girls rock

Music and books -- two of my favorite things. A book about music, and influential women's music at that? I'm sold. I must admit, I'm really not a huge fan of nonfiction; I just don't find myself getting as personally invested in narratives that aren't steeped in fantasy or take place in fictional worlds. But I read this book for my rock n' roll as literature class over the past few months and ended up enjoying its truly deep dive into the lives and professions of these three ladies tremendously. For one thing, I'd heard of all their names before (and a few of their greatest hits) but knew I had basically everything to learn about who they really are, how they've impacted the trajectory of music, and their influence as immensely talented songwriters. One of the coolest things about this book is that it doesn't just talk about Carole King's, Joni Mitchell's, and Carly Simon's music and personal lives, but rather weaves and melds the two together since, arguably, one does not exist without the other. Taking it one step further, this book finds ways to connect the stories of these women so that they overlap, namely through one of their shared lovers, James Taylor, and specific social movements and cultural norms of the changing times, such as the introduction of birth control, the assassination of JFK, and the multifaceted surge of feminism. I have great admiration for the author of this book's highly impressive interviewing skills. While the piece features more run of the mill quotes from various published articles and public statements, there are also direct quotes from the people who knew these women best: lovers, mothers, fathers, producers, fellow artists, and friends. The ability to work with so much material as well, to drop quotes left and right with skillful relevancy, was an attribute of the writing I had one eye on the entire time. Another smaller attribute I admired was the small but fun choice to use a different font for each woman's chapters. When you're reading a chapter about Carole, you're reading text in one particular font. But every chapter about Joni sports a different font, even if only slightly different. And, you guessed it, Carly's is different as well! It was a subtle stylistic choice that went a long way, at least for me as a reader. Even as the overarching narrative of the book encompasses all three women, giving each of them their own font almost seems to be a form of honoring how they each followed their own paths and muses. I think this concept gets at a large theme of the piece: each of these women were volatile forces of nature in their own corners of the world, in their public and private spheres as mothers and lovers and dynamic female icons. Each of them suffered their fair share of relationship and substance abuse, struggling to pick themselves up off the ground after particularly nasty breakups or negative reviews of their newest albums. But each of them were prolific songwriters and passionate creators. Each of them are still alive to this day, servicing the world with their enduring music and current projects. I am inspired as a musical and creative woman by all of them and recommend this book to anyone curious about taking a closer look at how female artists are refreshingly like the rest of us girls.

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Some of my favorite quotes from Girls Like Us:

"Now, the choice to live in a situation that included sex but not a wedding license was a mark of enlightenment for a young woman."

"... you can't keep writing endlessly about the ups and downs of love; freedom has its limits as a subject."

"It's more comfortable if James is more successful than I (Carly) am."

"... men had profoundly let her (Joni) down by failing to hear what she wanted but did not say, instead of what they wanted and she agreed to."

"If I (James Taylor) called you (Carly) every time I thought of you, there would be little time for anything else." 

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