Adventures of a Waterboy Paperback – Import, 1 August 2012

I'd like to make clear I am reviewing the physical paperback from Jawbone Press. Why? Because it's beautiful, oversize, with twelve color plates, like books used to be. Jawbone Press seems to be a UK rock press, with some autobiographies like this one, reprinted from Lilliput Press, Dublin. I read the three free chapters online on Amazon, and then ordered the paperback.I've not read all the rock books in the world, but Mike Scott, the main Waterboy in his changing band line-ups, is very literate in his music and writing, and that comes across in the book. At the same time, he's able to tell engaging stories.I remember the day in Champagne, Illinois I got cassettes of John Hiatt's "Waking Up to the Ice Age" and Waterboys' "A Pagan Place", two artists I would follow for some time. Both fresh and different from what was present-day fare. I probably played "Church Not Made With Hands" adopted from a line from St. Paul, about a million times.The best rock book I've read remains one by Levon Helm from The Band This Wheel's on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band, but I've read bits of books by Dylan and Neil Young that were also quite well-written. The writing on a later Waterboys album like "A Rock in the Weary Land" is consciously literate, rather than accidentally so. There's an ongoing story as well as the stories in the songs that unfolds or unrolls like a novel. Many people have stories, and publishers find some writer for them to tell them to in order for that writer to craft a book. These books have the famous person listed as the author and then "with" or "as told to" the actual writer. Not Mike Scott, who here tells his own story in his own words by his own pen, filling 300 pages and two appendices. For me, knowing these stories only enhances listening to the music of Mike Scott and the Waterboys.

Mike Scott has taken his poetic songwriting skills and transferred them to paper.You get a good glimpse into his mind set trying to create his musical vision while at the same time seeing the ups & downs of the music recording industry in the 80's & 90's.An entertaining read for Waterboys' fans and music history buffs.

I'm not in the habit of buying books about, but especially by, musicians (though there are always exceptions) because they usually aren't very well written and most so-called autobiographies are ghost-written. Scott, however, is an exception because he happens to be very literate and an good writer. He's also, I believe, quite honest about himself (mostly).Scott is, of course, a Scot who was given an acoustic guitar and a Rolling Stones album for his tenth birthday by his father who didn't see him again for over thirty years. From a young age, Scott has been making music in his head and this book really is all about him trying to get it out of there and into the world. He became a punk, started a fanzine and wrote a letter to Patti Smith asking for an interview. Smith invited him to London, paid for his hotel room (in her hotel), gave him the interview, and, either in person or with another band member, looked after him there and at the theatre, an act of completely unexpected kindness from her to a 19 year old kid.Time passed, Scott formed the Waterboys and what happened next takes up the bulk of the book from thunderous rock in to rootsy Celtic folk style and out again and... He's generally honest about himself, telling stories which don't show him in too good a light, and also about other people. He's also the first to give praise to the musicians and other people he's met and worked with where it's due and criticism where it isn't.Perhaps he may be a little coy about his relationships with various girlfriends but then this isn't a kiss and tell story. He does go into detail about his traumatic relationship with a needy decade-older alpha New York woman, but is more tactful about his first wife. The story of how he met his second wife is rather sweet and it happened when he retreated to the humanist mystical community of Findhorn which he portrays as a fascinating and open place. To me, Findhorn sounds like a place for those, too intelligent to be suckered in by traditional religions, but who seek varying paths to uncover some form of transcendent truth though I have to say that what Scott discovers is rather appealing even while the cynical side of me thinks it's mystical bullshoot for intellectuals. Be nice if they were right though. Anyway, he finds himself attracted to a young dance teacher and after some deep thinking decides she is the love of his life and invites her out. She accepts but doesn't realise it was for a date and confesses she hadn't really thought of him in that way. A little while later, she asks to go out with him again and admits to doing some deep thinking of her own and has decided that she does like him in that way and over twenty years later it looks as if all the deep thinking arrived at the correct conclusion. Nice.Scott is a good writer, he's an interesting person, and I really enjoyed reading this book. My only grumble is that it stops around the time of the millennium thereby omitting the next ten years of his life.

He is not only a good songwriter, but also a damn fine book writer! Great stories about his life, and especially his time, including insights into other well known rockers with whom he has come in contact.

Mike Scott has been on the top of my list since I heard the Waterboys and him. He is articulate and musically gifted. He gives a run for their money to anyone making music these days. Talent oozes from his every pore. Love the albums where he goes more folk, but overall can not say enough good things about Mike Scott. His book is a revelation worth reading, and I was amazed at his command of the english language, his humor and insights in general. Very happy with the quality of the book, pages are kind of glossy, and even though I have not finished this book as of yet, I have no doubt it is a masterpiece. Dylan, Cohen, Scott, that is the kind of songwriter this talented musician is. 5 Shinning Stars!