Greil Marcus, The History of Rock’n’Roll In Ten Songs

Greil Marcus, The History of Rock’n’Roll In Ten Songs
Yale University Press, 2014
© Greil Marcus 2014
ISBN 978-0-300-18737-3

Marcus uses as points of departure 10 songs, using them (in 10 essays) to ruminate on the nature of popular music and American culture, and rock.  The 10 songs might not be what anyone expects them to be, ranging as they do from obscure to weird to throw-away.  The 10 songs are given explicitly only in the table of contents, and are:
“Shake Some Action”
“Transmission”
“In the Still of the Night”
All I Could Do Was Cry”
“Crying Waiting, Hoping”
“Money (That’s What I Want)
“Money Changes Everything”
This Magic Moment”
“Guitar Drag” (this is the weirdest one)
“To Know Him Is To Love Him”
His approach is to take the songs apart, tracing their sources and their consequences, putting them back together on the way.  And along the way he provides an alternative history as well—what if Robert Johnson had not died?

His treatment of the songs, and of the singers is sensitive and generous, even while his treatment of the music business is somewhat more jaundiced.  Along the way we pick up some interesting sidelights—as, for example, the source of Phil Spector’s song “To Know Him Is To Love Him;’ as, for instance Amy Winehouse’s resurrection of “You Know I’m No Good”—and discover connections we might never have known.

Marcus is not always a particularly graceful writer, and at least one of these songs (“Guitar Drag”) will probably strike most people as an odd choice for inclusion.  But his knowledge of the songs, the singers, and the milieu is encyclopedic.  (And it’s nice to know that every song mentioned in the book is available on You Tube.)  If the music of the past 60+ years matters to you, has changed your life, then spend some time with Marcus and this history of rock’n’roll.