Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

A Memoir

By: Sly Stone, Ben Greenman - contributor, Questlove - foreword

Narrated by: Dion Graham

Winner of the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Achievement in Audiobook Production.

"Throughout, narrator Dion Graham sustains an authentic cool. His voice subtly slows down, pauses, and cracks as Stone expounds upon his older years. It’s a kind of music unto itself."—AudioFile

Combining three never-before-heard songs, jingles from when Sly was a DJ on KSOL, and a legendary story, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) is an all-encompassing audio experience.

One of the few indisputable geniuses of pop music, Sly Stone is a trailblazer and a legend. He created a new kind of music, mixing Black and white, male and female, funk and rock. As a songwriter, he penned some of the most iconic anthems of the 1960s and ’70s, from “Everyday People” to “Family Affair.” As a performer, he electrified audiences with a persona and stage presence that set a lasting standard for pop-culture performance.

Yet his life has also been a cautionary tale, known as much for how he dropped out of the spotlight as for what put him there in the first place. People know the music, but the man remains a mystery. In Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), his much-anticipated memoir, he’s finally ready to share his story—a story that many thought he’d never have the chance to tell.

Written with Ben Greenman, who has written memoirs with George Clinton and Brian Wilson, among others, and created in collaboration with Sly Stone’s manager, Arlene Hirschkowitz, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) includes a foreword by Questlove.

A Macmillan Audio production from AUWA Books.

©2023 Sylvester Stewart with Ben Greenman (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

He seems to always be at peace.

After watching a recent interview, he still has a poetic way of speaking and wishing for the world.

What a waste…of?

Amazing book! Reminded me of Keith Richard’s book where a popular, talented, person lives a spoiled, entitled, clueless, and thoroughly unaccountable existence while sitting on a pile of money, sex and drugs.

Thank you for this insight into the cool kids lives! I learn so much from these tales of people who get to wear blinders through life, leaving a trail of broken people in their wake and ascribing it to, hey man, that’s what is was, what it is and would it would be.

I’m so glad the world let you be yourself. You are a part of the great tapestry that is the human experience. A balance to all those artists who actually care about the people who buy their music.

The actor who performed the book was excellent.

stories around the MSG wedding

I found myself getting lost at times but I think that was my fault because I was trying to keep up with how high Sly was. Amazing book, words from the one and only

No One Like Him

In my teen years, I wore out the grooves on side five of the Woodstock album, relentlessly absorbing the firestorm of energy released by Sly & The Family Stone. What a pleasure to be able to hear Sly's (and the band's) story and fully understand what a gift he was/is to the world of music! Always an important factor in entertainment value, the narration is beautifully deliverd by Dion Graham (the best of the best narrators in the biz, with awards to prove it) And, as a lifelong axe-slinger myself, I now fully appreciate the fact that Freddie deserves a place in the pantheon of the truly great guitar players of the century. Finally, the perfect follow-up to this work is watching the "Summer of Soul" rock-doc streaming on Hulu. Yeah, I would have stood out like a piece of soap at a coal factory, but got-dam I wish I coulda been there.

Incredible story brilliantly performed

Read a lot of books this year. Lots of memoirs - musician memoirs specifically - and this is hands down the best of them all.

Sly knows how to take you Higher

Loved the career highlights the most. The stories behind the hits were incredible. I particularly liked how much Sly appreciates people, his fans. How he survived the drug years, I’ll never know. But I’m glad he did so we could hear and appreciate the story. Job well done.

incredible ride

the UPS and downs, the ins and outs and the drugs. a magical life.
his story is a roller coaster ride from humble to out rageously exciting to humble endings.

This book is poetry

Thus book is an absolute joy to listen to, and the narrator captures the music of it. I lived every minute of it, even if some of it was hard, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Amazing!!

Great narration of an incredible story of Sly/Sylvester. From his childhood stories in Vallejo to the push and pull of the road and stardom. Greatest band of all time and the music still gets us on our feet. Thank you Sly for seeing the world I. Technicolor. There’s room for everyone at the table.

Cheryl Turk

Real and uncut

This story of Sly’s life was from him, which means everything. He told personal stories, anecdotes, things from his perspective, and how the media portrayed him. He was a flawed man plagued by drugs and unfortunate circumstances but more than that, he was and is a musical genius. This book was all about him being himself and I enjoyed the story.