I love the guitars in this song. Great hooks all the way around. This song was not released as a single…I would have bought it.
This song was on their debut album All Over The Place. It was written by Hoffs and Peterson. The song has no mention of Dover in the lyric…the title comes from the poem Dover Beach, published by the Englishman Matthew Arnold in 1867. The beach in question is the one at the bottom of the white cliffs in Dover, England, as in the 1940 song “The White Cliffs Of Dover.”
When they released this song they were part of the Paisley Underground scene… a Los Angeles scene with bands like Rain Parade, The Dream Syndicate, Green On Red, and others. The Bangles were undoubtedly the most successful band to come out of that group of bands.
Their album All Over The Place was released in 1984. It didn’t have a hit single and the album only peaked at #80 on the Billboard 100, #32 in New Zealand, and #86 in the UK. However…the album sold respectively and stayed on the charts for 30 weeks and that set their next album up.
Their next album Different Light shot them to stardom with the hits Manic Monday, Walk Like An Egyptian and my favorite song by them… If She Knew What She Wants. They made just one more album called Everything before breaking up in 1989. It had the hits In Your Room and Eternal Flame.
Dover Beach, although not a single, remains on their current setlist.
Vickie Peterson: “Susanna and I were slightly geekish about opening the Norton Anthology of English Literature, flipping through that and going, ‘Hey, this is a great line.’ She had come across the Matthew Arnold poem Dover Beach at some point and that inspired that song, that idea of applying the fantasy of escape and the reality of what that would really mean. It was a really fun time to just mine the world for ideas.”
Dover Beach
If I had the time
I would run away with you
To a perfect world
We’d suspend all that is duty or required.
Late last night you cried
And I couldn’t come to you
But on the other side
You and I, inseparable and walking.
Yeah, oh woe.
If we could steal away
Like jugglers and thieves
But we could come and go
Oh, and talk of Michaelangelo.
Oh woe.
If we had the time (we had the time)
We had the time.
The day you looked at me
And it was on your mind
The world is no one’s dream
We will never ever find the time.
Oh woe.
If we had the time
I would run away with you
To a perfect world
(To a perfect world).
…
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
Listened to this track. Quite good and like yourself I like the guitars on this. They had some serious talent. Hoff’s is an amazing talent
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I was surprised to learn that the Bangles are still a group with every one of them being in their 60s now. This is new to me and it was nice to read how they got their inspiration for this song.
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I would go see them…
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Never heard this one before. Good tune. Good band.
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Is it just me, or are they bordering on ripping off the Beatles, ” If I Needed Someone?” Lots of jangly Rickenbackers in the studio that day.
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I agree…the Beatles and The Byrds are in there everywhere.
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I’d never heard this one but I like it, it could have fit fine on the first Columbia album. I’m with you that ‘If she knew what she wants” is right there with their best songs. Can’t help but notice Susanna is a good-looking lady,then and now and the other 3 are all attractive to say the least but I think that overshadows (to some) the fact that they were a talented band – not just a talented ‘female’ band
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If She Knew What She Wants must have been at least a minor hit…I remember seeing the video a lot back in the day. They were a talented band and yea their looks hurt them more probably in the long run…it’s not right. It happens to guys also…like Cassidy and others.
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I’m guessing your meaning David, not Shaun! Fair point though
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yes David!
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Yes, indeed a good song. It has that immediate singles appeal, to me at least.
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Been a while since I have heard this. I had the All Over The Place cassette. My fave is Going Down To Liverpool (with Leonard Nimoy). Hero Takes A Fall is good, too.
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Love them jangly guitars!
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Nice tune I had not known. I agree the guitar sound is really neat, and so is their harmony singing. The Bangles only entered my radar screen with their breakthrough album “Different Light”. I really loved it at the time and enjoy it to this day.
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I couldn’t find the original on Spotify, just some live versions – which still sounded good.
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The guitars do sound really good on the original when you run across it.
BTW…our power is out because of storms so I will get to your Sat post hopefully tomorrow. I’m using my phone as a hotspot and my laptop is about to die.
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No problem, hope you’re holding up OK.
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Thanks Graham… I’m looking forward going to work tomorrow… if only to see lights again
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