Rick Springfield
Author of Late, Late at Night
About the Author
Rick Springfield has been writing and performing music for more than four decades. He maintains an active touring schedule, playing more than one hundred dates per year around the world. He lives in Malibu, California, with his wife, Barbara.
Image credit: Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery (image use requires permission from the New York Public Library)
Works by Rick Springfield
Christmas With You 5 copies
Rick Springfield 3 copies
AM Gold: Early '70s — Contributor — 2 copies
Live and Kickin' 2 copies
Karma 2 copies
The Encore Collection 2 copies
Rick Springfield: I've Done Everything for You (Stereo Version) B/w I've Done Everything for You (Mono… (1981) 1 copy
Springfield 1 copy
Legendary Rick Springfield 1 copy
Working class dog [us] 1 copy
Speak to the Sky 1 copy
Backtracks 1 copy
Platinum & Gold Collection 1 copy
The Day After Yesterday 1 copy
My Precious Little One 1 copy
From the vault 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1949-08-23
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Occupations
- musician
actor
Members
Reviews
Lists
Rock Bios (1)
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 59
- Also by
- 6
- Members
- 379
- Popularity
- #63,709
- Rating
- 3.4
- Reviews
- 18
- ISBNs
- 29
- Languages
- 1
I guess it won't surprise anyone that our erstwhile heartthrob is not deep. It is also not surprising that this lack of depth is blasted into sharp relief when he is trying to show how deep he is. One moment he is bemoaning the toxic masculinity rampant in Australia, and the next moment there is elegiac tribute to the toned women and the men who live to drink and fight. One moment he is going on about how he is a good man fighting a sex addiction, the next moment he is going on about how his wife is everything to him and we should not judge her for staying with him when he has shagged hundreds (thousands?) of women while they have been together, though he knows it destroys her. (I am judging her tbh, but not 1/10th as harshly as I am judging him.) The moment after than he is writing tortured songs about the women he is shagging that his wife will have to hear. (Or maybe she won't? I mean does anyone listen to Rick Springfield other than Jesse's Girl?) And speaking of songs, I felt bad because Rick talks about how he works through his intense feelings through music and how listening to some of his songs is really hard for him as a result (not because they are so bad but because they really get to his heart.) Then he provided some of the lyrics. I laughed and laughed. Hallmark would fire him for being too simultaneously goopy and superficial. I only read the words, the tunes might be delightful, but holy hell those are some godawful lyrics. All of them! An example for you:
Oh my God!
It's my life
What am I doing kicking at the foundation?
That's right
My life
Better start looking at my destination.
I told you it was bad. And that really is one of the better lyrics quoted in the book.
Despite all this, I generally enjoyed reading this. Rick has a clear voice that I liked. No one is going to accuse him of sounding too much like an MFA. The man that wrote those lyrics above wrote this, and you can tell. Still, I liked it. The book also has some organizational issues. He repeats himself several times in later chapters, apparently forgetting he already told us some of those things. And Rick is a navel gazer. He is a self-help loving, Eastern religion appropriating, one-with-nature type of fool. And with all that he is perhaps the least self-actualized person whose memoir I have read. He says low-key offensive things about Asian, Black and LGBTQ+ people, and it is obvious he doesn't see it. He talks about busting out of his whore Madonna mindset, and then every woman in the book is a whore or a Madonna (or someone about whom he thinks nothing other than whether or not she is gay or straight -- bi appears not to be an option.) His wife is constantly referred to as his princess, as being perfect. There is never any indication he sees her as a dimensional human being. It is no wonder he cheats -- he has far less respect for her as a sentient being than he has for his dogs (whom he really loves and brings to life on the page.)
I don't mean to castigate Rick. He is who he is. He talks openly about his struggles with depression and sex addiction which is a good thing. He celebrates the noble things he does a little too much so it is clear then do not come from real generosity, but he thinks about trying to do the right thing (he doesn't really do the right thing very much, but he thinks about it.) In the end, this was generally fun and worth the read. Also, I owned it from some long ago library bag day sale, so I got one more book off the shelf winging its way to the donation bin. So it is a win! I alternated audio (read by Mr. Springfield), and hardback here, and both are worthwhile. It is hard to recommend one over the other, but i did like the pictures in the text version.… (more)