Songs in the Key of My Life
A Memoir
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
“Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand.” —Stevie Wonder, “Sir Duke”
In 2003, young professor Ferentz LaFargue traveled to Paris, where his fiancée, Tricia, declared she wasn’t happy with their relationship, ending what he thought was a wonderful engagement. After days of “craying”—“that sorrow-laden blend of crying and praying delivered in perfect pitch by those in mourning”—Ferentz happened upon Stevie Wonder’s 1976 classic double album Songs in the Key of Life. Listening to it anew was a healing, spiritual trip down memory lane, helping him to come to terms with his breakup and reflect on how songs in general have been linked to his life.
In this book, Ferentz invites us to get cozy and listen as he hits PLAY on meaningful tracks from Wonder and others, including Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, LL Cool J, Beenie Man, Sheryl Crow, Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway, and Black Sabbath. He recalls:
How the fusion of rock and rap in the breakthrough Run-D.M.C./Aerosmith video “Walk This Way” helped to change an adolescent Ferentz from outcast to authority figure
How Michael Jackson’s Thriller brought back a traumatic childhood experience
How Kanye West’s “Jesus Walks” speaks to the tension between his Christian beliefs and his need to rip it up in clubs as a hip-hop head
In the tradition of Nick Hornby’s Songbook¸ these words paint a portrait of a life framed by sounds, allowing all of us to think about what songs have been key in our own lives.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Recalling Nick Hornby's Songbook and Rob Sheffield's more recent Love is a Mix Tape, Lafargue's memoir chronicles life events major and minor through the prism of the music he loves and hates. Lefargue found the genesis for his book while struggling through the aftermath of a failed engagement, during which he discovered Stevie Wonder's breakthrough double album, Songs in the Key of Life. Beginning with the miraculous turnaround that album inspired, the professor and Brooklyn resident recounts, among other amusing anecdotes, his mother's mad crush on mid-1980s sensation Billy Ocean; his own impressions and imitations of Michael Jackson, "who danced like Fred Astaire, sang like Jackie Wilson, had the suave good looks of a young Sam Cooke, and dressed like Liberace"; and the link between Stanley Kubrick's film Full Metal Jacket and 2 Live Crew's "obscene, misogynist, and offensive" album As Nasty as They Wanna Be. The book's biggest weakness may be Lefargue's lack of credentials; without rock critic Sheffield's reputation or Hornby's fan base, readers may wonder why they should care about one man's taste in music. Lafargue may not provide that reason, but he does have a sincere, honest voice and a story that any pop music fan is sure to nod along with.
