Bob Geldof anthology snapped up by Faber Music

Faber Music will publish a book from Bob Geldof, Tales of Boomtown Glory, which it describes as “the musical life and times of one of our most powerful singer songwriters” .

The book will be an anthology of the complete lyrics from Bob Geldof’s The Boomtown Rats and solo albums,“interwoven with Geldof’s witty, deeply felt and frank commentaries of the background, inspiration and context behind some of his songs,” the publisher said. “Together they provide a remarkable portrait of an extraordinary life which has always sought and found expression through lyrical storytelling." 

Slated for publication on 13th March 2020, Tales of Boomtown Glory contains lyrics to 189 songs including previously unreleased material as well as the forthcoming album “Citizens of Boomtown" from The Boomtown Rats, along with facsimiles from his notebooks over the years. "Citizens of Boomtown" will be released in spring 2020 alongside a live tour and new documentary film about the life and times of the band.

Lucy Holliday, head of pop publishing at Faber Music and head of A&R at Faber Alt, acquired world rights from Adrian Sington, m.d. at Kruger Cowne Rights & Mute Song Publishing.

Holliday said: “It has been a pleasure working with Bob Geldof on this book. He is of course an international superstar with numerous awards including a knighthood and the Nobel Man of Peace award, but Tales of Boomtown Glory places him firmly as one of our foremost singer-songwriters. These collected lyrics and commentaries reveal the ups and downs of life expressed through song. Bob has a fantastic ability to tell stories through music; the lyrics are highly original, sometimes furious, sometimes funny but always deeply felt. This collection has resulted in a moving body of work which together with his commentaries make up an extraordinary book.”

Geldof himself said of the anthology: “These are the words that got me out. That enabled my escape. The words that gave me this life. Seeing all the last 44 years in one piece just exhausts me. The grief and labour and panic and worry and...just in these bits of lines? I’m glad it's all in one book. Now I know what I’ve been up to for all this time."

Tales of Boomtown Glory will be published in clothbound hardback on 13th March by Faber Music, priced £20.