An Unranked List of The Best (Recent/ish) Music Memoirs I Can Think of Right Now...

Wednesday is about books, and reading - and sometimes my own writing. Today, it's about the classic music memoir. So many duds. But so many good ones. Here's some recent goodies...

A friend said, just the other day, “can you write a list of really great memoirs - I keep adding things to my list”. She then suggested I’d probably already written such a thing. I agreed, but added that the beauty of writing, especially writing all the time, is you can always revisit and you can never expect anyone to be across everything you’ve written. (Including, it turns out, your own damned self).

And then my wife said she loved how passionate I was about music — and the pursuit of, and storage of, the various stories, the knowledge, trivia and revelations. I put that down to a misspent youth reading far too many music bios and listening to anything I could get my hands on, watching ridiculous amounts of concert videos and docos too. And this was all before there was a YouTube, or audiobooks that weren’t scratched-up multi-disc sets, or the ability to order a book as soon as you hear about it, through either your excellent local bookstore, the fantastic library system, or that dirty little secret Kindle… (or not so secret).

Music books have been an abiding passion for me for much of the last 30 years of my life. I haven’t read them all - impossbile! But I’ve given it a bloody good go. Many of my music bios are now in Slow Boat and Book Haven and Book Hound, and some of the charity stores. I’ve given several dozen away to friends and fellow readers as well. And I still have shelves of music books I’ve yet to get to…

Last year The Spinoff asked me to compile a list of essential music memoirs. I asked them in return to source me the brand new Lucinda Williams book, figuring it would make the list, and would be good to review something brand new. They never delivered on that. So you get the list instead.

Over the course of 16 years of daily blogging about music at Stuff, and a half dozen years preparing and delivering music-related features for RNZ, I have definitely talked (a lot) about music books. So for this list — unranked, just some great recent books — I’m going to restrict myself to things from the last decade or so. Nothing before the 2000s anyway. No one needs a reminder that Billie Holiday’s book, Lady Sings The Blues, is flawed, and messy — but an absolute must read. (But hey, if they do, BONUS, there’s your nod right there). On the other hand, something like Anita O’Day’s High Times, Hard Times, though first released in 1981, was updated fairly thoroughly around 2007, so that could potentially sneak onto the list or at the least warrant a mention right here!)

This is me saying that this list is loose. But it also purports to be be pretty, pretty, pretty good! (thank you Larry!). So, as I think of them, I’ll jot a few down here. Please add your own recent reading recs in the comments.

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Patti Smith’s A Book of Days is pretty much just highlights from her Instagram. But, not many do Insta as well as Patti. And this is a chance to mention that there are several books by Smith - including many from recent years. If you find the book of lyrics, or some of the books of poetry, or the books of photos to be not enough then the classic, of course, is Just Kids. Simply one of my favourite books. I’m lucky to own the updated, hardcover, illustrated edition, so when I need to re-read it, that’s the one I’ll turn to. But there’s some other interesting books too, not all as tight and beautifully written as Just Kids, some pretty esoteric, but M Train, Woolgathering, Year of the Monkey and Devotion are all worth a peek, especially if you loved Just Kids and want more of the wisdom and worlds of Ms. Smith.

Chrissie Hynde’s Reckless: My Life As A Pretender was great, and hit with the force of one of her best songs. Is she the most successful music journalist ever? Certainly, she’s the one that can really tell anyone to go suck it, when it comes to the old “I don’t see you making any decent music yourself” line. There are several lives lived by Ms. Hynde. And Reckless does an excellent job of giving us tantalising glimpses.

Grace Jones’s I’ll Never Write My Memoirs would be worthy for the title alone. But then you remember that she was top of her game in modelling and music, and er, known at least, for acting. That means she’s got stories about being on set for a James Bond film, and being at Studio 54, and mingling with Warhol, via the tales of making groundbreaking music with Sly & Robbie. And of course her immigrant story of survival at the start of the book is reason enough.

Kim Gordon’s Girl In A Band similarly straddles the art and music world, with a bit of fashion and design in there too. It’s a brilliant read. And, did I ever tell you I LOVE SONIC YOUTH:

Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run sat around my house for a few years, unread. I have a huge love/hate thing with The Boss. I have a couple of friends who foolishly actually know a thing or two about music but completely see Springsteen’s music as beneath them, or to the side of their interests. More annoyingly, I have a couple of friends who are proper fantatics — in a way that can’t be good for your health. So I occupy some sort of middle ground there. I love some of his albums and there are whole periods in his career that don’t mean a thing to me. But I finally got to his book last year and absolutely loved it. A proper journey, brilliantly written — and it goes to some dark places, but only in a very good way. Just a great piece of writing. Bono’s book — which I already covered at length here is probably in the same (sort of) boat really.

Mariah Carey’s The Meaning of Mariah was great. That thing where I’m enough of a fan to be interested, but not so much of a fan that I already know where the book is going. I found this funny, fresh, and illuminating. And I can’t say I exactly expected any of that.

Moby’s Porcelain is fantastic. Its swift follow-up/part two, And Then It Fell Apart is excruciating. But necessary. It completes the puzzle somewhat. Porcelain tells the ‘up’, which is amazing really, he was so ready to pack it in, and so nearly nothing at all. And Then It Fell tells the ‘down’ which is spectacular in its misery, and proof you can have it all and still be unhappy.

P.P. Arnold’s Soul Survivor: The Autobiography is a must-read. Even if you know very little about her. She was an Ikette, singing backup for Tina Turner and Ike, being hit on by Ike. She was in musical theatre in the 1980s and 90s and also singing back-up for Roger Waters. In between she has a pop and soul career, and then is a mother. It’s an amazing story, and one of those light-shining books where you see the people that aren’t household names, yet they’ve worked with so many household names, been a crucial part of the bigger story.

Brandi Carlile’s Broken Horses is a beautifully written book by a beautiful soul. And I would think that even if Brandi hadn’t worked tirelessly and selflessly to see the resurrection and renewed appreciation of Joni Mitchell. But the fact she’s done that is one hell of a bonus. Compelling book by a talented artist, but you could read this for the rewarding story without knowing about her music. I’m quite sure of that. (Shoutout to the Margo Price book but I know I’ve mentioned that a bunch in these pages over the last year or so).

Mary Gauthier’s Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting really did it for me. Maybe you need to know her music to get the most of this - but it is a memoir not just a book about songwriting (it’s both!) I know I did my best to talk through her music for anyone that had missed out on her a while back, because I missed this book on release and caught up with it a year or so later. Anyway, see below for a refresher/intro:

Phil Collins’ Not Dead Yet: The Memoir is a terrific read — and one I left for far too long on the shelf, despite always figuring it would be both interesting and great. If Collins had only ever played the drums and produced, we’d be calling him one of the greatest to ever do it. That his solo career has annoyed a few people shouldn’t stop the monumental praise for this legendary musician and occasionally cantankerous soul. Such a great book.

Tricky’s Hell Is Round The Corner is brilliant. But I said as much here.

Rickie Lee Jones’s Last Chance Texaco: Chronicles of An American Troubadour was also written about in that piece shared above - (and also here if you prefer direct links to click on and open in new tabs). I read Tricky and Rickie around the same time, both books utterly blew me away.

Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon is this new type of ‘memoir’ - to which I would also add/link James Taylor’s Break Shot: My First 21 Years. Both are Audible exclusives — audiobook only. So if you have a problem with that, if that’s not really reading, I’m sorry, you’re not going to get the printed-pages version. And you’re missing out. Particularly with the Taylor, which I know I’ve mentioned before. It is a wonderful short-serve. Just 90 minutes, and you get the early years leading up to his discovery, and the hint of fame. It’s written, read and recorded by Taylor, and includes some original music. It’s a really amazing piece of work. The Paul Simon is actually a set of conversations/interviews between Simon and Malcolm Gladwell. They’re two people that could be considered highly fucking annoying to many. I mean I think that, and I broadly like the work of both of them. But anyway, I definitely enjoyed this. And it works in this format, better than a true Paul Simon memoir I think. (Something we’re unlikely to actually ever get at any rate).

Warren Ellis’s Nina Simone’s Gum blends Ellis’ own memoir (he’s basically Nick Cave’s right-hand-man) with the beguiling story of how he’s kept a piece of Nina Simone’s chewing gum with him for over two decades, as symbolic artistic totem. A beautiful book — amazing design, photos, illustrations — and a beautifully worded exploration of fandom, music, art, and inspiration.

Sinead O’Connor’s Rememberings might be tougher to read now, but it’s still a very good thing to have and hold on to. R.I.P.

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Now that’s probably more than enough for you to sink into, to agree or disagree with, right? I’m about to start The Upcycled Self by Tariq ‘Black Thought’ Trotter. He’s the lead singer for The Roots. I’ve loved most of Questlove’s books (drummer for the same band). And I was meant to get to Black Thought’s memoir over Christmas, but couldn’t find it anywhere and wanted a physical copy. Now I have one. So that’s next on my memoir list.

And the Lucinda Williams book is very good too. Like so many of these titles, it’s not as much about the music, and certainly not crucial for you to be a huge fan going in, and I think that’s when a memoir by a musician works best. Otherwise, like the Dave Grohl one, which was fine, and mostly fun, it becomes a series of ‘hits’ — the obvious talking points to land on. I like the more poetic approach of things like the Williams and Carlile books. And the soul-dig from Moby and Tricky. And the way that people like Patti Smith and Rickie Lee Jones barely even focus in on the music, knowing that’s not so much the least interesting fact, rather that the music can indeed speak for itself.

And yes, like you, I noticed there are more titles in my list here by women than by men. I think women do a far better job at finding the actual story, at writing around the music. There’s also so much more happening to them in these moments, closer scrutiny, more plates in the air, and I’ve loved the strong writing from strong women that has really started to emerge with the “music memoir” form over the last decade or so. I haven’t even got through all of Tracy Thorn’s great books yet. Or Viv Albertine’s. Or Cosey Fanni Tutti’s But I just know they’re brilliant already. And they’re all on my list for sure!

Anyway, your turn. What have you read recently in this field that you’d call a must? And what here do you agree or very much disagree with?