This song was written by one of my favorite power pop artists… Emitt Rhoads. It’s some mid-sixties bliss. The song is catchy and will stick with you.
In 1967 this pop band called The Merry-Go-Round was formed in Los Angeles. It featured singer-songwriter Emitt Rhodes, drummer Joel Larson, lead guitarist Gary Kato, and Bill Rinehart on bass. The band released just one album in the spring of ’67 called The Merry-Go-Round. This song was their debut release. Rhodes disbanded The Merry-Go-Round in 1969 and began working on solo material.
Emitt Rhodes’s first album was self-titled called Rhodes. Billboard magazine called him “one of the finest artists on the music scene today” and later called his first album one of the “best albums of the decade.” Emitt Rhodes reached #29 on the Billboard 200 Album charts. A single called “Fresh as a Daisy” climbed to #54 on the Billboard Hot 100.
After several more album releases, Rhodes became a recording engineer and record producer for Electra Records. Emitt Rhodes died in his sleep at the age of 70 in Hawthorne, California, in July 2020.
The Bangles recorded this song for their debut album All Over the Place in 1984.
Live
Oh you’re the kind of girl who’s got theirself wound up in a ball
Oh – you think you live – but how can ya
Locked up in four walls
If you gotta go you better live your life before you pass away
Don’t waste a day
All your life’s been spent locked in your room
You never had a chance to roam – away from home
So – You’re gonna go – Go today – Don’t waste any time
For in life a day – Is worth a million – Soon you will find
If you gotta go you better live your life before you pass away
Don’t waste a day
All your life’s been spent locked in your room
You never had a chance to roam – away from home
Live Live Live Live
Live Live Live Live
Now – Do what you want – Go where you want
It’s all up to you
For in life the rule – Is just to do
What you want to do
If you gotta go you better live your life before you pass away
Don’t waste a day
All your life’s been spent locked in your room
You never had a chance to roam – away from home
If – You don’t know now – What life’s about
Go on now and live
And if – You don’t know how – It’s not so hard
Just let go and live
If you gotta go you better live your life before you pass away
Don’t waste a day
All your life’s been spent locked in your room
You never had a chance to roam – away from home
Live Live Live Live
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
Bangles cover is huge with those Peter Buck like sound guitars. Never heard this song before until today! lol
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I know the name, but not much about the music. I’ll have to go look them up- I renewed by anti-virus yesterday and they did an ‘update’ and now it seems like it’s blocking all the imbedded videos…
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I know them through Rhodes mostly but it’s mid 60s guitar pop… I like the Bangles version also
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Emitt Rhodes was a male? because sounds female. I agree very catchy. I enjoyed it a lot. Now I will listen again.
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Yea he was a male
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Really good sound to the original.
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Great Sixties vibe…
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Great tune that totally up my alley, Max, which I guess won’t surprise you much. When I read the Bangles covered it, which I had not known/forgotten, my first thought was this is a great song for them to cover. And they certainly did a nice job!
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Thanks Christian…it’s a good little song from that period. The Bangles did do a good job.
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Subsequently, and this may amuse you, I noticed I actually included “Live” in a Sunday Six installment in February this year – no wonder there was something vaguely familiar about it! Of course, it’s a bit sad I don’t even remember my own posts!
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That is probably where I remember it from! I do the same thing.
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I’ll let you know what I think about it in a few months when I get to it on Nuggets….
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Fair enough… I didn’t know it was on the nuggets cd.
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I’m familiar with Emitt Rhodes, but wasn’t aware he’d had an early band called The Merry-Go-Round (which is a terrible name for a band). They sound British on this song to my ears.
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I agree Jeff…it was very British mid sixties…I didn’t know about them either but of course, I knew Rhodes.
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