few people know. I had no interest in writing a traditional autobiographical recitation of everything that’s ever happened to me. Instead I found myself drawn to exploring specific moments, certain people and relationships, and particular events which still resonate powerfully for me as I try to understand the child I was, and the man I became.
Publisher: Dial Press
ISBN: 030741843X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 359
Book Description
“Sting’s gift for prose and reverence for language, nearly the equal of his musical gifts, shine on every page. Even when Broken Music addresses the quixotic life of an aspiring rock & roller, it reads like literature from a more rarified time when adults didn’t condescend to the vulgarities of pop culture.” —Rolling Stone Having been a songwriter most of my life, condensing my ideas and emotions into short rhyming couplets and setting them to music, I had never really considered writing a book. But upon arriving at the reflective age of fifty, I found myself drawn, for the first time, to write long passages that were as stimulating and intriguing to me as any songwriting I had ever done. And so Broken Music began to take shape. It is a book about the early part of my life, from childhood through adolescence, right up to the eve of my success with the Police. It is a story very few people know. I had no interest in writing a traditional autobiographical recitation of everything that’s ever happened to me. Instead I found myself drawn to exploring specific moments, certain people and relationships, and particular events which still resonate powerfully for me as I try to understand the child I was, and the man I became.
Sting
Author: Roberto Gligorov
Publisher: R & S Books
ISBN: 9781879510005
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 126
Book Description
Publisher: R & S Books
ISBN: 9781879510005
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 126
Book Description
There's a Little Black Spot on the Sun Today
Author:
Publisher: NorthSouth Books
ISBN: 9780735842380
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Sting’s evocative lyrics from "King of Pain" are powerfully transformed into minimalistic illustrations by Sven Völker, who gives voice to his son's journey from illness to health in this extraordinary and deeply moving collaboration that explores pain’s sadness, beauty, and wonder.
Publisher: NorthSouth Books
ISBN: 9780735842380
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Sting’s evocative lyrics from "King of Pain" are powerfully transformed into minimalistic illustrations by Sven Völker, who gives voice to his son's journey from illness to health in this extraordinary and deeply moving collaboration that explores pain’s sadness, beauty, and wonder.
The Album
Author: James E. Perone
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 1838
Book Description
This four-volume work provides provocative critical analyses of 160 of the best popular music albums of the past 50 years, from the well-known and mainstream to the quirky and offbeat. The Album: A Guide to Pop Music's Most Provocative, Influential, and Important Creations contains critical analysis essays on 160 significant pop music albums from 1960 to 2010. The selected albums represent the pop, rock, soul, R&B, hip hop, country, and alternative genres, including artists such as 2Pac, Carole King, James Brown, The Beatles, and Willie Nelson. Each volume contains brief sidebars with biographical information about key performers and producers, as well as descriptions of particular music industry topics pertaining to the development of the album over this 50-year period. Due to its examination of a broad time frame and wide range of musical styles, and its depth of analysis that goes beyond that in other books about essential albums of the past and present, this collection will appeal strongly to music fans of all tastes and interests.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 1838
Book Description
This four-volume work provides provocative critical analyses of 160 of the best popular music albums of the past 50 years, from the well-known and mainstream to the quirky and offbeat. The Album: A Guide to Pop Music's Most Provocative, Influential, and Important Creations contains critical analysis essays on 160 significant pop music albums from 1960 to 2010. The selected albums represent the pop, rock, soul, R&B, hip hop, country, and alternative genres, including artists such as 2Pac, Carole King, James Brown, The Beatles, and Willie Nelson. Each volume contains brief sidebars with biographical information about key performers and producers, as well as descriptions of particular music industry topics pertaining to the development of the album over this 50-year period. Due to its examination of a broad time frame and wide range of musical styles, and its depth of analysis that goes beyond that in other books about essential albums of the past and present, this collection will appeal strongly to music fans of all tastes and interests.
The Words and Music of Melissa Etheridge
Author: James E. Perone
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1440830088
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 168
Book Description
For a quarter century, Melissa Etheridge has been one of the most iconic and prolific female rock musicians. This book critically examines this songwriter's portrayal of universal human emotions and experiences against the context of her life. Songwriter. Pop star. Gay activist. Cancer survivor. Advocate for cancer victims. Human being. Melissa Etheridge is all of these things, and all of these elements of who she is have played an instrumental role in her music from the beginning of her career to the present day. The Words and Music of Melissa Etheridge examines Melissa Etheridge's contributions to pop music in the tradition of other greats such as Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen, and Rod Stewart. Written by a music scholar and Etheridge fan, this book investigates her work chronologically by time period, underscoring her growth as a songwriter and musician and demonstrating how her music reflected the events in her life, both positive and negative. Author James E. Perone spotlights how Etheridge's songs defy traditional gender roles and stereotypes and appeal to general audiences with their universal themes, yet serve those in the lesbian community because of the specific applicability of her words to the members of this minority group. The book supplies expert, critical, and easy-to-understand analysis of all of the songs of Melissa Etheridge's studio albums from the 1980s through to her autobiographical and reflective album, 4th Street Feeling, released in 2012.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1440830088
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 168
Book Description
For a quarter century, Melissa Etheridge has been one of the most iconic and prolific female rock musicians. This book critically examines this songwriter's portrayal of universal human emotions and experiences against the context of her life. Songwriter. Pop star. Gay activist. Cancer survivor. Advocate for cancer victims. Human being. Melissa Etheridge is all of these things, and all of these elements of who she is have played an instrumental role in her music from the beginning of her career to the present day. The Words and Music of Melissa Etheridge examines Melissa Etheridge's contributions to pop music in the tradition of other greats such as Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen, and Rod Stewart. Written by a music scholar and Etheridge fan, this book investigates her work chronologically by time period, underscoring her growth as a songwriter and musician and demonstrating how her music reflected the events in her life, both positive and negative. Author James E. Perone spotlights how Etheridge's songs defy traditional gender roles and stereotypes and appeal to general audiences with their universal themes, yet serve those in the lesbian community because of the specific applicability of her words to the members of this minority group. The book supplies expert, critical, and easy-to-understand analysis of all of the songs of Melissa Etheridge's studio albums from the 1980s through to her autobiographical and reflective album, 4th Street Feeling, released in 2012.
The Words and Music of Van Morrison
Author: Erik Hage
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 031335863X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 193
Book Description
Van Morrison is primal but sophisticated; he's accessible but inscrutable; he's a complex songwriter and a raw blues shouter; he's a steady influence on the musical scene but wildly unpredictable as well, and it's these complex and often conflicting qualities that make him such a compelling subject for the Singer-Songwriter series. Journalist Erik Hage here eschews a cold, empirical study of structures and influence, and seeks instead more natural and intuitive means of appreciating all that is unique, eclectic, and surprising about Van Morrison's impressive output. In addition to covering almost all of Van Morrison's musical work and offering new readings of many iconic songs, Hage also provides a biographical introduction and a complete discography that can help listeners find new perspective on Morrison's body of work. Even in his darkest and most naked moments-in Astral Weeks for instance-Van Morrison's songs can still suggest something uplifting. Sometimes these two poles are present simultaneously, and at other times they each find distinct expression in a different musical moment. Even on his first solo album, Blowin' Your Mind (which contained the iconic Brown-Eyed Girl) Van Morrison was wrestling with something thornier and deeper, as evidenced by the wrenching T.B. Sheets - a nine-minute opus about the discomfort of visiting a lover in a small room as she lies in bed, wracked with Tuberculosis. Those two songs, at artistic odds with each other and on the same album, are representative of the oppositional forces that fuel much of his work. Hage here provides a guide through all the layers of emotional meaning and musical resonance present in Morrison's work.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 031335863X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 193
Book Description
Van Morrison is primal but sophisticated; he's accessible but inscrutable; he's a complex songwriter and a raw blues shouter; he's a steady influence on the musical scene but wildly unpredictable as well, and it's these complex and often conflicting qualities that make him such a compelling subject for the Singer-Songwriter series. Journalist Erik Hage here eschews a cold, empirical study of structures and influence, and seeks instead more natural and intuitive means of appreciating all that is unique, eclectic, and surprising about Van Morrison's impressive output. In addition to covering almost all of Van Morrison's musical work and offering new readings of many iconic songs, Hage also provides a biographical introduction and a complete discography that can help listeners find new perspective on Morrison's body of work. Even in his darkest and most naked moments-in Astral Weeks for instance-Van Morrison's songs can still suggest something uplifting. Sometimes these two poles are present simultaneously, and at other times they each find distinct expression in a different musical moment. Even on his first solo album, Blowin' Your Mind (which contained the iconic Brown-Eyed Girl) Van Morrison was wrestling with something thornier and deeper, as evidenced by the wrenching T.B. Sheets - a nine-minute opus about the discomfort of visiting a lover in a small room as she lies in bed, wracked with Tuberculosis. Those two songs, at artistic odds with each other and on the same album, are representative of the oppositional forces that fuel much of his work. Hage here provides a guide through all the layers of emotional meaning and musical resonance present in Morrison's work.
The Words and Music of Alanis Morissette
Author: Karen Fournier
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 144083069X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 201
Book Description
Through an examination of her music, videos, philanthropic work, and biographical details, this book gives insight into Alanis Morissette's musical career and day-to-day life, from her early pop beginnings in Canada to her work today. As a whole, Alanis Morissette's work has never been critically analyzed. The Words and Music of Alanis Morissette addresses this oversight through its examination of Morissette's work in the context of biographical facts, its relationship to other cultural trends, and its reflection of the female perspective. This book merges biographical information with a critical examination of the music that she produced and performed during all periods of her life, thereby providing a needed overview of Morissette's body of work. All Morissette fans will appreciate learning about the details of her life, but the author's melding of the star's personal life story with an informed analysis of popular music will also appeal to a wider audience—readers interested in music, culture, women's studies, or female musicians, for example. The book provides entertaining and engrossing reading for any Alanis Morissette fan and serves as a resource that documents her broad contributions to the music industry.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 144083069X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 201
Book Description
Through an examination of her music, videos, philanthropic work, and biographical details, this book gives insight into Alanis Morissette's musical career and day-to-day life, from her early pop beginnings in Canada to her work today. As a whole, Alanis Morissette's work has never been critically analyzed. The Words and Music of Alanis Morissette addresses this oversight through its examination of Morissette's work in the context of biographical facts, its relationship to other cultural trends, and its reflection of the female perspective. This book merges biographical information with a critical examination of the music that she produced and performed during all periods of her life, thereby providing a needed overview of Morissette's body of work. All Morissette fans will appreciate learning about the details of her life, but the author's melding of the star's personal life story with an informed analysis of popular music will also appeal to a wider audience—readers interested in music, culture, women's studies, or female musicians, for example. The book provides entertaining and engrossing reading for any Alanis Morissette fan and serves as a resource that documents her broad contributions to the music industry.
The Words and Music of Jimi Hendrix
Author: David V. Moskowitz
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313375933
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 225
Book Description
This comprehensive discussion of the singer/songwriter/guitarist's life carves autobiographical details from the lyrics of his song catalog. Jimi Hendrix was a rock 'n' roll guitar god and remains an important rock icon, still popular despite the four decades that have passed since his death in 1970. The Words and Music of Jimi Hendrix uses Hendrix's music—including the posthumous album Valleys of Neptune, released on March 9, 2010—to shed light on the details of the singer/songwriter's all-too-brief life. Organized chronologically, the book provides an in-depth look at Hendrix's life, carving autobiographical details from his lyrics. At the same time, it offers readers a better understanding of the superstar's music and the forces behind it. The book focuses on the three albums released during Hendrix's life, as well as the major posthumous works. Priority is also given to touring and to the influence of other guitarists.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313375933
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 225
Book Description
This comprehensive discussion of the singer/songwriter/guitarist's life carves autobiographical details from the lyrics of his song catalog. Jimi Hendrix was a rock 'n' roll guitar god and remains an important rock icon, still popular despite the four decades that have passed since his death in 1970. The Words and Music of Jimi Hendrix uses Hendrix's music—including the posthumous album Valleys of Neptune, released on March 9, 2010—to shed light on the details of the singer/songwriter's all-too-brief life. Organized chronologically, the book provides an in-depth look at Hendrix's life, carving autobiographical details from his lyrics. At the same time, it offers readers a better understanding of the superstar's music and the forces behind it. The book focuses on the three albums released during Hendrix's life, as well as the major posthumous works. Priority is also given to touring and to the influence of other guitarists.