Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #724857 in Books
• Published on: 1999-11-04
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In the name of charity, Inspirations demands that you reach for your wallet. It's more likely, though, that the benefactors of this worthy project are not just generous souls with deep pockets, but are music fans in search of a nugget of rock history. The book came about when the Hits Under The Hammer Committee--a warm-hearted bunch of industry types--struck upon the idea of piecing together an impressive collection of unique lyric sheets, each one specially personalised by their author to sell at auction, with proceeds going to disabled charities and music therapy centres. Inspirations, the book, is a printed record of their haul. Some of it, sadly, is rather uninspiring--Phil Collins, in his immense generosity, has taken three minutes out of his busy schedule to scrawl the lyrics to "Invisible Touch" on a scrap of A4 paper--but there are a few artefacts here that must surely have raised a bomb: the electric heater graffitied with the lyrics to the Prodigy's "Firestarter", a pint glass emblazoned with the lyrics to The Stereophonics' "The Bartender And The Thief", or the strait jacket inked with the lyrics to Aerosmith's "Crazy". Each piece is accompanied with a brief history detailing what exactly inspired the song, and featuring quotes from the artists. As with the auction, profits from the book go to Norwood Ravenswood and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy, so with Inspirations, you'll know that your hard-earned pennies are going to a good cause. Baby Spice bought a front door scrawled with the lyrics to Madness' "Our House" and Hits Under The Hammer are still fund-raising, so you'd better get in there quick. --Louis Pattison

Book Cover
Inspirations is a collection of over 130 original lyrics. Some, like Roger Taylor's words for Queen's "These are the days of our lives", Bruce Dickinson's lyrics for Iron Maiden's "Can I play with madness" or Phil Collins' early version of Genesis' "Invisible touch" are real "works in progress", complete with draft names, revised lines and unreleased verses. Others have been specially recreated, written out by the artists on a variety of relevant objects: The Prodigy's "Firestarter" appears on an electric fire, Aerosmith's "Crazy" is transcribed by Steven Tyler on a straitjacket, while Madness' "Our House" covers a full-size front door.

Apart from being great songwriters, the real connection between the 130 artists who donated lyrics to this project is that they do so for free, knowing that their efforts would benefit two worthy charities--Nordoff-Robbins and Norwood Ravenswood--who both work tirelessly to raise money to help disadvantaged children and adults. In March, 1999 every lyric in Inspirations was sold at the Hits Under The Hammer charity auction, raising £300,000 and earning a place in The Guinness Book of Records. By buying this book you are able to see for the first time the personal property of the greatest songwriters ever. You are also guaranteeing that the benefit to the charities is on-going. Thank you for your support.