Anatomy of a Song

August 8, 2016
Four years ago, Myers launched his “Anatomy of a Song” column in the Wall Street Journal, and he offers this mostly interesting but hardly hit-making collection of previously published columns. Like many pop songs, the structure is pretty simple. Myers (Why Jazz Happened) provides a new introduction to the songs, which were written between 1952 and 1991, setting each in its cultural context, as well as indicating its historical significance. For example, according to Myers, in the late 1980s R.E.M. thrived in a growing alternative music scene in which listeners developed deep personal attachments to bands that were singing about issues that concerned them. Following these introductions, Myers then turns the mike over to the artists, writers, musicians, and producers behind each song, who tell us about the stories behind it. Many artists are reflective: Bonnie Raitt says that writing her hit “Nick of Time” gave her a “sense of confidence and self-awareness that helped break through some stifling self-doubt.” Some point out that we can invest too much meaning in simple lyrics, as when Mick Jagger reminds us that his song “Moonlight Mile” is “definitely not about cocaine.” Some, like the Marvelettes’ lead singer, Katherine “Kat” Anderson Schaffner, reveal a song’s origins: “Please Mr. Postman” was an unfinished blues song written by William Garrett about a “nice postman in our projects” that the group finished and then recorded. Music fans will enjoy the behind-the-songs stories, but the book would have been even more compelling if Myers had provided a clearer sense of why he selected these songs and not others, and why songwriters such as Bob Dylan are glaringly absent from the collection.