The Guys Who Wrote 'Em [Paperback]

Sean Egan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 31, 2004

Leiber & Stoller. Mann & Weil. Greenwich & Barry. Bobby Hart. Chip Taylor. Holland-Dozier-Holland. Tony Macaulay. Stock, Aitken & Waterman. Few would recognise them in the street but they are responsible for some of the best-selling and most famous songs of all time. From Jailhouse Rock to You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' to Leader Of The Pack to (Theme From) The Monkees to Reach Out I'll Be There to Wild Thing to Build Me Up Buttercup to I Should Be So Lucky, their melodies and lyrics are embedded in the minds of music lovers worldwide. With the aid of lengthy and exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in the history of rock and pop songwriting, Sean Egan's The Guys Who Wrote 'Em seeks to put right the lack of recognition for compositional geniuses who for most of their careers have chosen to use their musical skills to help not themselves but others achieve stardom. The result is a recounting of the story of post-Elvis popular music from an intriguing and delightful lateral angle. Amongst those to whom respected music journalist Egan has been granted access are Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, Eddie and Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Bobby Hart, Joey Levine, Graham Gouldman, Chip Taylor, Tony Macaulay, Nicky Chinn, Mike Stock and Matt Aitken. Their anecdotes feature Elvis Presley, Phil Spector, Eric Clapton, The Shangri-Las, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix and a host of other iconic figures. The Guys Who Wrote 'Em is both the most comprehensive book ever written about the 'bespoke songwriter' and the fascinating, untold story of popular music. Extract to run in 'Record Collector' magazine and reviews to appear in several music monthlies.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sean Egan's first professional writing work was a brief stint providing scripts for the television soap opera EastEnders. He is currently a journalist specialising in popular music and tennis. He has written for, amongst other outlets, Billboard, Billboard.com, Classic Rock, Discoveries, Goldmine, Mojo4Music.com, Record Collector, Record Mart & Buyer, RollingStone.com, Serve And Volley, Sky Sports, Tennis World, Uncut and Vox. He also writes CD liner notes. He is the author of four previous non-fiction books, one of which – Jimi Hendrix And The Making Of Are You Experienced – was nominated for an Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research by the Association for Recorded Sound Collections. He also wrote the critically acclaimed novel Sick Of Being Me.

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Askill Publishing (July 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0954575016
• ISBN-13: 978-0954575014
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,152,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The Guy Who Wrote It, April 12, 2010

By 

Stuart Snyder (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Guys Who Wrote 'Em (Paperback)

This book is a great read. It was fun and easy to follow. I highly recommend it for any songwriter, aspiring songwriter, or any lover of post-war popular or rock music.

It would have been nice however, if there was more content from the actual interviews instead of the narrative/commentary format that it's in. Eagan wrote this book from correspondences of e-mails with the respective interviewee(s) in each chapter; it gives the feeling that he researched and compiled information on each songwriter in this book and then proceeded to assemble it with chronological anecdotes.

From a songwriter's or aspiring songwriter's point of view, more about the songwriters' writing process would have been a great plus. Some chapters went more into depth on this than others. However, I don't feel that this lies so much with the author but with that of the songwriters: some of the songwriters would make the reader think that divine inspiration or a gift from above was needed, where Barry Mann said not to wait wait for inspiration to come.

Unfortunately this book suffers from either poor editing, proof-reading, or both, as the the many "misprints" are quite noticeable to anyone: The Brill Building in New York is at 1619 Broadway not 1615 (p. 62).

What would have put this book over the top would have been an index at the end. It would have been great to have this for cross-referencing and searching for specifics.

I hope this book will be republished in the future without the misprints and with recommended index added. Again, I highly recommend this book as it is a great read.