Rick Flynn Presents, the worldwide podcast, rolls out the red carpet for an amazing author writing on an amazing topic in his brand-new book "Play It Again, Sam: Repetition in the Arts".

Samuel Jay Keyser explores in detail the way repetition works in poetry, music, and painting. He argues, for example, that the same cognitive function underlies both how poets write rhyme in metrical verse and the way songwriters like Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn (“Satin Doll”) and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (“My Funny Valentine”) construct their iconic melodies. Furthermore, the repetition found in these tunes can also be found in such classical compositions as Mozart's Rondo alla Turca and his German Dances, as well as in galant music in general.

Artists have exploited repetition throughout the ages. The reason why is straightforward: the brain finds the detection of repetition innately pleasurable. Play It Again, Sam offers experimental evidence to support this claim.

Samuel Jay Keyser was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 7, 1935. He grew up in Washington, DC and attended George Washington, Oxford and Yale University, where he received his PhD in linguistics in 1962. Keyser has taught at Brandeis University, University College, London, the University of Massachusetts and MIT where he joined the faculty in July of 1977 and from which he retired in 1998. He is currently Special Assistant to the Chancellor at MIT, a position he has held since his retirement. Contact him through his Facebook page "Samuel Jay Keyser." and buy the book wherever books are sold.