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The song remains the same, 800 years of love songs, laments and lullabies, Andrew Ford & Anni Heino

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

The song remains the same

bibliography

Andrew Ford & Anni Heino

800 years of love songs, laments and lullabies

From Schubert to Springsteen, Archie Roach to Amy Winehouse, comes an illuminating history of the song for every kind of music lover. On iTunes, the word 'song' is used to describe all music. A free-jazz improvisation, a Hindustani raga, a movement from a Beethoven symphony, a Springsteen anthem or a Leonard Cohen ballad: they're all songs. But, in fact, a song is a specific musical form. It's not so much that they all have verses and choruses -- though most of them do -- but that they are all relatively short and self-contained; they have beginnings, middles and ends; they often have a single point of view, message or story; and, crucially, they unite words and music. Thus, a Schubert song has more in common with a track by Joni Mitchell or Adele than with one of Schubert's own symphonies The Song Remains the Same traces these connections through a hundred songs from different cultures and times: love songs, anthems, protest songs, lullabies, folk songs, jazz standards, lieder and pop hits; 'Waltzing Matilda' to 'We Will Rock You', 'Jerusalem' to 'Jolene'. Unpicking their inner workings makes familiar songs strange again, explaining and restoring the wonder, joy (or possibly loathing) the reader experienced on first hearing

adult