Description

Beautifully designed and illustrated, this 290 page volume containing 101 of Linn Lorkin’s unique songs is the perfect companion to her lively 2022 memoir The Redhead Gets the Gig. From dive bars in Copenhagen to a Steinway in SoHo, Ronnie Scott’s in London to Epolitos in Grey Lynn, Lorkin has turned her experiences into a sparkling archive of song and a love-letter to the craft of song-writing. 

This is more than just a song book, it’s a resource, a keep-sake and a slice of New Zealand musical history. Inside are lead-sheets with melody, chords and lyrics, as well as full stand-alone lyrics, piano parts, vocal harmonies, behind-the-scenes stories and performance notes for a wealth of songs that have been road-tested live over decades. From theatrical show-stoppers and protest anthems to swinging ditties, Latin grooves and heartfelt ballads, it also features a Kiwiana section that includes Lorkin’s iconic songs about Karangahape Road and Grey Lynn and the perennial fan-favourite Family at the Beach. There’s also an appendix with Lorkin’s eminently singable English translations of five Edith Piaf classics. The book is designed for professional and amateur musicians, choirs, vocal groups, theatre-makers, music educators, cabaret performers and jazz singer-pianists just like Linn.

ABOUT LINN LORKIN

Linn Lorkin was brought up on a dairy-farm near Tokoroa, New Zealand, and got her first piano lessons from her mother and her show-business start in Europe in the late '60s after she dropped out of the Sorbonne in order to become a singer. Her first professional gig was singing in Copenhagen for sailors and prostitutes and she went on to play with her own trio at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in London. Her performing and creative life found fulfilment in her eight years playing piano bar in New York (1977-85) where she became, out of the blue, a prolific song-writer. Back in New Zealand she has been one of the most versatile and well-loved performers on the local scene, singing and touring with various distinguished cabaret/jazz/roots combos including French Toast and The Jews Brothers Band, acting with the legendary Inside Out Theatre troupe and co-producing 18 albums on her own label Rouge Records. Her solo show “Hey, Piano Bar Lady!”which celebrates her New York experience in story and song won acclaim at Edinburgh Fringe and a Best Cabaret award at New York’s United Solo Festival. In 2023 she was made a member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to music in New Zealand.