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Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller
Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller was a 2004 SEBA Book Award finalist, and a 2004 Book Critics Circle Award finalist.
Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller is an inventive and original book from Nashville singer/songwriter Chapman, who uses twelve of her most resonant songs as entry points to many of her life's adventures. Not a memoir, but a map of the places Chapman's been and what went through her mind as she was traveling there, this book is funny and tender, warm and exuberant.
Raised a debutante in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the daughter of a mill owner and firmly part of proper society, Chapman became a rocker at a time when women weren't yet picking up electric guitars. She is "a living example," as one reviewer wrote, "of the triumph of rock and roll over good breeding."
From New Year's Eve in 1978 when Jerry Lee Lewis gave Chapman advice on how to live life ("I mean it's one thing when your mother says 'Honey don't you think you'd better slow down?' But when The Killer voices his concern....") to the time her black maid Cora Jeter took the seven-year-old to see Elvis, Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller goes to the moments when the influences on Chapman's songwriting and psyche were cemented. And it winningly reveals how the creative process comes from one of Chapman's favorite songs was written after waking up facedown in her underpants in her front-yard vegetable garden.
Revealing intimate rock and roll moments and memories of a South Carolina childhood, Marshall Chapman is a fresh voice firmly in the Southern tradition.
Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller is an inventive and original book from Nashville singer/songwriter Chapman, who uses twelve of her most resonant songs as entry points to many of her life's adventures. Not a memoir, but a map of the places Chapman's been and what went through her mind as she was traveling there, this book is funny and tender, warm and exuberant.
Raised a debutante in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the daughter of a mill owner and firmly part of proper society, Chapman became a rocker at a time when women weren't yet picking up electric guitars. She is "a living example," as one reviewer wrote, "of the triumph of rock and roll over good breeding."
From New Year's Eve in 1978 when Jerry Lee Lewis gave Chapman advice on how to live life ("I mean it's one thing when your mother says 'Honey don't you think you'd better slow down?' But when The Killer voices his concern....") to the time her black maid Cora Jeter took the seven-year-old to see Elvis, Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller goes to the moments when the influences on Chapman's songwriting and psyche were cemented. And it winningly reveals how the creative process comes from one of Chapman's favorite songs was written after waking up facedown in her underpants in her front-yard vegetable garden.
Revealing intimate rock and roll moments and memories of a South Carolina childhood, Marshall Chapman is a fresh voice firmly in the Southern tradition.
- GenresMemoirMusicNonfiction
272 pages, Paperback
First published September 26, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
July 12, 2018
There are so many wishes with this book. I wish I read it sooner, I wish it didn’t have to end, I wish there was more stories, and I wish I could rate more stars! If you are looking for a rollercoaster ride through the heart, READ THIS BOOK!
Her stories are one of a kind and lead you back to a time that I never experienced so vividly (compared to any history class you can take!). She is a woman of power, spirit, and a hint of mischief. I love how all the stories blend into one another and intertwined throughout the story. Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller was my favorite chapter and definitely my favorite song.
Why am I so passionate about it? Well, the book adds up to everything I saw. I never ever heard of Marshall Chapman, until the Blue Bird Cafe, May 24th 2018. It was a last minute luck of the draw that we made it in that night. I always heard people raving about this place, and I was excited to finally go.
There were four musicians that night, but as Marshall walked up to her seat I felt all the air in the room vanish. I am no means a writer, but any synonym for “cool” is underrated. Her black cowboy hat tried to hide the fire burning in her eyes. As she began to play, I realized she is what country music would look like as a person. I mean TRUE and GENUINE country music. Her lyrics, voice, and strum of the guitar made it seem so unreal. She gave some descriptions from the songs she sang, but reading this book gives deeper meaning to what I was so lucky to experience.
I am so thankful that Chris (her boyfriend) gave me this book as a gift! The love that pours over his face when he describes Marshall was inspiring. It was truly an experience I will never forget. And this book made the experience that much more “transcendental”!
Her stories are one of a kind and lead you back to a time that I never experienced so vividly (compared to any history class you can take!). She is a woman of power, spirit, and a hint of mischief. I love how all the stories blend into one another and intertwined throughout the story. Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller was my favorite chapter and definitely my favorite song.
Why am I so passionate about it? Well, the book adds up to everything I saw. I never ever heard of Marshall Chapman, until the Blue Bird Cafe, May 24th 2018. It was a last minute luck of the draw that we made it in that night. I always heard people raving about this place, and I was excited to finally go.
There were four musicians that night, but as Marshall walked up to her seat I felt all the air in the room vanish. I am no means a writer, but any synonym for “cool” is underrated. Her black cowboy hat tried to hide the fire burning in her eyes. As she began to play, I realized she is what country music would look like as a person. I mean TRUE and GENUINE country music. Her lyrics, voice, and strum of the guitar made it seem so unreal. She gave some descriptions from the songs she sang, but reading this book gives deeper meaning to what I was so lucky to experience.
I am so thankful that Chris (her boyfriend) gave me this book as a gift! The love that pours over his face when he describes Marshall was inspiring. It was truly an experience I will never forget. And this book made the experience that much more “transcendental”!
December 21, 2021
Marshall Chapman was a member of my high school graduating class. It was a small school and a small class so I really did know her when. She went on to be a song writer/performer and I really like her music. This book is a kind of memoir of how she came to write the songs she's written. It probably won't hold much appeal if you've never heard of her or her music but if you have or are at all interesting in how songs get written, it's a really good story.
October 22, 2023
I had not heard of her before but enjoy Lee Smith’s writing very much. This was on the library book cart and I thought I would give it a go. I really liked it. Chapman has led an incredible life. It was fun to get to know more about her. Reading this book really is like talking with an incredibly interesting person at a dinner party. Also, SC is quite small so turns out I have met some of the characters in this book.
May 1, 2018
I bought this book at a yard sale at Marshall’s house and thoroughly enjoyed it. I first saw her last year and regret all the lost opportunities over the years of not hearing her. As a long time Resident, it was fun to read about the old days of the music business.
January 12, 2024
Read this book several years ago and will probably do a re-read soon. Loved all her stories, especially as a young woman living in Nashville.
January 10, 2013
A memoir is quite different from an autobiography, with different objectives. An autobiography is meant to document a person's life up to a certain period, while a memoir should shed light into a person's personality. A really good memoir will evoke a range of emotions as it imparts knowledge about the writer. This memoir would have to rank among the best of the genre for this reader. Marshall Chapman is a bigger than life singer songwriter who had a very successful career for more than twenty years and my be one of the best country and rock legends that I had not heard of before. I laughed with Marshall as she regaled the reader with tales of living life at a full-tilt boogie and cried as she related some of the more tender experiences of her never dull life. Each chapter is organized around one of her songs, as she relates the circumstances that led to the song's writing, and the people she hung out with at the time. Some of the characters (what else can you call these people she has know and loved?) appear over and over, while others just kind of pass by on their way to somewhere else. But all of them had a profound influence on the person that Maah-shall (as she referred to herself in her native South Carolina drawl) has become. Marshall has pretty much seen and done it all, and if I found myself wishing I had discovered her back when she was Little Miss Rock and Roller.
November 2, 2008
Marshall Chapman left her blueblood background of debutante balls and secure but boring future of being a high society housewife to be a singer/songwriter in Nashville. There she found a lifestyle of drugs and booze. To hide her blueblood background, she lived in a bad neighborhood and plowed up her front yard to grow vegetables to look country. She is very open about drugs, booze, sex, and her dark side of life and yet she approaches it with such humor that the reader will have tears from laughing so hard.
One example is that one night she passed out in her front yard vegetable garden. When she woke up the next morning she had nothing on except her panties. Inside her house, she found a naked man passed out in her bathtub with only two parts of his body sticking up from the water. "Thank God one part was his nose or I would have had a corpse on my hands."
One example is that one night she passed out in her front yard vegetable garden. When she woke up the next morning she had nothing on except her panties. Inside her house, she found a naked man passed out in her bathtub with only two parts of his body sticking up from the water. "Thank God one part was his nose or I would have had a corpse on my hands."
January 8, 2014
For me, I found this book at the perfect time. This straightforward memoir the honors the fun and insanity of the author's past while she acknowledges the importance of moving on to bigger and better things later in her life. The book also gave me some insights to the creative process as Ms. Marshall has been a singer/songwriter for many years, and held the feminist spirit throughout the novel without being overly preachy about. What more can I say? I loved this book, and now I must admit I'm a fan of both Marshall Chapman's writing and music.
June 1, 2009
Four stars might be a bit much--3.5 is more like it. Anyway, I like modern music history, and I like tales of interesting and wild living, particularly among women and particularly when they have a happy ending. I also like old tales of Nashville, since that's where I'm currently living. Marshall Chapman satisfied on all counts. Now, to figure out who the unnamed Texas songwriter is . . . I'm currently watching Heartworn Highways for a clue.
November 16, 2009
I think what kept me going through this book was her wild stories! It's not that it's badly written -- it's not a masterpiece, but it has it's moments -- but without her crazy life to tell, her kind of overarching philosophizing about life would've gotten old very fast. Luckily that didn't happen because she's simply wild and fun to read about! It helped too that I had just met her and could hear her very slow south carolina drawl throughout...I am dying to hear the song betty's bein' bad!
August 26, 2007
Great idea for a book (tying the songs in with stories of her life). Some of the stories are better than others, but Marshall Chapman's lived a pretty amazing life. If you're reading this review, you probably like Marshall Chapman. You should read this.
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August 11, 2011I received this book from a friend of Marshall's who is also a writer. Enjoyed the book alot and was fascinated with the creative song writing process. I will be visiting Nashville next month and am excited to see the city and hopefully seek out some of Marshall's haunts.
May 5, 2012
This second edition soft cover, printed in a larger format on white paper, with the glossy pink cover, is a big improvement on the first edition softcover from St Martins in 2004. The photographs jump off the pages, and the words are as enjoyable now as when they were first written.
August 8, 2008
Hilarious. Great find at a yard sale - really enjoyed reading this.
August 28, 2008
Marshall Chapman is a great storyteller.
June 29, 2009
I really liked learning the stories behind her songs. And there are a couple of lines that absolutely love!
January 30, 2011
This book was fun to read, especially Marshall's description of putting on and recording a live concert inside a Tennessee state women's prison.
February 9, 2011
I like Marshall Chapman and I like her music. But got real bored reading this book. Maybe its more meaningful to musicians.
September 15, 2012
Great book, fun read.
June 28, 2013
I love this book! Once I started it I could not stop!
December 6, 2012
Never finished the book. Become too redundant and boring.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews