Written in My Soul: Conversations with Rock's Great Songwriters

by Bill Flanagan

Written in My Soul, first published in 1986, is a snapshot of some of rock & roll's most iconic artists at the same moment. Bill Flanagan, who would go on to create VH1 Storytellers and CMT Crossroads, spoke about songwriting and creativity with Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Joni Mitchell, Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Bono and nineteen more music legends.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

472 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Bill Flanagan]

First, a disclaimer... I am not the author of this book. The author is in fact the "other" Bill Flanagan, he who dominates Google search results of my name. I'm not bitter. In fact I think all of the Bill Flanagan's of the world should be proud that this Bill Flanagan upholds our name so well. Good job, Bill!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author demonstrates extraordinary knowledge of his subjects and is able to engage them in deep conversation primarily focused on the art of songwriting. Many of the interviews are both fascinating and insightful. I also really enjoyed the expert exposition at the beginning of each section and at the beginning of each interview.

I do think the book ends rather abruptly and could have benefited from some sort of postlude, but regardless, the insights contained on this book are priceless for any current or aspiring songwriter.

[Thomas Thieme]

I always wanted to write a book where I asked artists and critics to define rock. Flanagan kind of does it here. The consensus is there is rock and roll (pre-Beatles), rock (Beatles onward), and pop. There was a time when that distinction was harder to make. Forty years on, the latter two have definitely parted ways. His main focus, however, was to determine whether artists are receptors and transmitters of songs that come from the ether or whether songs are the result of plain hard work. There are varied opinions, some being a combination of the two (Why can't it be both?) and every artist he interviewed held firm opinions. It's an ambitious book as well as an informative one. He manages to get Dylan, Reed, Mitchell, Van Morrison, Townshend, Richards and many others to talk candidly and articulately. He also shares what he's learned with artists he interviewed later which made for an occasional somewhat heated disagreements (Richards on Townshend, for instance). No Beatles, but he does mention Lennon's comment that no one has improved on "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", himself included. For lack of space and time, he acknowledges there are other artists he could /would have approached. Don't let the fact that the book is now forty years old discourage you. Who knows, maybe he can do an update before some of them pass away.

[Brian]

I really enjoyed this book. Great insight as to what was going on with the music in this time and some good background on the artists prior to reading the actual interview. Well done!

[Paul Wilner]

Best of its kind I’ve read. Smart, unfanboy questions elicit thoughtful answers even from notoriously elusive subjects like Bob Dylan. Flanagan definitely knows his stuff.

[Matthew Philbin]

Read this when I was young and more creative than I am now. It was inspiring -- especially Petty and Dylan.