Carole Baer Sager, a Grammy and Academy Award winning singer/songwriter here writes with wit and verve of her collaborations with, among many others, Celine Dion, Clint Eastwood (??) Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Carole King, Melissa Manchester, Reba McEntire, Bette Midler, Dolly Parton, Carly Simon, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand.

She tells a story of success linked to a darker, more solitary life.

Great stories. Definitely read.

I've always really enjoyed Carole's music so was looking forward to reading her biography. It was fascinating and I loved it. A great read.

STUNNING SONGSTRESS

I love music, always have and always will. While in college with limited funds it made it difficult to carry on my collecting of records at the time. Thank goodness there were the cut out bins, racks of records that had been clipped to mark down to low prices, promo copies and traded albums making it affordable to increase what you owned. Among those albums I came across a self-titled debut that I’d read about but never heard. I was willing to take a chance.

The cover featured an attractive young woman named Carole Bayer Sager. While her voice wasn’t as powerful as Carly Simon or Carole King, her songwriting skills were equal to theirs. And yet so few recognize the name. But you do know her songs. “Arthur’s Theme”, “Groovy Kind of Love”, “Heartbreaker”, “Midnight Blue” and “That’s What Friends Are For” are just a few. I knew you’d recognize them.

Sager was also married at one time to Burt Bacharach, a painful experience as she relates here. She also talks about the inner demons she dealt with, a sense of inadequacy that held her back at times and pushed her forward at others. The young girl who felt herself unattractive eventually blossomed into a woman who could hold her own in a man’s world of music.

Her story is interesting from start to finish. Perhaps the most interesting aspect for me was the changes in her life from her youth to where she’s at currently. I’m not talking about appearance, ambition or achievements. It is an underlying change that moves her from a girl with little of her own to someone who appreciates the more expensive things in life that she can later afford. She’s earned those things time and time again. Her story is one that more people should know and her ability to write lyrics should be celebrated. This book is a nice start towards that goal.

love a biography and carole too just a great book. Loved it

They're Playing Our Song, Carole Bayer Sager's memoir, was, for me, very uneven and somewhat disappointing. Part of it was my expectations and part of it was simply who she apparently is.

I have long admired her songwriting abilities and looked forward to this memoir. I think I was expecting to hear about life's usual ups and downs, about struggles and accomplishments, all told with a compassionate voice and maybe even a bit of wisdom thrown in. That is, in many ways, how I heard many of her lyrics over the years. While some compassion was there and even some wisdom, it seemed like her career consisted far more of succeeding in spite of people's failings rather than through collaboration, which is strange since her musical success was largely the result of who she collaborated with.

I don't want to sound overly negative, I did enjoy the book and most of the stories within it. Perhaps I put her on too high a pedestal and when she didn't seem to come near that height I was disappointed. I would still recommend this book to anyone who remembers her music fondly as well as anyone interested in behind the scenes celebrity tell-alls. The tell-all part is probably where I sometimes lost interest and lowered the pedestal a couple notches.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

Carole Bayer Sager is an icon to the musical industry with his deep emotive lyrics. She has turned many a song into hits and deep felt connections. Writing everything from pop, to Broadway, classical etc. the music world would have sadly lacked if she was not part of the scene.

This is her autobiography on her life which was a fascinating read which traces her history with poignant passages, humour and pathos. She doesn't spend her time apologising for her mistakes but owns up to them and shares them with deep heart felt conviction. Her honesty is one to be marvelled at.

She showed true bravery about being so open about herself that the reader is carried through the book and enjoying every little detail from her celebrity friends right down to family friends. She has really opened herself up.

This autobiography was a real treat to read and I have been a fan for years and I have as many songs written by her as possible and love her three albums. The only regret is that there is no mentioned of a novel she wrote in the 60's and she paced forward to her three albums in quite a flash but this is just a personal note and interest to myself.

This is definitely a great read and highly recommended.