My wife gave me Songs in the Key of Z as a gift several years ago, and it’s been a favourite of mine ever since. This is my third or fourth rereading, and I enjoy it as much today as when I first cracked it open. It might seem an odd candidate for repeat reads, as its stated purpose is to introduce the uninitiated to a roster of bizarre and largely unheralded artists. Yet I find myself coming back to it every couple of years, engaged time after time in these stories of hope and perserverence in the face of indifference, madness, and a host of other obstacles.
I was not truly uninitiated when I picked up this book, having heard of several fo the artists already—and not simply the more commercially successful ones—but I nevertheless learned of a lot of amazing individuals, some of whom became personal favorites. Chusid casts a wide net, chronicling the careers of respected avant garde stalwarts like Syd Barrett and Captain Beefheart, indie darlings like Daniel Johnston and Wesley Willis, and true off-the-radar oddities like Jack Madurian, a resident at an assisted living community who recorded a pinballing medley of Tin Pan Alley hits, and Shooby Taylor, whose unreleased demo of himself playing air saxophone have made him a celebrity among a small but fervent clutch of devotees (count me among them).
In addition to varying levels of fame, Chusid makes no distinction between artists whose intensity fo vision make them commerically unviable despite considerable knowledge and skill, and those who truly have nothing that could be called, in the conventional sens,e musical talent. Harry Partch and Robert Graettinger are undeniably able composers with deep understanding of music theory—Partch even devised his oen 43-note scale based on Just Intonation—but chose to compose music that most listeners would not appreciate, whereas the tin-throated heiress Florence Foster Jenkins had what is universally described as an atrocious voice, and can be appreciated more for her guileless faith in her own abilities. Nor are the camps clearly defined: I imagine most listeners owudl consider The Shaggs utterly devoid of talent, but I remain convinced that in an alternate universe, they are as big and influential as the Beatles.
Chusid’s prose is deft and funny, descriptive withotu being overwrought, and gilded with many funny turns of phrase. He is a talented writer, and I was surprised to find that he doesn’t have any sort of writing background, going so far as to claim in his author bio that Songs is his first and last book. I hope he reconsiders. there remain considerably greater depths to be plumbed here, and he is clearly the man to do it.