Book excerpt: "While drowning in the sea of sound, " writes Al Young, "my whole life passes before me." These memoirs, essays, and informed vignettes tap into the evocative powers of music and song. On this thoroughly original, lyricized voyage through time and timelessness, jazz, blues, pop, country and western, classical, and Latin traditions get deliciously replayed and reborn in Al Young's heart and musical psyche. Drowning in the Sea of Love contains Young's previously uncollected take on blues legend Robert Johnson, as well as selections from his three popular underground collections, Bodies & Soul, Kinds of Blue, and Things Ain't What They Used to Be. This exciting, music-triggered autobiography vibrates with intimacy and soul.