Nick Hornby writes about 31 songs - most of them loved, some of them once loved, all of them significant to him - beginning with Teenage Fanclub's 'Your Love Is the Place That I Come From', ending with Patti Smith's 'Pissing in a River', and encompassing singers as varied as Van Morrison and Nelly Furtado, songs as different as 'Thunder Road' and 'Puff the Magic Dragon' (reggae style). He discusses, among other things, guitar solos and singers whose teeth whistle and the sort of music you hear in the Body Shop.
Together with additional writings on music from his column in the New Yorker - seen in the UK for the first time - 31 Songs is for Hornby what many of us have always wanted: a soundtrack to accompany life.
'Intimate, funny and wise … Hornby at his most persuasive'
Observer
'Funny, provoking, immensely readable. It is not simply about music … it is about Hornby, and us, and about being alive. A triumph'
Tim Lott, Evening Standard
'Original, well written and wholly lacking in pretension … as good a book about pop music as I have read in many years and the most accomplished of Honby's books so far'
Spectator
'Smart, entertaining and moving. A manifesto on why pop is so glorious, beautiful and important'
Sunday Express
'Refreshing, candid, very moving. Reminds you why you loved music before you knew enough to explain your love away'
Uncut
'The best music writing I have read since Nick Kent hung up his leather trousers'
Tony Parsons, Sunday Times
'Hornby articulates the musical experience we've all had'
Glamour
'Hornby has done us all a favour. He has written as firm a defence of pop music as anything you'll read this year'
Irish Times
'Seductive, sharp ... a pleasure for anyone to read'
Independent
'Always stimulating, this fine read gest you musing on your own desert island discs'
Mojo
'A passionate defence of Hornby's taste, his writing and his success'
Literary Review
'Perceptive, funny, brought tears to my eyes'
Sunday Telegraph
'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 behaviour Hornby is'
Heat
'Chatty, confiding and unashamedly personal'
Harpers & Queen
'Inspiring, amusing'
Rolling Stone
'Anyone interested in great essays, or in the delicate art of being funny, or in how to write about one's feelings in such a way that other people will actually care ... should love 31 Songs'
San Francisco Chronicle
'Conveys an irrepressible enthusiasm for the simple and superficial fun of hearing a great tune'
Metro
'A wise book, contains some very good criticism'
GQ
'Delivered in a hugely enjoyable, invisible prose that does in words what Hornby's tunesmiths do with sound. He writes good'
Time Out |
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Buy 31 Songs
US Radio Interview on 31 Songs
The Observer - 31 Music Fans on the songs that changed their life
Wot? No Gene Vincent? John Peel casts an eye over Nick Hornby's 31 Songs
31 things about men like Nick Hornby |
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Teenage Fanclub Official Site
http://www.teenagefanclub.co.uk/
Bruce Springsteen
http://www.brucespringsteen.net/
Nelly Furtado
http://www.nellyfurtado.com/
Led Zeppelin
http://www.ledzeppelin.com/site_flash/fs_home.html
Rufus Wainwright
http://www.rufuswainwright.com/
Santana
http://www.santana.com/
Rod Stewart fansite
http://members.aol.com/smilerfrg/rod/sminfo.htm/
The Faces
http://www.the-faces.com/
Bob Dylan
http://www.bobdylan.com/index.html
The Beatles
http://www.thebeatles.com/
Ani Di Franco
http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/
Aimee Mann
http://www.aimeemann.com/home.html
Paul Westerberg
http://www.vagrant.com/vagrant/bands/bands.jsp?rec_num=24
Frankie Teardrop
http://www.mp3.com/tracks/3168403/dl_streams.html
The J Geils Band
http://www.jgeils.com/
Ben Folds Five
http://www.benfoldsfive.com/
Badly Drawn Boy
http://www.badlydrawnboy.co.uk/
The Bible
http://www.boohewerdine.net/disco/bible/bible_compilations.htm
Van Morrison
http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/~hayward/van/van.html
Butch Hancock and Marce LaCouture
http://www.mp3.com/albums/133041/summary.html
Gregory Isaacs/ Reggae for Kids
http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com/album/album.cgi?ALBUMID=1415813
Ian Dury and the Blockheads
http://www.iandury.co.uk/
Richard and Linda Thompson
http://www.richardthompson-music.com/default.asp
Jackson Browne
http://www.jacksonbrowne.com/choices.html
Mark Mulcahy
http://www.mezzotint.com/
The Velvelettes
http://www.velvelettes.com/
O V Wright
http://mp3.com/tracks/2977539/dl_streams.html
Röyksopp
http://www.astralwerks.com/royksopp/
The Avalanches
http://www.theavalanches.com/launch.html
Soulwax
http://www.soulwax.com/
The Patti Smith Group
http://www.pattismith.net/ |
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