Of Course I Said Yes!: The Amazing Adventures of a Life in Music

by Arthur Barrow

Arthur Barrow shares stories of his life as a performer, composer, studio musician, and producer. He vividly describes his work with a wide range of artists including Frank Zappa, Giorgio Moroder, Robby Krieger of The Doors, Joe Cocker, Diana Ross, and many others. Zappa fans will be thrilled to have a look into Frank's creative process by someone who was actually there, and see the enormous effort made by his musicians to perform his astonishing and challenging music.

214 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 30, 2016

Reviews

[Pauline Butcher Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone wishing to pursue a career playing music should read this book. You will learn that, no matter how talented you are, there will be fallow periods. It is touching that, even before meeting Frank Zappa, Arthur had bought all Frank's music and devoured every album, and then his dream comes true: Frank Zappa employs Arthur to play bass-guitar in his band. To my delight, most of the story covers those three years when Arthur was given the task of teaching the others their parts, a role that led to disgruntlement from 'Mean Girl' (whom Arthur diplomatically doesn't name but can be worked out) such that Arthur sometimes hid himself in the toilet in tears.

There are wonderful stories about Frank, and for music buffs, lots about the development of recording equipment and instruments over the past 40 years. In the end, Arthur finds Zappa's tacky lyrics too difficult to stomach, songs like Ms Pinky, Stevie's Spanking and The Torture Never Stops. It was the one time when 'Of Course I Said Yes', a phrase cleverly woven through the ups and downs of Arthur's career, does not apply and Arthur says, 'No.' He works on and off with Frank over the next many years among a host of others producers, directors and musicians while at the same time composing and issuing his own work.

All university courses and every musician will not only want to read but also retain this very enjoyable and erudite book on their shelves..

[Jeannie Wells · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew Art when we both attended North Texas State University (now University of North Texas) Denton, Texas in the 1970’s. He was a serious music student and set on playing with Frank Zappa someday. As fantastic a music school as North Texas was then - and still is - that really wasn’t a nutty ambition. I think the most remarkable thing about him was the truly nice ‘normal-ness’ he possessed as someone who was that mega talented & creative. And I didn’t realize just how gifted he really was - is - until I read his book. As a non music person myself I had to skim over all the detailed music techno-speak, but I couldn’t put down the ‘good parts’ - and there were lots of them! I wish a good editor could turn this into a shorter tale for the general public. It would make a fantastic read for any /all Boomer music fans!

[John Mathews · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderful account of master musician Arthur Barrow’s journey through a most pivotal period in popular music history (with one of the genre’s most creative and prolific composers…the lynchpin of one of his very best bands, no less) is essential reading for any major fan of Uncle Frank and/or any serious contemporary musician.

As a professional musician and longtime Zappa freak, I found this easily-digestible story absolutely riveting and - as with all good books - I feel a little gutted having reached the last page. Thank goodness the REAL story is to be found in the author’s living legacy. He comes across as kind, humble and thoroughly likeable - I’m sure there’s an enormous amount of invaluable knowledge and wisdom to be learned from Arthur Barrow and after reading his brilliant book, I found myself wanting to share a pot of tea with him and do just that.

Thank you AB!