Carey: Genesis of the Song

Posted April 12, 2023

On the horizon... Cary Raditz' new memoir "Carey: Genesis of the Song" to be released in June. An excerpt:

Ahhh. “California.” I heard it first in London with James’s guitar backing her dulcimer. And then Henry Lewy played it for me at A&M. It’s a great song, although I’m not flattered with “Redneck on a Grecian Isle . . . ,” and “ . . . he kept my camera to sell.” That goddamn camera. People are always asking me about it. She gave me the camera to film Matala, to film its fragile presence like Brassaï had captured an essence of Paris in 1930—but that would be a flattering comparison—it was about recording a point in time and space. Joni had witnessed the fragility of Matala, how the police had closed down the caves while she was there. She knew Matala and its cultural lifestyle were bound to change and disappear, not unlike Paradise in “Big Yellow Taxi.”

Stay tuned for more information!