ANATOMY OF A SONG The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop

Oral histories are ideal audiobook material. Jonathan Yen energetically takes the listener on a journey into Myers's list of 45 popular songs released between 1952 and 1991 that changed musical history. Yen has a verve and approachability that is reminiscent of Kasey Kasem counting down the hits. Radio play was everything! Each song is placed in its cultural and historical context, followed by interviews of key players. Yen makes it easy to make the transition from context to oral history, and he, thankfully, does not try to take on hundreds of accents. There are lots of fascinating factoids--Gladys Knight's classic began as "Midnight Train to Houston"; Janis Joplin's "Mercedes Benz" was a poem. It's the nature of the thing to wonder at the omissions of the Beatles, Springsteen, Queen, Dylan, and countless others. A.B. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2017]