Prodigal Jimmy employs capitalization and alphabetization–elements of literacy that are visual rather than auditory–for the drama, so an audiobook, where you can’t tell if the words are capitalized, is a poor venue for this book relative to books in general. But the first chapter is listenable. Also just past halfway are a few phrases in German. They are, were written as, tuneful, from the Liebestod of Tristan und Isolde, from “Hush Little Baby,” and from Die Entfürung aus Dem Serail and Mozart. However the first German phrase is from Beethoven, to reflect and compare the methodological similarities between Beethoven and Wagner–unfortunately, that first phrase being tunefully exempt from the Liebestod, the melody, difficult already to imagine, becomes impossible in effect. As opposed to mangled by terrible singing.

Chapter 1: Part 1 (17 minutes)

Chapter 1: Part 2 (14 minutes)

Chapter 1: Part 3 (15 minutes)