"Our house is a very, very, very fine house. With two cats in the yard, life used to be so hard . . ."In 1970, "Our House" was recorded and released by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and immediately became a sentimental favorite for millions of fans. Its honest, romantic, homespun lyrics expressed a sentiment felt by all of us. To this day, the song remains a classic and is one whose melody and lyrics can be sung and repeated by the millions of people whose lives it touched.Songs like these and many others have created landmark moments in all of our lives, marking and celebrating key events, past and better times, current relationships, and hopes for the future. Now, Manuscript Originals has compiled the stories behind a collection of 25 of the world's most celebrated songs in Off the Record, a stunning book and CD collection that will commemorate the impact these classic songs have had in our contemporary world.Original handwritten images of the lyrics from these classic songs rendered by their original authors and accompanied by the songwriter's own artwork will be displayed in each of the book's 25 chapters. In addition, readers will find historical, social, and "off the cuff" personal insights about these fascinating people and the music they produced. Illuminating photographs-some from the writer's or performer's personal archive that have never been seen before-will also document the journey of each artist's individual songwriting path. While the names of some of the songwriters included in Off The Record are better known to the general public than others, the songs these artists are associated with are some of the most famous titles in the world. Among the songwriters included are Graham Nash, David Crosby, Grace Slick, Ben E. King, Jimmy Davis ("You Are My Sunshine"), John Lee Hooker, Waylon Jennings, Randy Bachman, Peter Yarrow, and many, many more.The CDs enclosed in Off the Record include individual audio interviews