In Paul Quarrington's favorite childhood recording, a boy fashions a banjo from a cigar box, pluckily sets off for a contest in the next town, and wins with a song that weaves in the sounds he hears along the way: a bluebird trilling, truck tires whining. Years later, a writer and musician himself, Quarrington is suddenly diagnosed with stage four lung cancer and begins to ponder the path his own life has taken and the music it's made along the way. Quarrington ruminates on the bands of his childhood; his restless youth, spent playing bass with a cult band; and his incarnation, in middle age, as rhythm guitarist and singer with the band Porkbelly Futures. From rock'n'roll to country and soul, he explores how songs are made, how they work, and why they affect us so deeply.

Foreword by: Roddy Doyle