Writer’s block has never been an issue for the prolific Greil Marcus. “I love to write,” says the acclaimed rock critic. “If I am lucky enough to find a subject, I’ll dive after it. It’s as simple as that.”
The author of such classic treatises as “Mystery Train,” “Lipstick Traces” and “Dead Elvis” recently released his latest opus, “The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs” (Yale University Press). Uninterested in rehashing a traditional history of the genre, Marcus instead focuses his considerable critical powers on 10 songs to tell a larger artistic story. His choices are unexpected and refreshing, including “Shake Some Action” by the Flamin’ Groovies, “Transmission” by Joy Division and several versions of “Money Changes Everything.”
Marcus appears at the Old Town School of Folk Music’s Maurer Hall on Thursday. He’ll be joined by Jon Langford and Sally Timms of the Mekons for an evening of book talk, music and rock ‘n’ roll conversation. Marcus called recently from his home in Oakland, Calif. This is an edited transcript.
Q: Jon Langford and Sally Timms will appear with you at your Chicago show. How did that come about?
A: The Poetry Foundation in Chicago came up with the idea of me doing something about my new book at the Old Town School. They asked if there were performers I wanted to work with. I immediately said Jon and Sally. We’re old friends. We get along together. There’s no pressure between us. They both have a great sense of humor.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for the book?
A: A few years ago I got a call from Steve Wasserman. I’ve known him since 1971 when I was first teaching at Berkeley. He was a student in the first class I ever taught. We’d always stayed in touch. He was working as an editor at Yale. He said they wanted me to write a history of rock ‘n’ roll. I said, “Absolutely not. That’s just the worst idea I’ve ever heard. It’s been done to death. It’s fixed. It’s decided. There are all these people you have to write about, there are all these turning points and events that you have to take into account. It’s been done over and over. Who would want to do that again?” So I said “No.”
I kept thinking about it. I got back to him later and said, “What if it was a book that left out all of the things that you can’t leave out, and it was just about a small number of songs? With the premise being that you could find the history of the music — what made rock ‘n’ roll different and special — in any good song. Any good song would have that DNA in it. But no Elvis, no Chuck Berry, no Beatles, no Rolling Stones, no James Brown, no Otis Redding, no Nirvana.” He went for it, Yale went for it, and I was off.
Q: You could have written a book like this about a single song or 100 songs. How did you decide on 10?
A: Originally it was going to be 16. My wife and I were talking about it, and it seemed like a really good number. Not too many, not too few. Sixteen is a very rock ‘n’ roll number. There are lots of “16” songs: “You’re Sixteen,” “Sixteen Reasons (Why I Love You),” Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen.” I thought the chapters would be about 2,000 or 3,000 words.
I started to write, and it all got longer and more involved. Sixteen was going to be too unwieldy and make it too long of a book. Ten is an obvious number, but it was random. But you’re right. It could have been about one song.
Q: Was there a cornerstone song that you built the book on, the one that inspired you to go in this direction?
A: Yes. As soon as I came up with the idea for the book, that it would be the history of rock ‘n’ roll in a small number of songs, I knew that the song that had to be there, and the first one that I had to write about, was “Shake Some Action.” It’s the first chapter. This is what rock ‘n’ roll is. Nothing like this song, this performance, this sound had ever been heard on earth before rock ‘n’ roll emerged. It’s the purest distillation of what the form wants to be.
The (song is by) this little San Francisco band the Flamin’ Groovies, recording in 1972. It’s not a famous song, although it’s a song that has traveled and found its way to people. There are so many people who love it, even though it was never any kind of a hit. I just knew I had to write about it. This would be my preface, my jumping off point, my springboard.
Q: There’s a passage in the book where you describe a scene from “The Sopranos.” Two characters are sitting in a vehicle listening to Bob Dylan’s ‘ “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding).”‘ It’s a great example of how a song can jump through time and live again in a new way.
A: I tried to make this suggestion that maybe the truest moment in the life of “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” is not when it first appeared in 1964 and people first reacted to it. It’s not even at a Dylan show now when people come into the place with their knowledge of the song. They’re carrying the song with them, they have a fixed meaning for it, they know what the applause lines are.
But rather (it’s) two fictional people discovering the song decades later and feeling it was written for them. The proper historical context falls away. A new historical context wraps itself around the song. The song draws the present to it. The song has its own gravity and magnetism. That to me is so much more interesting than saying, “Well, this song summed up its moment.” We don’t know what its moment is. That’s what makes it interesting.
Q: Punk icon Henry Rollins recorded the audiobook. How did he come into the project?
A: I’ve never had an audiobook before. This is a first for me. A company called Audible approached Henry and asked if he would do it. He said “Yes.” I had nothing to do with it. I was just superlucky. Henry does a marvelous job. It’s incredibly listenable without being overdone. He’s a tremendous performer. He’s a thoughtful, un-obvious person. He’s always full of ideas. After they brought him into the project, he and I talked. The audiobook has a half-hour interview between the two of us at the end of it. To have someone of his abilities want to take this on was a great honor.
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When: 8 p.m. Thursday
Where: Old Town School of Folk Music, Maurer Hall, 4544 N. Lincoln Ave.
Tickets: $12; 773-728-6000 or oldtownschool.org
