Dream Boogie

Dream Boogie, The Triumph of Sam Cooke by Peter Gurlanick

Category: Music biography Grade: B-

I'm a little disappointed. I was really looking forward to this one. I read some of Guralnick's work earlier in the summer and liked it. He's considered one of the premier writers about mid-twentieth century blues and rock -- he wrote Last Train to Memphis probably the most well known bio of Elvis. On top of that, I knew the outlines of Cooke's life and was anxious to learn more.

What Guralnick ended up with was an exhaustive, and exhausting, bio. Every detail of Cooke's life is there and that's a good thing. The problem is, he keeps taking major side trails in to the gory details of a lot of the people around him too. What should have been an interesting 400 page book gets stretched out to 650 pages. It had me doing something I almost never do with a book that I actually finish -- skimming. For somebody who might be professionally interested in Cooke and his music (i.e. Dan), this is a great reference. For the rest of us, its overkill.

That said, I still finished it and enjoyed learning more about Cooke. He's pretty different from most of the rock stars you read about. Sam grew up pretty middle class in a reasonably happy home. Like most black artists of that time period (the 40s) he started as a gospel singer and then switched to pop. Its fun to watch some of the random talent that pops up in his life. Some of them, like Lou Rawls, Little Richard or Bobby Womack aren't really surprising. But a few definitely make you laugh -- one of Sam's first recorded pop songs was written by Sonny Bono! One of the early A&R guys that worked with was Herb Alpert!

So, the book was OK, but I'm still glad I picked it up because it sent me back to the music of Sam Cooke and I had really forgotten how sensational he was. Its was a major loss when he was murdered in his early 30s just as he was coming in to his own as a star. But, man, the music he left behind -- songs like You Send Me, Twisting the Night Away, Cupid, Chain Gang - just one incredible song after another. In the year before he died, Cooke was getting increasingly active in the civil rights movement and showed where he was heading with the terrific song, Change is Gonna Come. And if you think, Tennessee Waltz, is a country song, go back and listen to Cooke's gospel-tinged rendition.

Bottom line -- read the book if you're really, really, really interested in the lives of the early rock stars. Whether you are or not, head to iTunes or your local record store and get one of Cooke's Greatest Hits albums. You won't be sorry.