Gordon sees 'the fleeting shimmer of the treasure I’ve witnessed. Looking back at 'all these heroic individuals who followed the muse and cut paths of their own,' Mr.

His choice, however, is not without rewards. Gordon reminds us that, as an early colleague told him, 'it’s just words.' When friends in stable careers project their Bohemian fantasies on him, he stares back, longing for a dental plan. In a writing world that often feels self-celebratory to the point of delusion, Mr. What I enjoyed most was the sense of humility and hard work that pervade Mr. Gordon’s biggest hits and some previously unreleased bonus tracks. Pairing features, reviews and profiles with after-the-fact explanation and commentary, the collection includes Mr. Gordon is more enamored of his town’s glorious undercard of James Carr, Charlie Feathers and Phineas Newborn Jr., to name a few of the characters. While the Bluff City is known globally as the home of Elvis, Mr. Memphis rent party the blues, rock, & soul in musics hometown by Gordon, Robert. In the process, Hilburn documents Simon’s search for artistry and his constant struggle to protect that artistry against distractions-fame, marriage, divorce, drugs, record company interference, rejection, and insecurity-that have derailed so many great pop figures.The author of books on Muddy Waters and Stax Records, Robert Gordon has reported on the grass-roots weirdness of Memphis, Tenn., for more than 30 years. Memphis rent party by Gordon, Robert, 2018 edition, in English. The result is a deeply human account of the challenges and sacrifices of a life in music at the highest level. Over the past three years, Hilburn has conducted in-depth interviews with scores of Paul Simon’s friends, family, colleagues, and others-including ex-wives Carrie Fisher and Peggy Harper, who spoke for the first time-and even penetrated the inner circle of Simon’s long-reclusive muse, Kathy Chitty. The result is a landmark book that will take its place as the defining biography of one of America’s greatest artists. He has said he will not write an autobiography or memoir, and he has refused to talk to previous biographers.įinally, Simon has opened up-for more than one hundred hours of interviews-to Robert Hilburn, whose biography of Johnny Cash was named by Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times as one of her ten favorite books of 2013. But Simon is a deeply private person who has resisted speaking to us outside of his music. Songs like “The Sound of Silence,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Still Crazy After All These Years,” and “Graceland” have moved beyond the sales charts and into our cultural consciousness. Martin Bandyke Under Covers for September 2018: Martin Bandyke interviews Robert Hilburn, author of Paul Simon: The Life.įor more than fifty years, Paul Simon has spoken to us in songs about alienation, doubt, resilience, and empathy in ways that have established him as one of the most beloved artists in American pop music history.

Memphis rent party by robert gordon