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Last Chance Texaco
- Chronicles of an American Troubadour
- Narrated by: Rickie Lee Jones
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
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Summary
Grammy Award-winning musician Rickie Lee Jones tells all in this electrifying, intimate memoir about how a little girl grew up to be one of the most legendary, groundbreaking artists of her time. Read - and sung - by Rickie Lee Jones!
This troubadour life is only for the fiercest hearts, only for those vessels that can be broken to smithereens and still keep beating out the rhythm for a new song.
Last Chance Texaco is the first-ever no-holds-barred account of the life of two-time Grammy Award-winner Rickie Lee Jones in her own words. It is a tale of desperate chances and impossible triumphs, an adventure story of a girl who beat the odds and grew up to become one of the most legendary artists of her time, turning adversity and hopelessness into timeless music.
With candor and lyricism, the “Duchess of Coolsville” (Time) takes us on a singular journey through her nomadic childhood, to her years as a teenage runaway, through her legendary love affair with Tom Waits, and ultimately her longevity as the hardest working woman in rock and roll.
Rickie Lee’s stories are rich with the infamous characters of her early songs - “Weasel and the White Boys Cool”, “Danny’s All-Star Joint”, and “Easy Money” - but long before her notoriety in show business, there was a vaudevillian cast of hitchhikers, bank robbers, jailbreaks, drug mules, a pimp with a heart of gold, and tales of her fabled ancestors.
In this electrifying and intimate memoir by one of the most remarkable, trailblazing, and tenacious women in music are never-before-told stories of the girl in the raspberry beret, a singer-songwriter whose music defied categorization and inspired American pop culture for decades.
Features exclusive new performances of some of Rickie Lee’s most beloved songs, which she recorded especially for this audiobook, culminating in a new recording of the title song “Last Chance Texaco”, plus other memorable and sometimes never-before-heard moments from her long musical life, including the unreleased demo of her early classic “Night Train”.
Critic reviews
"Fans of the celebrated musician Rickie Lee Jones will be delighted to hear her narrate her autobiography, which is focused on family memories and making music. Jones is as giving with her delivery as she is with her story. She reaches back through the years - all the way back to her mother's childhood - in a revealing, raspy voice laced with a country twang. Listeners will sink into this experience, which is punctuated by Jones singing short songs between chapters. She doesn't flinch when recounting the harsh years experienced by her mother and uncles as orphans during the Great Depression. While some listeners may find aspects of the gritty realism distressing, Jones's easy and fluid delivery has the flair of an expert storyteller's." (AudioFile Magazine)
What listeners say about Last Chance Texaco
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- Peta
- 22-01-23
Simply beautiful : A journey to be savoured
Ive been transported to a world full of love, hope and desperation, by a woman who has left nothing unspoken. Ive laughed, cried and felt uplifted. This is a work from the soul of a true musical poetess. Every line of every song, which ive known for so long, now comes to me in a new technicolor reality. Not to be missed 💖
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- D. Bell
- 30-04-21
Wonderful
Great listen lots of historical snippets relating to the 60s and 70s Woodstock moon landings hendrix and Dylan going country .... all wrapped up up with a young runaway looking for a hippie dream and becoming a rock star
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- george wilson
- 23-06-21
I'm crying
So captivated by her storytelling. I have always loved her voice, music and performance and this did not let me down.
I would recommend this wholeheartedly.
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- N. Walsh
- 07-03-22
A Poet's Tale
This is a wonderfully written and narrated story of a life lived fully and shared generously.
There is not a sentence here that doesn't glow with poetry and Rickie Lee's voice fans that glow with it's lovely musicality.
Don't read this to hear about Tom Waits. Don't read this to hear about her meeting with Van Morrison in Lisdoonvarna.
This book is about the birth, flowering and journey of a poet's soul.
It's like a beautiful breeze, so just open a window and let it in to warm your heart.
Just extraordinary! Thank you Rickie Lee.
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- mike embley
- 07-08-21
The real thing is back in town
I’ve read a lot of “rock star books”. For what my opinion’s worth, I’d say this is all that, and more, far more. I found this book lacerating, devastating, funny, enormously moving, infuriating, uplifting, magical, real. I think she is as fine a writer of prose as she is a lyricist, which is saying something. And yet for all the revelations she leaves intact the mystery of the art, the voice, the phrasing, the musicality. Which is just how you’d want it, really. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
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- Francis O'Connor
- 09-12-23
Truth and Magic
I love Rickies music so listening to the poetry and prose here was like an extension of her songs. This story is tough joyous painful and beautiful all at once. You’re just grateful to get to know her just a little bit better.
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- TelBoy
- 02-12-21
it's a good one
Great book, Rickie has had some tough times, and you find yourself saying what is she doing,what was she thinking? but happily she is here to tell the story literally, about some of the most amazing songs you will hear
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- ruth kriegel
- 19-12-21
just wonderful
I loved everything, every chapter. it was like having a time machine back to the heady days. she's so honest. I loved her.
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- bookofthemonth
- 16-06-21
Just listen, you'll love it!
This was such a pleasure listening to, I loved that it was read by Rickie Lee herself, hearing her sing the songs, the poetry of her life, it was beautifully put together.
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- Neil Taylor
- 16-12-21
A mournful, but compelling story
Rickie Lee Jones has lived some moments of joy. But from her childhood to the present day, hers has been a life overshadowed by doubt and sadness. Last Chance Texaco is the story of an old bohemian troubadour, looking back over a long and accomplished life. Told in Rickie Lee’s unique, mournful voice, it’s a tale rich in regret, but one that accepts that this was a life lived on her own terms, and maybe that’s all for the best.
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