9780062421296
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Your Song Changed My Life audiobook

  • By: Bob Boilen
  • Narrator: Bob Boilen
  • Category: Essays, Literary Collections
  • Length: 8 hours 31 minutes
  • Publisher: HarperAudio
  • Publish date: April 12, 2016
  • Language: English
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Your Song Changed My Life Audiobook Summary

From the beloved host and creator of NPR’s All Songs Considered and Tiny Desk Concerts comes an essential oral history of modern music, told in the voices of iconic and up-and-coming musicians, including Dave Grohl, Jimmy Page, Michael Stipe, Carrie Brownstein, Smokey Robinson, and Jeff Tweedy, among others–published in association with NPR Music.

Is there a unforgettable song that changed your life?

NPR’s renowned music authority Bob Boilen posed this question to some of today’s best-loved musical legends and rising stars. In Your Song Changed My Life, Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), St. Vincent, Jonsi (Sigur Ros), Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Cat Power, David Byrne (Talking Heads), Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters), Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Jenny Lewis, Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia, Sleater-Kinney), Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), Colin Meloy (The Decemberists), Trey Anastasio (Phish), Jackson Browne, Valerie June, Philip Glass, James Blake, and other artists reflect on pivotal moments that inspired their work.

For Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, it was discovering his sister’s 45 of The Byrds’ “Turn, Turn, Turn.” A young St. Vincent’s life changed the day a box of CDs literally fell off a delivery truck in front of her house. Cat Stevens was transformed when he heard John Lennon cover “Twist and Shout.” These are the momentous yet unmarked events that have shaped these and many other musical talents, and ultimately the sound of modern music.

A diverse collection of personal experiences, both ordinary and extraordinary, Your Song Changed My Life illustrates the ways in which music is revived, restored, and revolutionized. It is also a testament to the power of music in our lives, and an inspiration for future artists and music lovers.

Amazing contributors include: Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney, Portlandia, Wild Flag), Smokey Robinson, David Byrne (Talking Heads), St. Vincent, Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), James Blake, Colin Meloy (The Decemberists), Trey Anastasio (Phish), Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley), Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters), Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), Sturgill Simpson, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Cat Power, Jackson Browne, Michael Stipe (R.E.M.), Philip Glass, Jonsi (Sigur Ros), Hozier, Regina Carter, Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes, and others), Courtney Barnett, Chris Thile (Nickel Creek, Punch Brothers), Leon Bridges, Sharon Van Etten, and many more.

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Your Song Changed My Life Audiobook Narrator

Bob Boilen is the narrator of Your Song Changed My Life audiobook that was written by Bob Boilen

Bob Boilen is the creator and host of NPR Music’s All Songs Considered, and of their Tiny Desk Concert series, which hosts well-known and emerging artists for intimate performances filmed at his desk. He was also the director of NPR’s All Things Considered (1989-2007) and chose the music between the news stories. As a composer and musician himself, Boilen has always been passionate about music. Prior to joining NPR, he was a long-time record store clerk and performed with his band Tiny Desk Unit. Constantly on the lookout for new music, Boilen sees more than 500 live bands each year. He lives in Washington, D.C.

About the Author(s) of Your Song Changed My Life

Bob Boilen is the author of Your Song Changed My Life

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Your Song Changed My Life Full Details

Narrator Bob Boilen
Length 8 hours 31 minutes
Author Bob Boilen
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date April 12, 2016
ISBN 9780062421296

Subjects

The publisher of the Your Song Changed My Life is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Essays, Literary Collections

Additional info

The publisher of the Your Song Changed My Life is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780062421296.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Jeff

March 12, 2017

Full disclosure: I'm a fan and long time listener of Bob Boilen and his NPR All Songs Considered show/ podcast. I love his knowledge and passion for music and when I heard that he a book I bought it right away. I've pretty much heard of all the artists interviewed in the book and I'm a fan of many of them. The book is chock full of interesting music history, and Bob fills in some of the chapters with his knowledge of the influential songs and artists chosen by the subject artists in each chapter. I especially liked the Jónsi (Sigur Rós), Courtney Barnett, Dave Grohl, and Colin Meloy chapters. Colin Meloy's choice hit close to home as he chose Hüsker Dü's Candy Apple Grey as the album that opened his eyes. Read the book to find out why. This leads me to the fun part: the song that changed my life. Where I grew up there weren't many choices for music on the radio. You had pop music on WIXX out of Green Bay, hard rock/metal on WAPL out of Appleton, and country western playing on stations everywhere else on the dial it seemed. I was pretty much listening to pop until I started hearing more hard rock at parties I went to and started tuning in to the loud music on WAPL, which at the time played the likes of AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Krokus, Ozzy, Dokken, Tesla, Quiet Riot, Foreigner, Metallica, and others. When I got to college I was all about metal, and went to a number of concerts of the aforementioned bands. When I was a sophomore at the U of M, I started hanging out with a group of kids who were more into alternative rock. One of my friends who knew I was a metal head put in a cassette of one of the bands he liked and wanted me to hear it because he thought I would like it. The cassette was "Candy Apple Grey" by Hüsker Dü, and as soon as the first song, 'Crystal', started screaming through the speakers I knew I was going to like this band. Wow. The song was was an avalanche of noise, with my now favorite artist, Bob Mould, yelling the lyrics and lighting up his guitar as Grant drummed and Greg bounced along on the bass. As the cassette continued, the songs changed drastically from loud to soft to loud, and the vocals changed from Bob and Grant depending on who wrote which song. While 'Crystal' melted faces, the sad, acoustic 'Hardly Getting Over It' put a lump in your throat. It was such and interesting album, with all of its sonic twists and turns; such different styles of music on one cassette. Not long after hearing 'Crystal' and "Candy Apple Grey" I headed down to the record store in the basement of Coffman Union on the U of M campus and bought the other Hüsker Dü cassettes they had in stock. And to this day, I consider Bob Mould my favorite musician as the music on the albums he's made solo (13), with Hüsker Dü (6) and with band Sugar (3) have been the soundtrack to my life since that fateful day when my friend put "Candy Apple Grey" in his car's cassette deck.

Zach

April 11, 2016

Very cool to see some of the original creative inspiration behind some of the most revered artists in music. However, the book would often follow a pattern - "I sat down with this artist on their tour" + "they told me the song that changed their life and it was very surprising" + "after hearing the reasoning, it makes sense to me now". I also thought it was awkward when Boilen would integrate his personal music endeavors and experiences into the narratives, although he has done some cool things in his career with NPR and Tiny Desk Unit. But with legends like Philip Glass, Jimmy Page and David Byrne mixed with modern stars St. Vincent, Dave Grohl, Leon Bridges, Cat Power and many more, the stories are inherently interesting to any fan of music.

Zoë

May 12, 2022

I’ve been reading this on and off for a while. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it, particularly the ones about James Blake, St. Vincent, and Sharon Van Etten. I’ll probably return to it. I wonder what song I would choose if being interviewed by Bob.

Sue Em

April 23, 2016

Fascinating essays about creative inspirations and touchstones leavened and intertwined with Bob Boilen's own story. His All Songs Considered program is one of my must listen. This book shows the backstory on 35 of the artists that would be played there and will inform my listening in the future.

Julia (Scout)

June 16, 2016

An insightful look at the music and people of music that inspired what hear today. I loved the entire premise and was inspired to listen to a load of music new to me.

Mack

August 08, 2018

Books like these are always such a treat. I spend a lot of time reading either gloomy fiction or depressing nonfiction about the state of the world, so I'm thankful for people like Bob Boilen and the host of musicians he interviews in this book. He's a great interviewer and writer, injecting just enough of his own personality into each profile while still letting the subject lead the way. Even with artists I didn't know or have an explicit personal connection with, it was so inspiring and enjoyable to see the myriad ways songs have touched people. Music's a beautiful thing and reading this book was like staring into that diamond 35 different ways.

Frank

May 25, 2016

I rated this 5 stars not because the writing was exceptional. The writing was decent but a little cookie cutter between interviews. I gave this 5 stars because the concept was unique but also a simple and good enough one to make you go "why hadn't this happened already?" And Boilen pulled it off perfectly. It's 35 interviews with well-known musicians diving into the song that changed their life. In addition to answering that question, Boilen does a great job informing the reader about the musician as well as the history around the musician's song choice. For a music lover, even a casual one, this is a must-read book.

Julie

January 16, 2017

Your song changed my life, from Jimmy Page to St. Vincent, Smokey Robinson to Hozier_ thirty-five beloved artists on their journey and the music by Boilen_ BobEnjoyed this story of how different musical artists changed his life as he moved around the world as a child, teen, adult.Like hearing of the artists behind the scenes and little known information from the 60's to current days artists and how their music changed the world.I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

Seth

September 19, 2016

3.8. As others have noted the title is a bit misleading in that it isn't so much about the song that changed their lives but more about how various artists fell in love with music or creating music through a song. Some sections were better than others and not just based in the subject, a couple of the better sections were about musicians whose music I don't listen to, and Boilin has a nice way of talking about how music can be important in a persons life.

Storm

November 30, 2016

Bought this book because many of my favorite musicians are interviewed. The book gets hard to continue reading when you aren't completely aware of all the musicians interviewed. However, it can lead to some great discoveries. Carrie Brownsteins section was really good since I had just finished her book.

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