Introduction to the Art of Singing by Johann Friedrich Agricola Book

Does this sound like your idea of good music analysis?

"Merilee Rush sang about career women who had become `victims of the night'; in fact, `Working Girl' itself is still one of the only rock songs (at least good ones) to address sexual harrassment - her boss is Mr. Jones, who knew something was happening but didn't know what it was in Dylan's `Ballad of a Thin Man' (so his wife dumped him for Billy Paul so he wound up cruising the barrio for Hispanic chicks with Counting Crows." (p.21)

Congratulations, Mr. Eddy - you just showed you can name four songs that deal with a character named Mr. Jones. Way to go.

That's what this book reads like - it's a series of references and free associations, but he has trouble talking about the same topic for more than a page. Sometimes he can't go a sentence without getting derailed. What you end up with is a bunch of surface-level analysis, as he rarely talks about anything to really make a point or back it up sufficiently.

Many of these chapters are just glorified lists. Wanna know about a bunch of rock songs about trains? Regardless - here's one. Except this is actually more annoying than a book of lists. A book of lists at least keeps things to a bare minimum. This gives you plenty of extra words than a book of lists, but nothing more than the list.

I'm only giving it a second star, because once in a rare while he'll stay on a topic for a bit and make a point. I don't necessarily agree with some of his points, but on this all too brief moments when he makes a point, the book is interesting. Best part: his chapter on Gladys Knight and the Pips where he argues that having a combination of deep emotion (Gladys's singing) and schmaltz (the Pips's background noises) is a nice combination.

Mostly, reading this book was just an endurance of boredom.