Always Magic in the Air: The Bomp and Brilliance of the Brill Building Era

390 Pages·2006·1.74 MB·English

by  Ken Emerson

Table of Contents
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Introduction

Chapter One - THE ORIGINAL COOL CATS
Chapter Two - A BROADWAY DIVIDED
Chapter Three - LONELY AVENUE
Chapter Four - “MY DAUGHTER BOUGHT IT. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO
DO ABOUT IT?”
Chapter Five - PARTNERS IN CHUTZPAH
Chapter Six - THE YOUNG LOVERS
Chapter Seven - PUTTING THE BOMP IN THE BOMP, BOMP, BOMP
Chapter Eight - IN THE GARDEN OF ALDON
Chapter Nine - “IT WAS JUST JEWISH LATIN”
Chapter Ten - BABY TALK
Chapter Eleven - AT WORK IN THE ELVIS ATELIER
Chapter Twelve - THE MAGICIAN AND THE MENSCH
Chapter Thirteen - SELLING OUT
Chapter Fourteen - SEESAW
Chapter Fifteen - DOUBLE TROUBLE
Chapter Sixteen - GOLDEN GIRLS
Chapter Seventeen - “SOMETHIN’ DIED”
Chapter Eighteen - SWINGING LONDON
Chapter Nineteen - FROM THE MONKEES TO THOMAS MANN

CODA
Acknowledgements
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
DISCOGRAPHY
INDEX
Praise for Always Magic in the Air
“Smart and brisk . . . Emerson . . . captures the hit-driven hustle, the marriages,
the divorces, the fortunes made (and sometimes lost) and the often serendipitous
beginnings of these fateful collaborations.”
—Chrissie Dickinson, The Washington Post Book World

“Extensively researched and lovingly written, the book’s on the top of my charts.
. . . The book has a you-are-there urgency. . . . [I]n this irresistibly readable book,
things are still bomping, and the beat is there, for anyone to catch.”—Caroline
Leavitt, The Boston Globe

“Emerson is very good at limning the forces—musical, cultural, economic—that
affected the sounds pouring out of radios and jukeboxes in the 1950s and
1960s.”—Joanne Kaufman, The Wall Street Journal

“Again and again in Always Magic in the Air, his engrossing account of the early
days of rock and pop music, Ken Emerson puts you at the moment of
creation.”—David Kirby, Chicago Tribune

“Emerson’s book is just about everything you could wish for. Love and clear-
sightedness may be the most delicate of all critical balancing acts. For Emerson,
it’s his true north, the critical compass that makes you believe you’re reading a
man you can trust. . . .Emerson makes you believe you can hear the world in a
pop song, even a world that’s lost.”
—Charles Taylor, New York Newsday

“Fascinating.”—Dave Barry, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Magisterial . . . scholarly and highly entertaining.”
—Mick Brown, The Daily Telegraph (London)

“The story of these writers is long overdue in the telling, and Emerson tells it
splendidly. Under the boardwalk or up on the roof, this is a marvelous
read.”—Kirkus Reviews

“I found Always Magic in the Air an unputdownable read. I was a teenage
purchaser of many of the records described; and I have never subscribed to the
‘standard’ critical view of ’60s pop. Maybe that’s why I had to keep reading so
compulsively—just to see what each of these people wrote next and whether it
was still inscribed somewhere deep in my psyche (yes, mostly).”
—Simon Frith

“This is a book about some of the greatest songwriters of the ’50s and ’60s, a
group responsible for the great blues and rock and roll explosion at the mid-
century. This work will add to the general understanding of their importance.” —
Ahmet Ertegun, founding chairman, Atlantic Records
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ken Emerson, author of Doo-Dah!: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American
Popular Culture and coauthor of Stephen Foster, a documentary film for the
PBS series American Experience, has written widely about popular music and
culture since the 1960s. His articles and reviews have appeared in publications
ranging from Rolling Stone to The Wall Street Journal. The former articles editor
of The New York Times Magazine and op-ed editor of Newsday, he lives in
Montclair, New Jersey.

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First published in the United States of America by Viking Penguin,
a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 2005
Published in Penguin Books 2006

Copyright © Ken Emerson, 2005