Tales Of Boomtown - Bob Geldof (signed By Bob Geldof)

Tales of Boomtown Glory by Bob Geldof

Hand Signed by Bob Geldof
Hardback - First Edition Edition

‘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.’ - Bob Geldof

Formed in 1975 in Dublin The Boomtown Rats became part of the burgeoning punk scene. Singer Bob Geldof’s defiant motormouth arrogance and flagrant disrespect for authority endeared him and his band to every youth who felt weighed down by the heavy handed blandishments of church and state. In the UK The Boomtown Rats first toured with the Ramones and Talking Heads, rocking and mocking the status quo alongside the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Jam and The Stranglers. They became one of the biggest bands of the late 70s/80s with a string of top ten hits and platinum albums, earning them Brit Awards and Ivor Novellos. Making history as the first Irish band to have a UK no 1 hit with ‘Rat Trap’, they went on to top the charts in 32 Countries with ‘I Don't Like Mondays’ and racked up 6 era-defining albums: ‘The Boomtown Rats’ (’77), ‘A Tonic For The Troops’ (’78), ‘The Fine Art Of Surfacing’ (’79), ‘Mondo Bongo’ (’80), ‘V Deep’ (’82) and ‘In The Long Grass’ (’84).

In 1984, inspired by a TV report on the famine in Ethiopia, Bob Geldof organized the star-studded Band Aid and co-wrote "Do They Know It's Christmas," one of the biggest-selling singles in history. The next year he organised Live Aid. 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 (releasing Spring 2020 alongside a live tour and new documentary film about the life and times of the band) and facsimiles from his notebooks over the years.

Tales of Boomtown Glory is a collection of the complete lyrics from Bob Geldof's Boomtown Rats and solo albums, accompanied by an introduction and 25 song stories written by Geldof, and exclusive scans from his notebooks over the years.

The stories provide a witty and honest account of the background, inspiration and context of the songs. Lyrics to the 188 songs include previously unreleased material as well as the upcoming 2020 Boomtown Rats album.

"This man is more in charge of the English language than anyone I've ever met."

Bono



"What set the Rats apart was the strength and intelligence of Geldof's writing. It should be in every anthology of late 20th Century Irish literature."

Joseph O'Connor



"His songs historically will be looked back on as incredibly important things"

Jools Holland

POSTAGE IS € 9.