In My Life: A Music Memoir (2024)

I have long meant to read Alan Johnson’s three part memoir, “This Boy,” “Please Mr Postman,” and “The Long and Winding Road,” which are still on my, ever-so-long, to be read, list. However, as I have not yet got around to reading them, I decided to jump straight to his newest book – “In My Life,” which gives a potted history of Johnson’s life, centred around his love of music.

As you can tell, from the above titled biographies, Alan Johnson is a pretty obsessive Beatles fan (as am I) and certainly the Fab Four are an integral part of his life from his discovery of their music, while still at school. However, this is about all kinds of music; from seeing Lonnie Donegan live in the 1950’s, The Animals supporting Chuck Berry at the Hammersmith Odeon, his own attempts to break into the music business, being distinctly unimpressed by the Sex Pistols, and under-whelmed by Michael Jackson, but enjoying David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Kate Bush, Billy Joel and the Police.

Alan Johnson is a warm and friendly narrator of his life story. He combines his love of literature, music, politics and family, to tell his story simply, and without any self pity. Yet, he certainly had a very hard childhood and struggled to make a success of his life. Still, this is a music memoir and music is central to this volume. There are chapters dealing with the early years of pirate radio, music on television, collecting his beloved records (many recommended by older sister, Linda), the death of John Lennon and the changing way we have listened to music, over the years. Overall, this is entertaining and has whetted my appetite to go back and finally read Alan Johnson’s full biography.

As the reader quickly discovers, music has always been an integral part of Alan Johnson’s life. The book covers the period from 1957 to 1982 (he was born in 1950) so overlaps with the first two volumes of his memoirs,This BoyandPlease Mr. Postman. Those who’ve read either of those books may feel there’s some repetition. I’ve only read the third volume,The Long and Winding Road but reading the early chapters ofIn My Lifewith its poignant picture of Alan’s deprived childhood has only increased my interest in readingThis Boy.

Each chapter of the book is linked to a song. As Alan explains, they’re not necessarily his favourite pieces of music but are songs that evoke particular memories of his life at that time. For example, listening toTwo-Way Family Favouriteson the family’s Bakelite wireless, playing 78’s on his sister’s Dansette record player, acquiring his first guitar or hearing about the death of John Lennon. As I said, the early chapters demonstrate how for Alan, and his sister, Linda, music was a distraction from the day to day difficulties of growing up in poverty, with a mother who suffered serious ill-health, domestic violence and eventually abandonment at the hands of their loser of a father.

Starting with ‘True Love’ by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly, the book charts the evolution of popular music as experienced by Alan and other members of his generation. He observes that before Lonnie Donnegan and Tommy Steele came on the scene there was no real youth music culture in Britain. Their arrival signalled a huge change as singer/songwriters such as Lennon & McCartney replaced artists who sang songs written by other people.

The book charts another huge change, namely in how people listen to music. Previously, it was largely on the radio, more likely than not the Light Programme on the BBC. Gradually there became a ‘materiality’ about how people experienced music. Alan recalls polishing shellac 78s, reading record labels and playing records at the wrong speed on the Dansette. Later in the book, acquiring his first audio cassette, he reflects:

‘There is a connection between the music and the object on which it is stored. Just as those shellac 78s, and the Bachelors’ album bought for Lily [his mother] which she didn’t live to hear, had a significance of their own, so did the humble cassette. The physical shape and feel of it, the ritual of taking it out of its plastic case and snapping it into the cassette-player, peering myopically at the tiny type of the “sleeve notes” …’

The book is also an account of Alan’s own musical career which, it has to be said, seems to have had more than its fair share of setbacks such as having musical gear stolen on multiple occasions, including his treasured Hӧfner Verithin guitar. Alan joined his first band The Vampires in the hope (largely unsuccessful) of impressing girls before being invited to join The In Between, a multi-racial group with a (rare at the time) female lead singer. With his trademark self-deprecating humour, Alan recalls his unrequited passion for Carmen, the lead singer, with whom he duetted on their cover version of The Troggs’ Wild Thing:

‘Carmen and I were born to duet on that song, destined to be together in the centre of that stage. It should have forged the deepest, most volcanic passion since Cathy met Heathcliff. There was only one problem. Carmen was totally and absolutely uninterested in me. She was completely immune to what I was convinced was a magnetic and irresistible charm.’

Although Lonnie Donnegan retains a special place as the musical hero of Alan’s childhood, the Beatles and David Bowie as the heroes of his teen years and twenties respectively, he reserves his ‘lifetime achievement award’ for Elvis Costello. Fittingly therefore, and in another example of that self-deprecating humour, it is Elvis Costello who marks the end of Alan’s ambition to make it as a rock star. Alan decides to send Elvis ‘the creme de la creme’ of his ‘song-writing genius’. As he recalls,‘I wrote a nice letter to Elvis, listing the song titles along with my name and address, and sent it off by first-class post in November 1982. I’m still waiting to hear back.’

As with Alan Johnson’s other memoirs,In My Lifeis immensely readable, honest, warm and witty.

Wonderfully nostallgic. Twenty five years in twenty five songs. And I remember them all! Alan Johnson obviouly loves his music. As he says, the book is not intended as a history of music, but it did let me reminisce on the songs I grew up with.

Some repetition from the first two volumes of his autobiography, but there is a real emphasis on his love of music over 25 years.

To be honest, I had never heard of Alan Johnson until I read his three autobiographical books “ This boy,” “Please Mr Postman” and “ The Long and Winding Road.” His stories are beautifully told in a calm understated way that belies the awful drabness and poverty of his childhood years.

Born in a north Kensington tenement slum after the war, married at 19, father of three children by 23, he graduated to a council house in Slough, and for years was a regular postman doing sorting and daily rounds. However, his great negotiating skills soon got him a position in the postal workers union and from there it was up-ladder all the way till he became a Labour MP, then Home Secretary in Gordon Brown's cabinet.

These three autobiographies were entwined with memories of his ambition to be a rock star and his passionate love of contemporary music. This book, however, complementing the others , focuses more on his musical memoirs weaving them into his home life and career. He tells of the guitars he owned, the bands he formed and the death of his dreams when his musical equipment was stolen and the responsibilities of fatherhood set in in his early twenties. His passion for music stayed alive though as he traces it from his childhood love of Lonnie Donnegan, through the Beatles in his teenage years, and David Bowie, Elvis Costello (who still owes him a reply to his job application), and Bruce Sprinsteen later on.

I suspect this book will resonate more with Baby Boomers than with the younger generation as he takes us back to a time of pirate radios, top of the pops, jukeboxes and hit parades. One of the most interesting snippets was him pointing out how much of a tradition Slade’s Christmas song has become, belting out in pubs, shops and restaurants almost 50 years later. It certainly belts out in our home over Christmas dinner.

I bought this as an audiobook and was very glad I did as it was beautifully narrated in a very soft, natural way. It deserves a sweet, soft 5 stars for being fascinating, well written, well told and for bringing back the best music memories of my life,

Where to start but at the end. Alan Johnson concludes this superb book with a remark that " The evolution of pop music is not a linear progression, or the replacement of one kind of music with another, but an accumulation of all the talent, experimentation and influences that have contributed to it since it's inception. Sometimes it feels more circular than linear". He talks about the new music he listens to now ( none of whom I like). "I'm introduced to amazing new artists on a regular basis. But the genesis of all of them, every single one, lies back in the 1950's and 1960's, with Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and of course, The Beatles." But why not Lonnie Donegan, as the first artist he mentions on page 9? (For me the circular feeling does start with Lonnie and, for the moment, ends with Freya Ridings).

This book has brought back so many memories. Each chapter heading is a year and a song, starting in 1957 ("True Love") and finishing in 1982 ("Allentown"). Partly autobiographical and partly an account of how the music of that year is important to him. For me, there were just so many parallels with my musical history. Not just starting with Lonnie, but that we were both at the same Chuck Berry concert in 1964. Johnson is an amazing writer. At one point there is a forensic examination of family relationships that is truly exceptional. I loved this book.

I have read two of his earlier memoirs and I did enjoy this though it did feel rather as if it was going over ground already covered. A kind of recycled writing in order to create another title. I'm just a year younger than the author so most of the music he talks about rang bells for me. I did feel that sometimes his opinions were so set in stone that they became a tad irritating. One example would be his seeming obsession with The Beatles which is actually an obsession with John and Paul as if George and Ringo hadn't existed or mattered that much. But of course it's AJ's memoir not mine. It was published in 2018 and though the memoir really finishes around the beginning of the 1980s, he does mention music that he listened to since then and now. However the ending felt a bit clumsy to me. He obviously didn't want to mention his first wife in the finale, whom he divorced in the 1990s, despite her being a key feature of his musical memories throughout the book.

This is the fourth in the series of memoirs by Alan Johnson, the first three being thoroughly enjoyable trips down memory lane. He and I are about the same age and, it appears had similar experiences in our youth and work experience. I was also a postman in the seventies .I
can identify with many of his recollections.
That said, this latest book is very much a rehash of the previous books. If you have read those, the reworking of these will bore you somewhat. As a stand alone book, it comes across as a somewhat self indulgent, sentimental trip back in time with more than a hefty slice of name dropping.
The read is good, the author has a writing style that in musical terms would be described as "easy listening ".
If you have read his previous books then this one will be "one too many" , probably written to pad out his pension fund me thinks.

Alan Johnson is that rare thing, a politician with integrity who entered politics to serve. All of his memoirs are fascinating, and this book takes a musical trip through the years from 1957 to 1982 giving a flavour not only of what was happening in his life at that time, but also what music was around, what made it to no.1 in the charts, and which, out of all them, is his personal favourite for that year. It's a lovely read, and the author's own love of music shines through, along with his own considerable musical talent (he played guitar in several groups during the 1960s), and his appreciation of the best musical artists. It's a heart-warming, humble and humorous memoir, and I loved it.

This book covers much of the same ground as Johnson's previous autobiographies, though from a slightly diffrent angle - music. Despite his hugely disadvantaged childhood, Alan Johnson was clearly a gifted musician, and almost obsessively interested in poular music. If only his instruments hadn't been stolen, more than once, there was a chance he might have made it into the burgeoning 60s music scene big-time.

He and I are much the same age, and were raised about 5 miles apart: and my mother taught at the school his sister attended. Hence the book's interest for me, and the reason why I enjoyed it. I have to admit that without this personal involvement, I would have found this only averagely involving. A light and entertaining read.

Having read the previous 3 volumes of Alan Johnson’s memoirs a few years ago it was already clear that he was the most down to earth & humane of the politicians of the ‘New Labour’ era. He was also the best (and certainly the most successful) writer in the Labour Party since Roy Jenkins.
You’d think he would have exhausted his life story, but I think ‘In My Life’ is his best yet. It’s subtitled ‘A Music Memoir’ and it sort of occupies that’s genre initially created by Nick Hornby, Johnson has woven an alternative retelling of his life using his love of music and specific songs to reminisce about his past. It’s very well done, perhaps it’s so attractive because we share a similar taste in music, however it’s a clever twist on the memoir genre.

I loved Alan Johnson's memoirs, and this has many of the same pleasures - the tough life story, the self-deprecation, the sheer likeability of the man. And retelling a life through music is a familiar, indeed proven, form; as a comtemporary, many of the tracks he chooses resonates. He is both deeply enthusiastic about pop and rock, and makes some interesting judgements (e.g.on 'Imagine' which he sees as pretentious and twee). But it does all feel a little thin and my attention began to wander latterly.

I'd really rated This Boy, the first of his three autobiographies, but this wasn't in the same class. I had expected it to be more about his time in bands but it was mainly about which records he was listening to at particular times of his life, repeating some of the events he had written about in This Boy. That needn't have been a problem - I love reading about music full stop. But if you are going to read about someone's relationships with records it needs to be written by someone more knowledge, wit or whatever (try David Hepworth's recent books) x

It was great to follow a music enthusiast's voyage of discovery over fifty-plus years. There are too few of us who explore widely and continue to feed the obsession. So many succumb to the trending, easy and bland or hold to the favourites of their youth with blinkered vision.

I had previously read Alan Johnson's Long and Winding Road and enjoyed it hugely. I would suggest that those with only a passing interest in music should try it first. His modesty is as impressive as his many and varied achievements.

Following on from his memoirs, Alan Johnson share his musical memories from the late 1950s to the present day.

He shared my passion for the 60s and especially the Beatles; he also loved Rock'n'Roll and musicians of the 70s and 80s.
I thoroughly enjoyed this stroll down memory lane as it coincided with my own musical education.

A well written and enjoyable read.

Brilliant! I absolutely love Alan Johnson’s writing. This book really added so much more insight to the man and his musical experience following on from his three part memoirs. Can’t wait for his next book !!

This man can write, and he writes about songs and music and the effect they had on his life in an evocative way. I’m grateful for the introduction to The Late Great Johnny Ace by Paul Simon which was a song I hadn’t heard before.

A great nostalgic trip for anyone 60+. Not the usual type of autobiography, much more entertaining for those of us who are peers of Alan Johnson, or thereabouts. Easy reading and informative regarding his life. Thankfully, not much political content. A good read.

I have now read all of Alan Johnson’s memoirs and “In My Life” did not disappoint.

I don’t agree with his politics at all but as a man and a writer I like him very much.

A fine writer and an engaging read.

An pleasant easy read and a run through popular music culture in the UK as a backdrop to his life.I read this on holiday in London, not really knowing much about him but saw it in Leytonstone Library and enjoyed it.It’ll mean more to UK residents.

Good fun and enjoyed the musical history elements. Slightly repetitive if you have previously read his autobiography.

Interesting way of writing a memoir by using the songs of an era. He has a self-deprecating way of writing that is amusing. Thoroughly enjoyed this book.

If you lived through the 50's, 60's and 70's this book is a reminder of the music with lived with. reminded me of things I had forgotten.

Alan Johnson brings back memories and writes his memoirs in engaging manner.

More like 2.5. Harmless I suppose, and adds some flavour to the three volumes of autobiography.

Excellent, just like his other 3 volumes of autobiography, each with their titles taken from a Beatles song. His lifetime love affair with music comes through on every page and he also comes across as a thoroughly decent human being. Why couldn't he have been Prime Minister ?!