Music

Geddy Lee made good use of his time in quarantine: He wrote a memoir that’ll be out next year.

The Rush bassist/vocalist writes on Instagram that during the year and a half he spent in lockdown due to COVID-19 — “the longest time I’d spent in Toronto since I was nineteen,” he notes — he passed the time by teaching his grandson how to play baseball, taking care of his dogs, and watching TV mysteries with his wife.  “Oh, and another thing,” he adds. “I began to write. Words, that is.”

Lee explains that writing was his way of dealing with the death of his band mate Neil Peart, who passed away January 7, 2020.  According to Lee, Daniel Richler, with whom he collaborated on his Big Beautiful Book of Bass, “saw how I was struggling in the aftermath of Neil’s passing, and tried coaxing me out of my blues with some funny tales from his youth, daring me to share my own in return.”

“So I did — reluctantly at first, but then remembering, oh yeah, I like wrestling with words…and soon my baby-step stories were becoming grownup chapters,” Lee continues.  He found himself, he says, “scouring my memory banks,” his “diaries and piles of photo albums,” and “piecing together a mystery of a different kind.”

Lee sent his work to Richler, who, he says, “cleaned up some of the grammar and removed a lot of the swearing.”  The result, Lee says, is a “presentable, epic-length account of my life on and off the stage…my childhood, my family, the story of my parents’ survival, my travels and all sorts of nonsense I’ve spent too much time obsessing over.”

Lee’s now putting the finishing touches on the book, which will be published by HarperCollins in the fall of 2022.

 

 

 

 

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Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora may no longer be band mates, but the songs they wrote together will live forever.  That’s why the U.K.’s prestigious Ivor Novello Awards have honored both of them this year.

Jon and Richie were jointly honored with the Special International Award at the ceremony, held Tuesday in London, though only Sambora showed up to accept.  The songwriting honor came in recognition of the global anthems the two musicians crafted, including “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Wanted Dead or Alive.”

At the ceremony, Sambora spoke with Sky News.about the importance of songwriting. “Everybody needs a great song so they can go out and play live to the people and entertain and do that; you need a great song, something that touches somebody in the heart,” he said. “You know, ‘Livin’ on a Prayer,’ part of that song is something that happened to me — my Uncle Sal got laid off at the docks, my dad was laid off — so there’s a time period of authenticity of a story.”

“And I think that’s what we’re here to celebrate, all the girls and guys and men and women that try real hard with a lot of courage,” Sambora added. “Because songwriting is harder than it looks.”

Other winners at the ceremony included Tears for Fears duo Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. They were honored with the Outstanding Song Collection award for their catalog of hits, including “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” “Sowing the Seeds of Love,” and “Shout.”

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In a chat with Marc Maron on his WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Sopranos creator David Chase explained how Journey ended up soundtracking the show’s controversial finale — and how the rest of his team loathed the idea of using that song.

As you may remember, in the finale, James Gandolfini‘s Tony Soprano and his family members sit down for dinner at a diner, and Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” starts playing on a jukebox — before the entire scene, and the song, cut to black.

While Chase wasn’t re-litigating what the vague ending means — spoiler alert: he apparently once accidentally called it Tony’s “death scene” — he did talk about what went into choosing that song.

Discussing the topic with members of his crew at the time, Chase said he was left with three choices — Al Green‘s “Love and Happiness,” another song which he can’t remember, and the Journey song.

When he mentioned “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Chase recalled, “[T]hey went, ‘Oh, Jesus Christ, no. Don’t do that! Ugh. F***.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s it. That’s the one.'”

Chase explained, “I wasn’t saying that just to throw it in their face. That was kind of my favorite, and it got a reaction of some kind. So I can make this song lovable, which it had been.”

Of course, the song’s inclusion in the 2007 finale sent downloads soaring, and the renewed interest in Journey motivated the band to find a new lead singer, Arnel Pineda, and get back on the road.  The song remains the best-selling digital song that was recorded in the pre-digital era.

The Sopranos prequel, Chase’s The Many Saints of Newark, starring Gandolfini’s son Michael as a young Tony Soprano, hits theaters and HBO Max on October 1.

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Cat Stevens, the legendary singer/songwriter now known as Yusuf, is celebrating the International Day of Peace — September 21 — with a new version of his 1971 classic, “Peace Train.”

Yusuf has teamed up with Playing for Change, the project that aims to connect the world through music, to record more than 25 musicians from 12 countries around the world, all performing “Peace Train.”  The artists participating include The Doobie Brothers‘ Pat Simmons, blues artist Keb’ Mo’, Grammy-winning Americana artist Rhiannon Giddens, Sengalese star Baaba Mal and many more. 

The countries range from Mali, Pakistan and India to Argentina, Australia and Turkey, the latter of which is where Yusuf himself is seen performing in the video. You can watch it now on Playing for Change’s YouTube channel.

“We are privileged to be able to create a glimpse of unity through music,” says Yusuf in a statement. “However, if you want to make the Peace Train real, then you need two tracks: one track has to be Justice, and the other must be Well-being. Everybody should have access to these two things, then the Peace Train can really get going.”

Mark Johnson, the co-founder of Playing for Change, adds, “This song’s powerful message is as relevant today as the day it was written and as we celebrate the International Day of Peace, we hope that everyone will join us as we stand up for a more equitable and compassionate world.”

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