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The Mayor of MacDougal Street: A Memoir Paperback – March 7, 2006
| Dave Van Ronk (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Enhance your purchase
- Print length272 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherDa Capo Press
- Publication dateMarch 7, 2006
- Dimensions5.98 x 0.69 x 9.02 inches
- ISBN-10030681479X
- ISBN-13978-0306814792
Editorial Reviews
Review
"A wise and very funny book." -- The New Yorker, 9/04/06
"Filled with amusing, colourful anecdotes." -- Chart, June 2006
"[An] infectious and friendly memoir... Conversational and lighthearted... An enjoyable and informative read." -- Alt.Culture.Guide, July 2006
About the Author
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Product details
- Publisher : Da Capo Press (March 7, 2006)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 272 pages
- ISBN-10 : 030681479X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0306814792
- Item Weight : 12.9 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.98 x 0.69 x 9.02 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,987,237 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,323 in Mid Atlantic U.S. Biographies
- #1,510 in Country & Folk Composer Biographies
- #1,914 in Folk & Traditional Music (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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Van Ronk did not become a star like the people who he wrote about but, in the end, he was more than satisfied with having been able to live his life as a professional musician, and I was more than satisfied with reading his entertaining account.
"I recently heard a friend say of someone who, like myself, is best known for interpreting material written by others, 'Oh, she only does "covers"!' I had a sudden vision of a CD title 'Pavarotti Covers Puccini'. Suffice it to say, Louis Armstrong did not do 'covers' nor did Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Edith Piaf, or Aretha Franklin. While none of these people were primarily songwriters, their interpretations were a hell of a lot more original than a lot of the 'original' songs being written on the current scene. Any music worth its salt depends as much on great interpreters as on great composers. What is more, in the absence of interpreters, songs will never be sung by anyone other than their composers, and I cannot imagine why anyone would wish that kind of planned obsolescence on their work."
I don't know whether Dave Van Ronk was a great interpreter or not, but he was probably a unique one. More to the point, he probably knew at least as much about the Greenwich Village "folk" scene as anyone, and he is full of witty observations and entertaining stories.
The only thing I really object to in this book is the frequent use of the trendy but obnoxious phrase "that being said" as a connecting device. There are plenty of traditional terms that don't obtrude and actually show a logical relation between contrary propositions, terms such as "however", "nevertheless", and so on. Pick one of these instead.
That being said, in closing I'd like to quote a blurb on the second page from Tom Waits: "In the engine of the NY Folk Scene shoveling coal into the furnace, one Big Man rules. Dog-faced roustabout songster. Bluesman, Dave Van Ronk. Long may he howl."
