Rockin’ the Stories

So many of Nick Hornby’s novels revolve around music (High Fidelity, Songbook, and his latest, Juliet, Naked), it was only a matter of time before the author wrote some lyrics of his own. And lucky for his fans, that time has come. Hornby, joined by musician Ben Folds, just released their joint project, “Lonely Avenue,” with lyrics by Hornby and music by Folds.

Apparently the two men got in touch after Ben Folds read Hornby’s book, 31 Songs which praises Folds’ song, “Smoke.” Folds gave Hornby a call and thanked him for the complements, but admitted that he did not write the song’s lyrics. Sometime after that conversation, the two started their musical partnership; Hornby began emailing lyrics to Folds, who turned them into songs.

The album is interesting in that each of the songs has a novel or short story-esque quality to it, complete with characters and a conflict. For instance, the song Belinda is about a guy who wrote a one-hit-wonder about his ex-wife, Belinda, who he left for a bucksome flight attendant who gave him “complementary champagne.” All of the musician’s fans love the song, and so he has to sing it over and over, but every time he sings it he has to relive his failed marriage. And “Claire’s Ninth” is about a girl who goes out to eat for her birthday with her two divorced parents, who can hardly stand to be around each other anymore.

My favorite song on the album is “A Working Day,” which is about a guy who thinks he is a brilliant writer until “some guy on the net” tells him that his work sucks, after which he thinks that his writing is shit. (The lyrics go, “Some guy on the net thinks I suck and he should know; he’s got his own blog.”) Because clearly having your own blog is synonymous to stardom. Ahem…in all seriousness though, you don’t know me, Nick Hornby, but you’ve kind of summed up my brain in that song.

According to Hornby, a couple of the songs were originally ideas for short stories, but they became songs instead. It must have been somewhat of a challenge for Hornby to switch from writing novels to writing songs, because there is so much less space in a song for events to happen and for characters to be introduced. But I guess in a way, it could have been easy, since songs don’t really require a conclusion, and are just sort of story snapshots, or simple character sketches. In any case, Hornby made a skillful transition from prose to lyrics.

Also worthy of note is that Folds designed the album to be released on vinyl. But don’t fear, if you don’t own a turntable, you can also get it on CD, and in a special deluxe edition that comes with four short stories by Hornby.

I’d recommend “Lonely Avenue” to any and all fans of Hornby’s and/or Folds’. And on that topic, if you haven’t read any of Hornby’s novels, you should get on that. They’re really delightful and are overflowing with witty tidbits about people, relationships and, of course, music.