Welcome

To Classic Rock Songs Revealed

Prepare to take a journey back to the days when you listened to music on vinyl records and AM radio and knew the words to all your favorite songs.

10% of all book sales will go to charity

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In this two volume set, Billy Joel, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Jackson Browne, Tom Johnston, James Pankow, Gordon Lightfoot and more than 45 other songwriters and producers share what went into the writing and recording of over 270 classic rock & folk songs from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s.

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Volume 1 Volume 2
Billy Joel Eagles
Chicago Steely Dan
Lovin’ Spoonful The Doobie Brothers
The Guess Who & Bachman-Turner Overdrive Loggins & Messina
Tom Dowd Jackson Browne
Boston Foreigner
Styx The Doors
Gordon Lightfoot Orleans
Grand Funk Railroad John Lodge of The Moody Blues
Christine McVie Supertramp
Jim Croce The Rascals
Al Stewart J.D. Souther
The Zombies Procol Harum/Jethro Tull/Blue Oyster Cult

What They’re Saying About Classic Rock Songs Revealed

Remember in bio class you looked at items under a microscope to see what can’t be seen by the naked eye? Then you dissected an animal to view the parts for yourself.
Dan Reagan is the professor in a master class cutting open your favorite classic rock songs and artists. He takes you through the musician’s thoughts, origins, and “I didn’t know that moments” of some of the greatest music ever made.
After reading Classic Rock Songs Revealed I guarantee you’ll have more insight and an extra smile when you hear your favorite band and song. Grab it, read it, and smile. I did.
Cosmo Leone spent 32 years as an award winning morning personality and program director of KGRS Burlington IA. He is currently a blogger and interviewer on his FB page Cosmo in the Morning.

I’ve been fortunate to spend hundreds of hours sitting on the couch discussing music with the artists that I’ve worked with from Joe Walsh to Cat Stevens, John Fogerty to Dickey Betts and many others.

Dan Reagan has caught the essence of that with his own conversations with everyone in this book. Amazing stories and insights into the songwriter’s mind. Well done Dan!

David Spero-personal manager for 50 years

“Classic Rock Songs Revealed” is a doozy! It’s just what the title implies. Dan Reagan reveals in detail how songs from Jackson Browne to the Zombies were written. The attention to detail is incredible. I thought I knew pretty much everything about one of my mentors, Tom Dowd, but I learned so much more while reading his chapter.
Every one of the songwriters in the book will tell you dozens of things you didn’t know about the creation of their music. Who did they learn from, who did they steal from, and which came first, the music or the lyrics.
Dan’s extensive research, and countless interviews have resulted in an incredible read, so big, they had to split it in two!
Bill Szymczyk Longtime record producer for Eagles, Joe Walsh, The James Gang and others.

Foreword

Growing up as the youngest of five children, I became interested in rock n’ roll music by listening to the records my siblings were playing on the turntable in our house.

I was always interested in the lyrics to the songs, even though I never sang in a choir or any group setting. The lyrics were important, and I quickly developed a yearning to find out what those lyrics meant. What was the inspiration behind these songs?

In those days, we had AM radio, which played the Top 40 songs. We also listened to 45’s and vinyl albums, and it was rare when the albums included liner notes that included the song lyrics. Once that started to happen more frequently in the mid to late 70s, I would spend a lot of time reading the lyrics in the liner notes. I also wanted to know whom the artists were that wrote the songs.

Then in December 1980, John Lennon was murdered outside the Dakota Apartments … Continue Reading