The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life
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The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life is a book on British rock band The Smiths, written by UK music journalist Simon Goddard. The title refers to a lyric from their 1985 B-side "Rubber Ring."
The book focuses on the story of the group through their music, adapting a chronological song-by-song format explicitly modelled upon Ian MacDonald's Beatles book, "Revolution in the Head". At the time of its original publication in December 2002, it was the first book to reveal the existence of lost songs by Morrissey and Johnny Marr, specifically "A Matter of Opinion", "I Misses You" and various untitled studio instrumentals. This same first edition carried a foreword by Smiths drummer Mike Joyce and contributions from bassist Andy Rourke, although neither Morrissey nor Marr sanctioned its publication.
A second revised and expanded edition was published two years later in June 2004. This time, guitarist and co-writer Johnny Marr agreed to collaborate with Goddard. Marr's contributions necessitated a comprehensive re-write of the original. It is this second edit of the book which is now considered the definitive text.
A third budget paperback version was issued by publishers Reynolds & Hearn in July 2006 (ISBN 1-905287-14-3). Other than minor editing and a handful of subtle revisions, it remains the same as the second 2004 edition.
A German language edition of the book was published in hardback in 2007 by Heel publishing.
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