Blue Northern – Can’t Make No Sense

The reason I enjoy the weekends so much on the blog is that I try to post new/old music that I like, which isn’t the most well-known. I go out searching for more music I missed real time. If I had heard of Blue Northern in the early 1980s, I would have bought them. The young Max would have connected with these guys, but better late than never. 

This band sounds like the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and some power-pop mixed together. The songs are likable at first listen. They did have some success in Canada in the early eighties, and they recently re-released their first album under the name Tango!. 

I couldn’t decide on which song to pick, so I just flipped a coin and picked one, but I’m featuring both. They were a country rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia. They were together between 1977 and 1983. I found this band by following Billy Cowsill around and his different bands. 

The band started out with Gary Comeau, Lee Stephens, Brady Gustafson, and Jimmy Wilson. They were later joined by guitarist Ray O’Toole and Billy Cowsill. Can’t Make No Sense was written by Ray O’Toole. He also wrote Too Late To Turn Back Now. 

They only released one album…Blue Northern in 1980 and an EP called Blue in 1979. Both of these songs were on the Blue Northern album, and both were singles. Too Late To  Turn Back peaked at #15 on the RPM Cancon singles charts, and Can’t Make No Sense peaked at #25 on the RPM Cancon singles charts in 1980-1981.

Can’t Make No Sense

You say we must end it, the feeling is gone
There just ain’t no reason to carry on
I say we should try it a day or two
And I can’t make no sense out of loving you

Wedding bells were ringing in my head
I could not hear what people might have said
You see we have different points of view
And I can’t make no sense out of loving you

You say you must break my heart
And I will understand
The hurt will go away so soon
Like castles in the sand
And it’s crazy crazy crazy what I’ll do
And I can’t make no sense out of loving you

You say you must leave me now
Closing all the doors
Does he mean that much to you
You can’t see me no more
And it’s crazy crazy crazy what I’ll do
And I can’t make no sense out of loving you

No no I said, I can’t make no sense out of loving you
I, I, I can’t make no sense out of loving you

____________________________

Too Late To Turn Back Down

Well your name’s all over town
Since you’ve been laying your favors round
Your reputation is going down down down the drain
I still remember awhile ago
When you had no place to go
Then your smile was just a show
You gave to a friend

Baby it’s too late
Too late to turn back
Well your money’s all gone
Friends are catching on to you

Baby it’s too late
Too late to turn back
You’ve been doing alright
Just fading out of site, baby

Well your name’s all over town
Since you’ve been laying your favors round
Your reputation is going down down down the drain
I still remember awhile ago
When you had no place to go
Then your smile was just a show
You gave to a friend

Baby it’s too late
Too late to turn back
Well your money’s all gone
Friends are catching on to you

Baby it’s too late
Too late to turn back
You’ve been doing alright now
Fading out of site, baby

Ah you’ve been doing alright
Been fading out of site, baby
Oh you’ve been doing alright
You’re fading out of site, baby

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

28 thoughts on “Blue Northern – Can’t Make No Sense”

  1. You made me listen to the Cowsills twice in a week?! Not really complaining. Decent poppy sound though, to my ears, nothing to write home about. Definitely a Byrds-ish sound to the second one. I thought the opening bars to the first one sounded Beatle-esque before settling in to middle-of-the-road pop.

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    1. I love this kind of music as well. I would have bought this if I would have known…and many of the bands I’m finding now. They charted but I don’t know much about those charts…if they were local or not.

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  5. Good find! I don’t remember either of those, but they’re both pretty decent first time through, I can hear the Byrds sound in there. I vaguely, only very vaguely, do recall the band name from back then.
    You’re on a roll digging up Canadian bands with ‘blue’ in their name. Blue Peter next?

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    1. You know whats weird? Billy Cowsill was a member of both Blue bands. Dave…I was going to email Randy and you and ask but I’ll do it now…What is the RPM Cancon charts?????

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      1. Well Can Con is short for Canadian content. Each record is, or was, evaluated for it- if artist, songwriter, producer were Canadian & it was recorded in Canada, 100%, if some yes, some no, then it would be part credits…radio had to play a certain percentage of CanCon (most stations fell under a 30% requirement) so it was used to calculate that. Thechart itself, I assume is a chart of the most-played songs that were all Canadian content. It wasn’t widely referenced but maybe in radio stations themselves perhaps it was.

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      2. Well I feel stupid! That makes sense on the name. Wow…that seems drawn out…but I guess it worked…they also charted in the country charts in Canada…so at least they were played.

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      3. n o reason to feel stupid! Why WOULD anyone not Canadian, for that matter, not Canadian and a music nerd who knows people in the radio biz. But it’s how Heart actually qualified as Canadian at one time – those Americans lived in , recorded in and used Canadian studios and staff. That they were from Washington didn’t matter much

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  6. Max when I was living in the bars, bands like this were the entertainment. I was introduced by the love of beer and having a good time. These guys were just good. The Van scene has so much good music back then. Every genre. Something about this kind of music was really big. To many bands to mention but another that stood out for me was Roadside Attraction.
    You’re hooked into the Vancouver music scene way back when. Still sounds good.

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    1. I followed Billy but yea I want to check more of it out…not just him. I absolutely love this CB…it satisfies the country, rock, and even power pop in me. It had everything I liked. Very close to those 90s bands we have been talking about.

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      1. Yeah exactly. Like I said there was a bunch of these bands and not to take away the cuts (They still sound good) you.ve posted, live the music had that extra zing. They were bar bands. Gig after gig tear after year. These guys had some chops.

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      2. When I posted the Blue Shadows…you mentioned a live video tape that I posted on how good it was…because usually they suck with a video camera…but yea that showed how good they were live…they were the real deal. They probably accumulated a lot of bar hours getting that sound.

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  7. Very good songs. Definitely a Byrds vibe, and “Can’t Make No Sense” also reminds me of George Harrison’s “If I Needed Someone”. Thanks for the heads up. Will check out further.

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    1. I liked it a lot. I love that country-rock-power pop they had. Yes…the electric 12 string…I own one…had to order it from California because there wasn’t many in Nashville….they have a sound like no other. Thanks for listening

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  8. I agree with what has been sais- a Byrdsish sound to both, especially ‘I Can’t Make No Sense.’ There’s a sense of deep despair edging towards suicide in the lyrics of that one too, ‘And it’s crazy crazy crazy what I’ll do.’

    Good find. it seems Billy was more than a kid in the family band, he obviously loved the music.

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    1. Thanks obbverse…yes he was also in another Canadian band called The Co-Dependents…he found a music scene up there that CB was a part of that I guess he liked. Totally different music than his family. I’m on a Cowsill streak here.

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  11. Pingback: Blue Northern – Can’t Make No Sense – MobsterTiger

  12. I loved that tune…I have a memory of me speeding down a highway in BC with this cranked, and yep Billy Cowsell found a good home in Canada…..a couple of things, yeah some Americans benefited from that CanCon part of radio station licenses, but it worked, People like Jessie Winchester became a Canadian, he still didn’t get a lot of airplay here, the Heart thing, well, they were escaping the Vietnam War and the draft…Shari Ulrich and the Hometown band did that too…and no one points out that it wasn’t a blacket thing…Aerosmith, Metallica, David Lee Roth, David Bowie came here to record to work with Canadian producers all that was made possible by the CanCon thing…but Canadian Bryan Adams suffered because a few of his tunes were not 100%….but so many, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray couldn’t and didn’t get played here until they either left or had a huge hit in the USA….Anne Murray ws around for years, had great songs, but it wasn’t until Snowbird became a million seller in the States did she get a lot of Canadian airplay…even now, a lot of stations, especially the classic rock stations, they’ll play Rush, maybe Triumph or Trooper but that its it….heck, Triumph sold more records and fill more stadiums in Texas then they did here at home…..

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    1. Thanks for that Warren! That makes complete sense. Dave said bands like Heart benefitted as well.
      Yes he did find a good home and scene there. I love this band and of course the Blue Shadows. It has all of the mixture that I like. Rock, Country, and some power pop….the harmonies as well.

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