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I Can See Clearly Now

I Can See Clearly Now, April 2009
by Brendan Halpin

Villard
Featuring: Pamela Sanchez; Sarah; Peter
288 pages
ISBN: 0812977033
EAN: 9780812977035
Trade Size
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"An excellent crystallized moment of a specific era in pop culture..."

Fresh Fiction Review

I Can See Clearly Now
Brendan Halpin

Reviewed by Vicky Gilpin
Posted March 16, 2009

Women's Fiction

So what would happen if an oversexed, over-drugged, female folk singer got carte blanche to spearhead a musical children's show in the 70s? That's exactly the question explored in the multi-perspective flashback narrative of the social and musical experiment of Pop Goes the Classroom.

With no single protagonist, I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW provides a unique look at the way people viewed their music, relationships and their professional aspirations in a specific era. A certain naiveté permeates the work despite the emphasis on sex, drugs and -- of course -- rock and roll. Although set primarily in 1972, the work is universally relevant, as aspiring musicians, aging musicians and anyone with a dream of being allowed to turn one's avocation into a vocation can relate to the trials and passions of the characters. Anyone who has ever had a childhood television show song stuck in his or her head, particularly ones about parts of speech or governmental procedures, can fantasize that perhaps this book got it right. A fun, heartfelt read, I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW is a lovely and enjoyable work.

Learn more about I Can See Clearly Now

SUMMARY

It’s a revolutionary idea: use cartoons to actually teach something to the kids of America. In the summer of 1972, the suits at a major television network bring together a motley crew of songwriters and musicians to work on Pop Goes the Classroom, a series of short, catchy, educational songs that will air during Saturday-morning cartoons. And so four young, talented songwriters find themselves in the basement studios of ATN, at the height of the Age of Aquarius, tasked with writing the songs that will come to define an entire generation’s childhood.

Led by free-loving folk legend Pamela Sanchez, the self-styled prefab four–naïve, sweet, sheltered Sarah; Peter, a struggling Bob Dylan wannabe; Julie, who cut her professional teeth on commercial jingles; and Levon, a bassist most recently known by the stage name Apollo Von Funkenburg–struggle to stifle their uncertainty and tap into their creativity.

With the help of an enormous amount of pot and a little sexual innuendo, they eat, sleep, drink, smoke, couple and uncouple–as they work to change the world, one song at a time.


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