Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jaz… Read Full Bio ↴Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a leader. A number of his compositions, including "St. Thomas", "Oleo", "Doxy", "Pent-Up House", and "Airegin", have become jazz standards. Rollins has been called "the greatest living improviser" and the "Saxophone Colossus".

Rollins was born in New York City to parents from the United States Virgin Islands. The youngest of three siblings, he grew up in central Harlem and on Sugar Hill, receiving his first alto saxophone at the age of seven or eight. He attended Edward W. Stitt Junior High School and graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School in East Harlem. Rollins started as a pianist, changed to alto saxophone, and finally switched to tenor in 1946. During his high school years, he played in a band with other future jazz legends Jackie McLean, Kenny Drew, and Art Taylor.

As a saxophonist he had initially been attracted to the jump and R&B sounds of performers like Louis Jordan, but soon became drawn into the mainstream tenor saxophone tradition. The German critic Joachim Berendt described this tradition as sitting between the two poles of the strong sonority of Coleman Hawkins and the light flexible phrasing of Lester Young, which did so much to inspire the fleet improvisation of bebop in the 1950s. Other tenor saxophone influences include Ben Webster and Don Byas. By his mid-teens, Rollins became heavily influenced by alto saxophonist Charlie Parker. During his high school years, he was mentored by the pianist and composer Thelonious Monk, often rehearsing at Monk's apartment.

Rollins has played, at various times, a Selmer Mark VI tenor saxophone and a Buescher Aristocrat. During the 1970s he recorded on soprano saxophone for the album Easy Living. His preferred mouthpieces are made by Otto Link and Berg Larsen. He uses Frederick Hemke medium reeds.

I Could Write a Book
Sonny Rollins Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

If they ask me, I could write a book
About the way you walk and whisper and look
I could write a preface on how we met
So the world would never forget

And the simple secret of the plot
Is just to tell them that I love you, a lot
Then the world discovers as my book ends

How to make two lovers of friends

If they ask me, I could write a book
About the way you walk and whisper and look
I could write a preface on how we met
So the world would never forget, never, never forget

And the simple secret of the plot
Is just to tell them that I love you, allot

Then the world discovers as my book ends
How to make two lovers of friends

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Sonny Rollins's song I Could Write a Book speaks to the depth of love that the singer feels for their significant other. The lyrics speak to the idea that the singer knows their partner so well that they could write a book about them. The singer notes that they could write about the way that their partner walks, whispers, and looks. The singer explains that they could even write a preface about how they met so that the world would never forget their love story.

The simple secret of the plot is revealed as the singer explains that they will just tell the world that they love their partner a lot. The song finishes with the idea that as the book ends, the world discovers how to make two lovers become friends. This line indicates that the singer's love for their partner is so strong that even if they were to no longer be together, they would still be friends.

Overall, the song's lyrics communicate the depth of love that the singer has for their partner. The song conveys the message that true love involves understanding and appreciating everything about your partner and that love can endure beyond romance.

I Could Write a BookSonny Rollins Lyrics

I Could Write a Book
Sonny Rollins Lyrics