MADreads

Play me a song

July 8th, 2009 Robin A.

Remember that one song from the 8th grade dance that seemed to get all the girls out on the floor?  So does Rob Sheffield. 

In his New York Times bestselling biography Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time, Rob Sheffield shares the ways music has been an indelible part of his life.  A journalist for Rolling Stone, Sheffield has been thinking about and worshipping music all his life.  His biography traces this path, from when his dad took him out for milkshakes and they each picked a song on the juke box, to when he DJed a middle school dance, to the mix tapes exchanged with women he’s dated and loved.

Each chapter opens with the track listings of a different mix tape that the author has either made or received.  From that, Sheffield springboards into the story of the tape’s context: why the tape was made and how the songs related to the people and places in his life. Familiarity with the particular songs Sheffield muses about is unnecessary, as Sheffield focuses more on the people and events in his life rather than nuances of the music he’s listened to.  Alternating humorous tales of adolescence with the heartbreaking story of his wife’s premature death, this biography is much more than a music geek’s artistic obsessions; it’s a portrait of coming of age, falling in love, coping with loss, and the struggle for personal growth.

Conversational, warm, and unafraid of the occasional self-deprecating jab, Sheffield provides an intimate glimpse into his life and the music woven through it.  Anyone who’s ever listened to an album on repeat or swapped music with friends would value this moving work.

Entry Filed under: Memoir & Biography, Nonfiction