I’ve been listening to this era a lot recently and you will see something about it in a couple of weeks. This album was made by Graham Parker & The Rumour. His first album Howling Wind remains my favorite so far but this one (Squeezing Out Sparks) is catching up…the more I hear it the more I like it.
When he met the manager of Brinsley Schwarz. With ex-members of Brinsley Schwarz and ex-member Nick Lowe producing them…they made his debut album Howlin’ Wind in 1976. His band had a name at this point…The Rumour. The Rumour would be Graham’s backing band for years. They also recorded their own albums separately and did three in all. They broke up in 1980 and then reformed and started to back Parker up again in 2011 and remain his backup band to this day.
When I hear Parker, I can hear some Springsteen, Van Morrison, and Elvis Costello in his music. This song is straightforward, no-frills, traditional rock ‘n’ roll delivered at full steam ahead. You have The Rumour pumping this music out while Graham spits out the lyrics.
The song is on his fourth album Squeezing Out Sparks which was released in 1979. The album did well as it peaked at #40 on the Billboard Album Charts, #79 in Canada, and #18 in the UK. The album was helped out by the single Local Girls that got a lot of play on MTV but failed to chart.
Graham Parker: “In Squeezing Out Sparks I was kind of attempting a concept album about the suburbs of England, or at least trying to capture a vague approximation of suburban life. This idea succeeds in “Saturday Nite Is Dead” and “Local Girls” particularly well. I guess I drifted off the mark there for the rest of the record because the concept turned out to be a little confining for a whole album. I’m too restless to stick with such a narrow program”
Saturday Nite Is Dead
Everybody just looks ugly now information don’t compute
I draw a blank every time I think
The football crowd is going to give me a boot
And Saturday night is dead Saturday night is dead
It don’t matter what they say
You’ve got to use your own head some day
Saturday night is dead Saturday night is dead
Yeah it’s dead
The ultraviolet light hurts me so
It used to be my friend
I used to know a good place to go
But now it’s nothing like it was then
And Saturday night is dead
Saturday night is dead
It don’t matter what they say
I’m going to the funeral Sunday
Saturday night is dead
Saturday night is dead
Yeah it’s dead
It must have been murder it ain’t no accident
Oh no it means nothing to me
The clock goes tick tick tick in my head
Saturday is dead
Saturday is dead
See upcoming rock shows
Get tickets for your favorite artists
I look inside to find a place to hide
But there ain’t no place I know
It’s just as well that I’m stupefied
It makes it easy
It makes it easy to deliver the fatal blow
Deliver deliver deliver
CHORUS (FIRST VERSION)
Saturday night is dead REPEAT AND END
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I hear a bit of Springsteen’s first album in this.
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Yes….there is some mixed up in there.
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Squeezing Out Sparks is one of my most favourite albums. Lots of great memories there. So glad I got to see him at least once. Awesome stuff and I am happy to hear you like him!
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Oh yea….last year CB told me about the album Howling Wind and I’ve liked him ever since. That album and this album are the two I know the best…not a bad cut on them.
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Those two and Heat Treatment are his best.
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Ok…I’ll take a listen to that one…thanks!
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I have half a dozen singles of his but, (oddly) no albums.
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I’d heard his name a lot but never listened until around last year…I really like what I’ve heard.
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I definitely hear why he gets compared to Costello. He’s had an impressively long career & it’s almost surprising at least one song didn’t break through for him here
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I agree…he did have a top 40 hit and a few alt hits in the late 80s…but none that were as well known. I know he did make some really good albums.
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Yeah, ‘Saturday Night’ is very EC.
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“The Rumour pumping out the music while Graham spits out the lyrics”. There’s a tag line for a concert promo if I ever read one. Good one Max.
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Thanks CB…I’m going to expand my Parker listening to more than the two albums I’ve been stuck on.
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Not a bad idea. It’s easy to get locked into his early stuff. Lots of punch.
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I have to take time to listen to this guy more closely. I bought this and Howling Wind on cassette years ago when he was getting such critical acclaim. I have to admit he didn’t grab me right off. I did like his hit single “Wake Up Next To You”. He reminds me of Mott The Hoople.
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Howling Wind is the first one I listened to. CB mentioned it and I started to listen to it and I loved it. I moved on to this album but I want to start with another soon.
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Yet another one who I’d heard of but not to, if you know what I mean.
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That was me last year. I liked what I’ve heard so far.
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I initially read the headline as Graham Parker Is Dead. Relieved that it’s about this excellent song instead.
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Oh jeez…different spin!
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