Who I Am
There are a lot of autobiographies out right now about old rock stars. I started my reading list with Clarence's book that I finished just before he died.
It certainly didn't change my love for the Big Man.
Then I moved onto the Keith Richards book and I was scared to read that one because I've always been a Stones fan and I had no illusions about whether or not they were moral-living, non-weird, clean and sober musicians. I didn't want to read it and shatter my little boy ideals of that group.
I did though, and I loved it. I actually gathered respect for Keith.
Now I'm well into the book just released by Pete Townshend of The Who. Another childhood hero. Another mysterious sort of guy to a kid who wanted to write. Again, I was scared to just dive right in.
But it's great, of course.
That time is really interesting to me. From Elvis to the Beatles and then onto the Stones and The Who I am clearly fascinated with how it all went down.
A bunch of drug-filled, peace-loving, dirty musicians...who weren't really trained much...changing the music world.
Think about what those British kids did.
They were all running around, smoking as much dope as they could, making things up on the fly, thinking about the world as a bigger place.
It certainly beats the Grand Theft Auto generation that we are currently developing.
They had dreams, hopes, and a whole lot of angst.
Jagger, Lennon, Moon, Townshend, Clapton, McCartney, Richards, the guys from Pink Floyd.
They were just all hanging out with each other, writing songs in a couple of days, trying to do better than the next guy. They'd laugh at who went to number one. They'd spend money hand over fist, get stoned and trash some concert hall.
They had no idea that what they were singing and playing would stand the test of time.
They didn't appreciate any of the talent.
In fact, most of them were downright miserable.
Being interested in the field of writing I am especially struck by the idea that it was all so matter of fact.
Townshend talks about how he wasn't writing much and that everything he was writing seemed like absolute shit to him.
Two sentences later he mentions that he jotted down the lyrics to Behind Blue Eyes, as if he was filling out a job application.
And you know what makes matters worse?
My Mom bought me a Barnes & Noble gift card for my birthday. I used part of it for the authorized biography of Springsteen, and staring back at me was the autobiography of Rod Stewart.
By the time I finish all of these books you may see me with a guitar around my neck.
I'm still looking to change the world, you know.
It certainly didn't change my love for the Big Man.
Then I moved onto the Keith Richards book and I was scared to read that one because I've always been a Stones fan and I had no illusions about whether or not they were moral-living, non-weird, clean and sober musicians. I didn't want to read it and shatter my little boy ideals of that group.
I did though, and I loved it. I actually gathered respect for Keith.
Now I'm well into the book just released by Pete Townshend of The Who. Another childhood hero. Another mysterious sort of guy to a kid who wanted to write. Again, I was scared to just dive right in.
But it's great, of course.
That time is really interesting to me. From Elvis to the Beatles and then onto the Stones and The Who I am clearly fascinated with how it all went down.
A bunch of drug-filled, peace-loving, dirty musicians...who weren't really trained much...changing the music world.
Think about what those British kids did.
They were all running around, smoking as much dope as they could, making things up on the fly, thinking about the world as a bigger place.
It certainly beats the Grand Theft Auto generation that we are currently developing.
They had dreams, hopes, and a whole lot of angst.
Jagger, Lennon, Moon, Townshend, Clapton, McCartney, Richards, the guys from Pink Floyd.
They were just all hanging out with each other, writing songs in a couple of days, trying to do better than the next guy. They'd laugh at who went to number one. They'd spend money hand over fist, get stoned and trash some concert hall.
They had no idea that what they were singing and playing would stand the test of time.
They didn't appreciate any of the talent.
In fact, most of them were downright miserable.
Being interested in the field of writing I am especially struck by the idea that it was all so matter of fact.
Townshend talks about how he wasn't writing much and that everything he was writing seemed like absolute shit to him.
Two sentences later he mentions that he jotted down the lyrics to Behind Blue Eyes, as if he was filling out a job application.
And you know what makes matters worse?
My Mom bought me a Barnes & Noble gift card for my birthday. I used part of it for the authorized biography of Springsteen, and staring back at me was the autobiography of Rod Stewart.
By the time I finish all of these books you may see me with a guitar around my neck.
I'm still looking to change the world, you know.
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