Chicken Soup For The Soul: The Story Behind The Song by JoAnn Geffen and others



Leave it to the Chicken Soup people to take a really good idea and screw it up. There are few things I enjoy more than listening to songwriters talk about the inspiration for particular songs. But what has happened in this case is that Ms. Geffen has simply called her friends in the music business and gotten them to tell exceptionally mundane and uninteresting stories. And, if the original songwriter was not available (like Jim Croce and Freddie Mercury) she gets their spouse or record producer to talk about the song. All in all, there are a few intriguing stories, notably the one from Smokey Robinson on how he came to write "Cruisin." But, mostly, you're left feeling completely unenlightened. There are literally dozens of books that have done a much better job with the same subject, particularly if you want to know about the music of The Beatles, U2, or ABBA. But my suggestion would be to scan through the songs while you're standing the bookstore aisle, read those you may be interested in and save your money.