A tour of music, lifestyles and pop culture
By: Bernard Baur
The Story Behind the Song
D
id you know Frank Sinatra’s signature song, “My Way” was originally a French tune? Paul Anka simply licensed it and wrote English lyrics for his friend and mentor, “Ol’ Blue Eyes.” Or, that John Sebastian wrote “Daydream” for The Lovin Spoonful so that they could sound more like The Supremes? Those surprising tidbits illustrate what you’ll find in Jo-Ann Geffen’s new book, The Story behind the Song, published via Chicken Soup for the Soul. In it, she explores the stories behind 101 songs, and some of them will knock you off your feet. Geffen heads up a public relations firm (JAG Entertainment) with a superstar clientele. A chance meeting with the publishers of the Chicken Soup series led to her assignment and debut authorship. “I tried to transcend genres by selecting songwriters that represent the modern musical era and every type of music in it,” she explains. And, indeed, she did. The book covers songs from pop, rock, classical, alternative, rap, country and soul. What she found is that, regardless of genre, the most memorable songs had a similar quality. “They all spoke about universal feelings,” she notes. “They just expressed it differently.” She was most surprised by how “personal” many of the songs were. As examples, she cites Kanye West’s “Welcome
L-R: Stephen Bishop, Carol Connors, Jo-Ann Geffen, Lamont Dozier
to Heartbreak” as his look at the downside of stardom; Jerry Cantrell’s “Rooster” as his attempt to understand how his father’s Vietnam War experience affected his family; and, how Jewel’s song “Hands” was written when she was 18, homeless and ill, but still projected a positive spirit. “Some of these stories will break your heart, while others will lighten it,” she says. For sure…a few are even funny, like Lamont Dozier’s inspiration for “Stop in the Name of Love.” The title came to him as he tried to calm down his girlfriend after she caught him with a one-night stand at a no-tell motel. He recalled, “I was trying to get her to stop screaming at me, so I shouted ‘Stop! In the name of love…please stop.’ As soon as that phrase left my lips,” he laughed, “I
heard a cash register.” Stories like that fill the book with a sense of discovery. They not only trigger memories of the time when you first heard a song, they also add a new perspective and understanding that you never had before. For Geffen, writing the book was a labor of love, as well as an adventure. “Many of the writers were friends of mine. Some were even clients or former clients. And they helped to get others involved. Billy Bob Thornton had a lot of suggestions and was extremely helpful. But, what I learned most of all,” Geffen relates, “is that songwriters are just like us. They just have a unique way of expressing their emotions.” To find out more about the book and Jo-Ann Geffen go to: www. chickensoup.com, www.amazon. com and/or www.jagpr.com.