The Song Remains the Same

From Schubert to Springsteen, Archie Roach to Amy Winehouse, comes an illuminating history of the song for every kind of music lover. On iTunes, the word ‘song’ is used to describe all music. A free-jazz improvisation, a Hindustani raga, a movement from a Beethoven symphony, a Springsteen anthem or a Leonard Cohen ballad: they’re all songs.

But, in fact, a song is a specific musical form. It’s not so much that they all have verses and choruses – though most of them do – but that they are all relatively short and self-contained; they have beginnings, middles and ends; they often have a single point of view, message or story; and, crucially, they unite words and music. Thus, a Schubert song has more in common with a track by Joni Mitchell or Adele than with one of Schubert’s own symphonies.

The Song Remains the Same traces these connections through a hundred songs from different cultures and times: love songs, anthems, protest songs, lullabies, folk songs, jazz standards, lieder and pop hits; ‘Waltzing Matilda’ to ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Jerusalem’ to ‘Jolene’. Unpicking their inner workings makes familiar songs strange again, explaining and restoring the wonder, joy (or possibly loathing) the reader experienced on first hearing.

Featuring songs by The Beatles, Cole Porter, Kate Bush, Carole King, Bob Marley, Tracey Chapman, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and Chrissie Hynde; musical numbers by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Sondheim and the Gershwins; and works from great composers, including Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms.

About the Authors

Andrew Ford is a composer, writer and broadcaster. For twelve years he was in the Faculty of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong. He has written nine books and, since 1995, has presented The Music Show each weekend on Radio National.

Anni Heino is a Finnish-born Australian writer and musicologist. She was head of classical music at the Finnish Music Information Centre and, since 2007, has been the editor at the Australian Music Centre. She is also the editor of Talking to Kinky and Karlheinz, a book of interviews from The Music Show.