Category: 1980s

Paul McCartney – Here Today

This was not a hit but it was a very poignant song about John Lennon after he was murdered. It was on the Tug of War album and it is a very touching song of Paul having an imaginary conversation with John. It’s a very personal side of Paul that he doesn’t show a lot.

The Tug of War album was a very good album. It peaked at #1 in 1982 and it would be his last #1 album until Egypt Station peaked at #1 in 2018.

The song peaked at #46 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts.

Paul on the song: “After John died, there’d been a lot of talk about who did what and who liked who and did the Beatles argue. I was almost buying into this idea that me and John were fighting all the time. But I remembered it wasn’t true, so I wrote the song about how, ‘if you were here, you might say this or those… but I know better.’

I remember well some of the things we did. It was really for me thinking about John. We had a great relationship and like any family, there are always arguments, there’s always disputes, but in the end, we loved each other and I wanted to make a song where I actually said “I love you” to John, so that was that song.

It’s quite emotional because it came from a real feeling about him, and I wanted to correct the record in my mind as much as in any one else’s mind. There were some photos from that period which were really beautiful, and there’s just him and me working and you could see we loved each other. So, once all these rumors go about, you almost buy into them yourself. So that song helped me set the record straight.”

From Songfacts

McCartney wrote this for John Lennon after his tragic death on December 8, 1980. He sings of the years they spent together in much detail.

Paul McCartney: “The truth of the matter is when John died it was so weird for everyone and obviously for those of us that were near to him it was doubly, triply weird and then there was the obvious sort of thing is anyone going to write a song about John because obviously certainly we all felt deeply enough and normally when we felt deeply enough we committed it to song. I was wondering if I was going to do it but I thought I’m not going to sit down and try to do it but if anything comes sometime I’ll do it. I was one day just sitting quietly in this little room with my guitar and these chords started coming out and I started having these thoughts as if I was talking to myself to John about our relationship and stuff and obviously one of the things that had been funny for me was this idea of when the Beatles broke up we became enemies for a time. But I knew we weren’t and I know for a fact he knew we weren’t too because independently of each other we’d talked nicely of each other but there was a pride thing of two men very difficult business and all that.” (Transcribed from this interview.)

McCartney told The London Times December 5, 2009, that in this song, “I’m talking to John in my head. It’s a conversation we didn’t have.” He added that they were reconciled again by the time of the tragedy: “We were mates. God, that was so cool. It was the saving grace. Because it got a bit sticky after the Beatles. No, we were really good mates again – it was lovely, actually. Performing this song, in New York, where he was killed, is a very emotional affair. The last verse, where I sing ‘and if I said I really loved you, and was glad you came along,’ it’s like singing it to your dad who died.”

During the Q&A Mojo Magazine Session in November 2009, McCartney said that this song is his most difficult to perform: “I realize I’m telling this man that I love him, and it’s like, ‘Oh my god’, like I’m publicly declaring it in front of all these people I don’t know! It’s a good thing to do, though.” 

McCartney performed this live on his 2002 release Back In The US.

Here Today

And if I say I really knew you well
What would your answer be?
If you were here today
Ooo ooo ooo, here today

Well, knowing you
You’d probably laugh and say
That we were worlds apart
If you were here today
Ooo ooo ooo, here today

But as for me,
I still remember how it was before
And I am holding back the tears no more
Ooo ooo ooo, I love you, ooo

What about the time we met?
Well, I suppose that you could say
That we were playing hard to get
Didn’t understand a thing
But we could always sing

What about the night we cried?
Because there wasn’t any reason
Left to keep it all inside
Never understood a word
But you were always there with a smile

And if I say I really loved you
And was glad you came along
And you were here today
Ooo ooo ooo, for you were in my song
Ooo ooo ooo, here today

CSN – Southern Cross

Great song by Crosby, Stills, and Nash. It peaked at #18 in 1982 in the Billboard 100. The song was on the album Daylight Again that peaked at #8 in 1982. I like some of their catalog…mostly the radio songs. I did see them live in 1987 and you had to appreciate their voices live.

This was written by Stephen Stills, Richard Curtis, and Michael Curtis. Stills said: “The Curtis Brothers brought a wonderful song called ‘Seven League Boots,’ but it drifted around too much. I rewrote a new set of words and added a different chorus, a story about a long boat trip I took after my divorce. It’s about using the power of the universe to heal your wounds. Once again, I was given somebody’s gem and cut and polished it.”

From Songfacts

The “Southern Cross” is a constellation also known as the Crux Constellation that can be viewed from most of the Southern hemisphere. The 4 brightest stars within the constellation form a cross pattern. Sailors have relied on the “Southern Cross” to help in navigating their boats. The national flags of Australia and New Zealand have versions of the Southern Cross on them.

Jimmy Buffett covered this on his 1999 album Buffett Live: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays. 

There is a vocal mistake in the line “But it’s as big as the promise, the promise of a coming day.” One of the vocalists says “coming” on the first “promise.” >>

Since this song is based on a song called “Seven League Boots,” it bears mentioning that seven-league boots are a common magical artifact which crops up repeatedly in many European folk and fairy tales. They’re a pair of boots which allow the wearer to take strides that are seven leagues (21 miles, 33.8 kilometers) long. The same concept of footwear that greatly increases one’s traveling speed or stride is adapted into many role-playing and video games.

This same year that “Southern Cross” came out also saw David Crosby arrested on drug-related charges. He would be in and out of court on them numerous times until he finally turned himself in for an 8-month sentence.

The video for this song, with a ship a-sail, saw heavy rotation in the early MTV years, providing a soft rock respite from the European pop acts that dominated the network at the time.

The cover art for the Daylight Again album features an enigmatic domed structure on a rocky hilltop, flanked by three glowing blue flying saucers. The US was in the midst of a resurgence in UFO popularity in the late-’70s and early-’80s, bolstered by the writings of Chariots of the Gods author Erich von Daniken and renewed interest in Area 51.

Southern Cross

Got out of town on a boat goin’ to Southern Islands
Sailing a reach before a followin’ sea
She was makin’ for the trades on the outside
And the downhill run to Papeete

Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas
We got eighty feet of the waterline nicely making way
In a noisy bar in Avalon I tried to call you
But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away

Think about
Think about how many times I have fallen
Spirits are using me, larger voices callin’
What Heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten

Around the world (I have been around the world)
Lookin’ (lookin’ for that woman girl)
Who knows she knows (who knows love can endure)
And you know it will

When you see the Southern Cross for the first time
You understand now why you came this way
‘Cause the truth you might be runnin’ from is so small
But it’s as big as the promise, the promise of a comin’ day

So I’m sailing for tomorrow my dreams are a-dyin’
And my love is an anchor tied to you (tied with a silver chain)
I have my ship and all her flags are a-flyin’
She is all that I have left and music is her name

Think about
Think about how many times I have fallen
Spirits are using me, larger voices callin’
What Heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten

I have been around the world (I have been around the world)
Lookin’ (lookin’ for that woman girl)
(Who knows love can endure)
And you know it will
And you know it will

So we cheated and we lied and we tested
And we never failed to fail it was the easiest thing to do
You will survive being bested
Somebody fine will come along make me forget about loving you
And the southern cross

Dire Straits – Skateaway

This song is so smooth and has a great groove to it. Add in Mark Knopfler’s guitar and it turns into a very good pop song. It was on the album Making Movies which peaked at #19 in 1980.

Skateaway peaked at #58 in the Billboard 100 in 1981.

From Wiki

After the Communiqué Tour ended on 21 December 1979 in London, Mark Knopfler spent the first half of 1980 writing the songs for Dire Straits’ next album. He contacted Jimmy Iovine after hearing Iovine’s production on the song “Because the Night” by Patti Smith—a song she had co-written with Bruce Springsteen. Iovine, who had also worked on Springsteen’s Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town albums, was instrumental in recruiting E Street Band keyboardist Roy Bittan for the Making Movies sessions.[1]

Making Movies was recorded at the Power Station in New York from 20 June to 25 August 1980. Jimmy Iovine and Mark Knopfler produced the album.

Skateaway

I seen a girl on a one way corridor
Stealing down a wrong way street
For all the world like an urban toreador
She had wheels on on her feet
Well the cars do the usual dances
Same old cruise and the kerbside crawl
But the roller girl she’s taking chances
They just love to see her take them all

No fears alone at night she’s sailing through the crowd
In her ears the phones are tight and the music’s playing loud

Hallelujah here she comes queen roller ball
Enchante what can I say don’t care at all
You know she used to have to wait around
She used to be the lonely one
But now that she can skate around town
She’s the only one

No fears alone at night she’s sailing through the crowd
In her ears the phones are tight and the music’s playing loud
She gets rock n roll a rock n roll station
And a rock n roll dream
She’s making movies on location
She don’t know what it means
But the music make her want to be the story
And the story was whatever was the song what it was
Roller girl don’t worry
D.j. play the movies all night long

She tortures taxi drivers just for fun
She like to read their lips
Says toro toro taxi see ya tomorrow my son
I swear she let a big truck grease her hip
She got her own world in the city
You can’t intrude on her
She got her own world in the city
’cause the city’s benn so rude to her

No fears alone at night she’s sailing through the crowd
In her ears the phones are tight and the music’s playing loud
She gets rock n roll a rock n roll station
And a rock n roll dream
She’s making movies on location
She don’t know what it means
But the music make her want to be the story
And the story was whatever was the song what it was
Roller girl don’t worry
D.j. play the movies all night long

Come slipping and sliding
Life’s roller ball
Slipping and a sliding
Skate away that’s all
Shala shalay hey hey skate away
She’s going singing shala shalay hey hey
Skate away

Queen – Life Is Real (Song for Lennon)

I did not dislike Hot Space like some Queen fans and non-Queen fans. I would not rate it as high as The Game but it had some decent songs. The album peaked at only #22 in the Billboard Album Chart in 1982 after the hugely successful album The Game.

Queen incorporates a little of Lennon’s style in this one and Mercury’s voice sounds great in this song.

From Songfacts

Freddie Mercury wrote this song as a dedication to John Lennon. The music emulates different John Lennon song styles, and the lyrics are mostly about Freddie’s realization that John was dead, and how real life was. “Life is Real” is related to the John Lennon lyric “Love is Real.”

The death of John Lennon sparked Queen to play “Imagine” during concerts, something they did during their tour with Paul Rodgers.

This song took on a new life after Freddie Mercury’s death, and is now regularly performed as a tribute to Mercury as well as Lennon – particularly when performed by Kerry Ellis and Brian May on their tours (notably the Born Free tour) where a montage of Freddie Mercury images would play on screens behind the artists.

Life Is Real (Song For Lennon)

Guilt stains on my pillow
Blood on my terraces
Torsos in my closet
Shadows from my past
Life is real, life is real
Life is real, so real

Sleeping is my leisure
Waking up in a minefield
Dream in just a pleasure dome
Love is a roulette wheel
Life is real, life is real
Life is real, oh yeah

Success is my breathing space
I brought it on myself
I will price it, I will cash it
I can take it or leave it
Loneliness is my hiding place
Breast feeding myself
What more can I say?
I have swallowed the bitter pill
I can taste it I can taste it
Life is real, life is real
Life is real

Music will be my mistress
Loving like a whore
Lennon is a genius
Living in ev’ry pore
Life is real, life is real
Life is real, so real
Life is cruel, life is a bitch
Life is real, so real
Life is real, life is real, yeah
Life is real.

Led Zeppelin – Wearing and Tearing

This was on the album Coda it was released two years after John Bonham’s death and features outtakes from sessions throughout their career.

the song was supposed to be released as a single to coincide with their 1979 tour, but it was delayed because of production problems. This was Zeppelin’s answer to the Punk Rock groups at the time. It was recorded during the making of the In Through The Out Door album.

I don’t think it would have fit well on In Through The Out Door but it is too bad they didn’t release it as a single at the time.

From Songfacts

John Bonham died before this could be released. It was included on Coda, an album of unreleased tracks.

They planned to release this under the name of a fake band so it would not be judged as a Zeppelin song and could compete against the popular Punk bands.

Led Zeppelin never performed this live, but in 1990, Page and Plant played it at the Knebworth Festival in England.

 

Wearing and Tearing

It starts out like a murmur 
Then it grows like thunder 
Until it bursts inside of you 
Try to hold it steady 
Wait until you’re ready 
Any second now will do 
Throw the door wide open 
Not a word is spoken 
Anything that you want to do 

Ya know, ya know, ya know
Ya know, ya know, ya know

Don’t you feel the same way? 
Don’t you feel the same way? 
But you don’t know what to do 
No time for hesitatin’ 
Ain’t no time for hesitatin’ 
All you got to do is move 
They say you’re feeling blue, well 
I just found a cure 
It’s a thing you gotta do, yeah 

(Ya know, ya know, ya know)

Now listen, when you say your body’s aching? 
I know that it’s aching 
Chill bumps come up on you 
Yeah, the funny fool 
I love the funny fool 
Just like foolin’ after school? 
And then you ask for medication 
Who cares for medication 
When you’ve worn away the cure 

(Ya know, ya know, ya know)

(Hey, hey)
Go back to the country yeah, go back to the country 
Feel a change is good for you 
When you keep convincin’ 
Ah, don’t keep convincin’ 
What’s that creeping up behind a you? 
It’s just an old friend, it’s just an old friend 
And what’s that he’s got for you? 

(Ya know, ya know, ya know)

Yeah, yeah, yeah I can feel it, I can feel it ?
Oh, medication, medication, medication

Dire Straits – Industrial Disease

Love the lyrics to this song and also Knopfler’s guitar. When this song came out my friends and I would quote these lines to one another at school. Any song with I don’t know how you came to get the Betty Davis knees…But worst of all young man you’ve got Industrial Disease’ …..is alright with me.

The song was off of their Love over Gold album which peaked at #19 in the Billboard album chart in 1982. Industrial Disease peaked at #75 in the Billboard 100 in 1983.

From Songfacts

The song focuses on the decline of the British manufacturing industry in the 1980s. The song focuses on strikes, depression and dysfunctionality.

The title of what later became an AC/DC song is mentioned in the lyrics: “Thunderstruck.”

The reference to “brewers droop” as a medical condition is an in-joke, referring both to the effect of alcohol on libido and to the band of the same name that Mark Knopfler played in prior to Dire Straits.

Industrial Disease

Warning lights are flashing down at Quality Control
Somebody threw a spanner and they threw him in the hole
There’s rumors in the loading bay and anger in the town
Somebody blew the whistle and the walls came down
There’s a meeting in the boardroom they’re trying to trace the smell
There’s leaking in the washroom there’s a sneak in personnel
Somewhere in the corridors someone was heard to sneeze
‘goodness me could this be Industrial Disease?

The caretaker was crucified for sleeping at his post
They’re refusing to be pacified it’s him they blame the most
The watchdog’s got rabies the foreman’s got fleas
And everyone’s concerned about Industrial Disease
There’s panic on the switchboard tongues are ties in knots
Some come out in sympathy some come out in spots
Some blame the management some the employees
And everybody knows it’s the Industrial Disease

The work force is disgusted downs tools and walks
Innocence is injured experience just talks
Everyone seeks damages and everyone agrees
That these are ‘classic symptoms of a monetary squeeze’
On ITV and BBC they talk about the curse
Philosophy is useless theology is worse
History boils over there’s an economics freeze

Sociologists invent words that mean ‘Industrial Disease’
Doctor Parkinson declared ‘I’m not surprised to see you here
You’ve got smokers cough from smoking, brewer’s droop from drinking beer
I don’t know how you came to get the Betty Davis knees
But worst of all young man you’ve got Industrial Disease’

He wrote me a prescription he said ‘you are depressed
But I’m glad you came to see me to get this off your chest
Come back and see me later – next patient please
Send in another victim of Industrial Disease’
I go down to Speaker’s Corner I’m thunderstruck
They got free speech, tourists, police in trucks
Two men say they’re Jesus one of them must be wrong
There’s a protest singer singing a protest song – he says
‘they want to have a war to keep us on our knees

They want to have a war to keep their factories
They want to have a war to stop us buying Japanese
They want to have a war to stop Industrial Disease
They’re pointing out the enemy to keep you deaf and blind
They want to sap your energy incarcerate your mind
They give you Rule Brittania, gassy beer, page three

Two weeks in Espana and Sunday striptease’
Meanwhile the first Jesus says ‘I’d cure it soon
Abolish Monday mornings and Friday afternoons’
The other one’s on a hunger strike he’s dying by degrees
How come Jesus gets Industrial Disease

David and David – Swallowed By The Cracks

This was a duo from the eighties I really liked. This song peaked at #14 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock Hits in 1986. The album Boomtown peaked at #39 in 1986 and it contained three radio hits. Welcome to the Boomtown, Ain’t So Easy, and Swallowed by the Cracks.

The two Davids were David Baerwald and David Ricketts. They broke up after their only studio album which really disappointed me because I was really looking forward to their next album. There is hope though…in 2016 it was reported that they are working on their second album.

Boomtown was a very underrated album. David Baerwald’s voice is so down to earth and the lyrics and melodies were really good. This album got lost in the mega album 80s.

They did work later with Sheryl Crow on her Tuesday Night Music Club album.

Swallowed By The Cracks

I once was a dancer
I was young once like you
Though I know I don’t look it
Jumped high as the sky

Had fire in my eyes
And legs like a stallion
And I had a girl and I loved her
My best friend was her brother

We were on top of the mountain that summer
Thought we’d never be swallowed by the cracks
Fallen so far down
Like the rest of those clowns begging bus fare back

Swallowed by the cracks
Our pride worn down talking times gone by
Like everybody else
Swallowed by the cracks

We would never be swallowed by the cracks
We would talk through the night
About what we would do
If we just could get started

I would choreograph
Eileen she would act while
Steve was a writer
Then Stevie ran away and get bored

Eileen took a job in a store
Me I became this drunken old whore
‘Cause you see we’d be swallowed by the cracks
Fallen so far down

Like the rest of those clowns begging bus fare back
Swallowed by the cracks our pride worn down
Talking times gone by like everybody else

Swallowed by the cracks
Swallowed by the cracks
You see we’d be swallowed by the cracks
Maybe it ain’t over I can see it’s up to me

You only out when you stay out you stay out when you don’t
Believe we could drive around in circles getting nowhere
All night long getting drunk with strangers telling lies
And singing along with the jukebox baby
Swallowed by the cracks

Jon Butcher – Wishes

When I heard this guitar intro I was surprised, to say the least. In the late eighties after hearing Eddie Van Halen and Steve Vai endless finger tapping and scales on guitar.. this was refreshing. Jon Butcher sounded like he was inspired by Jimi Hendrix and it showed in this song….but he didn’t just sound like Hendrix in his other songs.

These comparisons to Hendrix were because of Butcher’s onstage appearance and mannerisms, patterned after Hendrix, and his choice for the band name Axis, which was a reference to Hendrix legendary album Axis: Bold as Love. Butcher’s stated influences are Richie Havens, John Lennon, Phil Lynott, Bob Dylan, and Taj Mahal and today he maintains that the Hendrix comparisons are superficial and has been quoted as saying “Being black, left-handed, and playing a Stratocaster created certain inevitable comparisons, particularly in the early days”.

This song peaked at #42 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock Song Chart in 1987.

Wishes

It’s late at night in the neighborhood
And the thieves have all gone to bed
They can hear your heartbeat in the distance
As you lay down your weary head

But don’t worry, ’cause the dawn is breaking
In another room halfway around the world
And you can’t waste your life
Wishing upon a star

‘Cause if wishes were horses
If wishes were horses
If wishes were horses
Then dreamers would ride
Huh, yes they would

A girl lives her life missing
Some things that she never had
Spends too much time in the unemployment line
You see in her eyes that it drives her mad

Deep within her constitution
Her pride and her dignity show through
So she works that dream
‘Cause it’s all she can do

If wishes were horses
If wishes were horses
She says: if wishes were horses
Then dreamers would ride
Yes they would

Now I’m looking
All around me for the answers
And I know you’re looking hard too
I know what you’re thinking
Maybe wishes come true

If wishes were horses
If wishes were horses
I know, if wishes were horses
Then dreamers would ride

The Call – When The Walls Came Down

This one I remember from the video more than airplay. A simple but effective riff to open the song and there is also The Band member Garth Hudson playing with The Call. That is what got my attention when I saw the video in the 80s. When The Walls Came Down peaked at #74 in the Billboard 100 and #17 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs in 1983.

Guitarist Michael Been stated, “There was a great deal happening politically – Grenada, Lebanon, or the government saying the Russians are evil and the Russian government probably saying the same about us. That kind of thinking inspired me to write the last lines of ‘Walls Came Down’.”

 

When The Walls Come Down

Well they blew the horns
And the walls came down
They’d all been warned
And the walls came down
They stood there laughing
They’re not laughing anymore
The walls came down

Sanctuary fades
Congregation splits
Nightly military raids
The congregation splits
It’s a song of assassins
Ringin’ in your ears
We got terrorist thinking
Playing on fears

Well they blew the horns
And the walls came down
They’d all been warned
But the walls came down
I don’t think there are any Russians
And there ain’t no Yanks
Just corporate criminals
Playin’ with tanks

Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya (Wake up)
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya (Come on, come on, come on, come on)

Billy Squier – Lonely Is The Night

I liked some of Squier’s earlier songs. This song peaked at #28 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs in 1981. The song was on the Don’t Say No album which peaked at #5 in the Billboard Album Charts in 1981. The album had four well-known songs on it including The Stroke, My Kind of Lover, In The Dark, and this one. This song has always had a Led Zeppelin feel to me.

Squier asked Brian May of Queen to produce this album but because of scheduling conflicts, he couldn’t do it but recommended Reinhold Mack who produced the Queen album The Game…who ended up producing this album. Squier worked out of Boston and worked with at one time or another Ric Ocaskik, Joe Pepper, and Tom Shultz.

My second concert was a Billy Squier concert on November 30, 1982, in Nashville at the Municipal Auditorium. The Auditorium has been around since the early sixties and I remember seeing the No Smoking signs at the beginning of the concert…by the end you couldn’t see them because of the smoke. Nazareth opened up for Squier.

My first two concerts were REO and Billy Squier…My sons first two concerts were Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr…I told him he had a much better beginning than I did in his concert history…his third was Bob Dylan.

From Songfacts

In a 1982 interview with Sounds magazine, Squier explained that he doesn’t write songs when he’s on the road, which keeps him away from topics like groupies and parties. Said Squier: “‘Lonely Is The Night’ for example is nothing to do with the fact that I’m in a rock band, but it does have to do with the fact that you can be by yourself in a room somewhere and not know what to do, be scared to death of having to go out and find something.” 

 

Lonely Is The Night

Lonely is the night when you find yourself alone
Your demons come to light and your mind is not your own
Lonely is the night when there’s no one left to call
You feel the time is right, say the writing’s on the wall

It’s a high time to fight when the walls are closin’ in
Call it what you like it’s time you got to win
Lonely, lonely, lonely your spirit’s sinkin’ down
You find you’re not the only stranger in this town

Red lights, green lights, stop and go jive
Headlines, deadlines jammin’ your mind
You been stealin’ shots from the side
Let your feeling’s go for a ride

There’s danger out tonight, the man is on the prowl
Get the dynamite, the boys are set to howl
Lonely is the night when you hear the voices call
Are you ready for a fight, do you wanna take it all?

Slowdown, showdown waitin’ on line
Show time, no time for changin’ your mind
Streets are ringin’, march to the sound
Let your secrets follow you down

Somebody’s watchin’ you baby, so much you can do
Nobody’s stoppin’ you baby, from makin’ it too
One glimpse’ll show you now baby, what the music can do
One kiss’ll show you now baby, it can happen to you

No more sleepin’, wastin’ our time
Midnight creepin’s, first on our minds
No more lazin’ ’round the TV
You’ll go crazy, come out with me

Feelin’ lonely
Lonely is the night
Feelin’ lonely
Lonely is the night
Lonely, lonely, lonely

Don Henley – The Heart Of The Matter

This is a very well written song. Mike Campbell wrote the music and produced this track. As a member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Mike writes tracks for many of Petty’s songs. He first collaborated with Henley in 1984 when he wrote and produced “The Boys of Summer,” which he came up with on a 4-track tape recorder in his house.

The song peaked at #21 in the Billboard 100 in 1990. Don Henley wrote the lyrics with J.D. Souther, who frequently collaborated with the Eagles. The song was included on the album The End of the Innocence which was a very good album. I was going through a breakup at the time and of course, this song I could relate to…this and about every Temptations song ever made.

Building The Perfect Beast and The End of the Innocence are two great solo albums by Henley…

From Songfacts

Campbell told us how this came together: “That was a couple of years later, by then I had upscaled my home studio to a 24-track. I cut the track at home and played it for him (Henley). He wrote some words, I think he got some help from J.D. Souther on some of the lyrics. He changed the key to fit his voice, then we went in and basically recreated the demo. I know he was especially proud of that one. He told me that lyric was something he had been trying to write for a long time and it finally came out the way he liked it, something he really wanted to sing. A lot of people like that song.”

Campbell played guitar on this and another track on the album, “The Last Worthless Evening.” Here’s our full Mike Campbell interview.

The song is about a man who finds out his former lover has found someone else, which is exactly what they were both going through at the time. In our interview with J.D. Souther, he explained: “At that particular moment it was an easy song for both of us to work on, because we had both, within the last year or so, broken up with our fiancées. We’d both been in love and engaged at the same time and both his relationship with his girl and me with mine ended in the same few months. And it’s pretty much what the song says, they had both taken up with somebody else. And that’s not easy to hear, but at the time it made a good source material for that song, because it seemed to be really universal and it seemed the only way to really survive your first reaction to hearing news like that or having those kind of feelings is to remember that the first person to benefit from forgiveness is the one who does the forgiving. And, actually, that was Don’s idea. I have to give him full credit for that forgiveness theme. The first time he sang that forgiveness chorus over and over to me, I didn’t get it. Kind of went, ‘Yeah, I guess.’ And then it sort of sunk it that it was exactly the point of the song.”

The line “The flesh will get weak and the ashes will scatter” is a biblical reference, coming from Matthew 26:41: “The spirit is willing enough, but the flesh is weak.”

India.Arie recorded this in 2006 on her album Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship; her version hit #79 in the UK and #33 in Canada.

What are those voices outside love’s open door
Make us throw off our contentment
And beg for something more?

Lorde, who went through a big Don Henley phase before recording her second album, called this, “the most incredible f–king question of the universe.”

The Heart Of The Matter

I got the call today, I didn’t want to hear
But I knew that it would come
An old, true friend of ours was talkin’ on the phone
She said you found someone
And I thought of all the bad luck
And the struggles we went through
And how I lost me and you lost you
What are those voices outside love’s open door
Make us throw off our contentment
And beg for something more?

I’m learning to live without you now
But I miss you sometimes
The more I know, the less I understand,
All the things I thought I knew, I’m learning again
I’ve been tryin’ to get down
To the heart of the matter
But my will gets weak
And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it’s about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if you don’t love me anymore

These times are so uncertain
There’s a yearning undefined
People filled with rage
We all need a little tenderness
How can love survive in such a graceless age?
Ah, the trust and self-assurance that lead to happiness
They’re the very things we kill, I guess
Oh, pride and competition
Cannot fill these empty arms
And the work I put between us, you know it doesn’t keep me warm

I’m learning to live with out you now
But I miss you, baby
And the more I know, the less I understand
All the things I thought I’d figured out
I have to learn again
I’ve been trying to get down
To the heart of the matter
But everything changes
And my friends seem to scatter
But I think it’s about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if you don’t love me anymore

There are people in your life
Who’ve come and gone
They let you down
You know they’ve hurt your pride
You better put it all behind you baby
‘Cause life goes on
You keep carryin’ that anger
It’ll eat you up inside baby

I’ve been trying to get down
To the heart of the matter
But my will gets weak
And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it’s about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if you don’t love me

I’ve been tryin’ to get down
To the heart of the matter
Because the flesh will get weak
And the ashes will scatter
So, I’m thinkin’ about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if , even if you don’t love me

Forgiveness, forgiveness, baby
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Even if, even if you don’t love me
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Forgiveness, forgiveness

John Kilzer – Memory in the Making

I was never into 80’s rock ballads but this one I liked. Maybe it was because of when I heard it, I don’t know. Kilzer released an album in 1988 “Memory in the Making” and the album contained some minor hits such as Green, Yellow, and Red, Red Blue Jeans, and Memory in the Making.

The album charted at #110 in the Billboard album charts in 1988. This song didn’t chart but got a lot of local airplay where I live. This is the only album that made it to the Billboard 200.

John Kilzer grew up in Jackson, Tennessee as a 6-foot-6-inches tall high school all American basketball standout, played for the  Memphis to play for the Tigers from 1975-1978. He traded the complimentary tickets players receive with Mabon “Teenie” Hodges, author of the hit “Take Me to the River” in exchange for guitar lessons.

He passed away last month.

Memory in the Making

Throwing roses at the moon
Overdosing on perfume
That arises from your picture
An inviolate fixture
This is more than I expected
It’s as though I have erected
A mausoleum for my heart babe
I’ve reserved the best part babe
It’s a memory in the making
It’s a power that’s taking
Control of my soul girl
Now there’s nowhere left to go girl

Guess it only stands to reason
There’s a time and a season
A place and purpose
I guess that verse don’t include us
And it only goes to show you
You’re just a ghost in a castle
That’s my destiny to wrestle
It’s a memory in the making
It’s a power that’s taking
Control of my soul girl
Now I’m in danger of the dark girl
Like my mama always said boy
You can sleep when you’re dead boy
But all I really want to do girl
Is close my eyes and dream of you girl

Throwing roses at the moon
Overdosing on perfume
That arises from your pillow
How much further down love go

George Harrison – Devil’s Radio

This song was not a big hit but it was one of my favorites off of his “comeback” album Cloud Nine in the 1980s. The song is pure George. He always valued his privacy and in this song, he made it clear he detested gossip in any way.

“Devil’s Radio” was inspired by a church billboard Harrison had seen that stated “Gossip: The Devil’s Radio…Don’t Be a Broadcaster.” The song did peak at #4 in Billboard Mainstream Chart Rock charts. The Cloud Nine album peaked at #8 in the Billboard Album Charts.

Even when George was young he didn’t like people knowing his business. As his mom would recall, “George was always against nosy mothers, and he used to hate all the neighbors who stood around gossiping.”

Devil’s Radio

Gossip, gossip
Gossip, gossip

I heard it in the night
Words that thoughtless speak
Like vultures swooping down below
On the devil’s radio

I hear it through the day
Airwaves gettin’ filled
With gossip broadcast to and fro
On the devil’s radio

Oh yeah, gossip
Gossip, oh yeah

He’s in the clubs and bars
And never turns it down
Talking about what he don’t know
On the devil’s radio

He’s in your TV set
Won’t give it a rest
That soul betraying so and so
The devil’s radio

Gossip, gossip
Gossip, gossip
(Oh yeah) gossip, (gossip) oh yeah
(Gossip) oh yeah, (oh yeah) gossip

It’s white and black like industrial waste
Pollution of the highest degree
You wonder why I don’t hang out much
I wonder how you can’t see

He’s in the films and songs
And on all your magazines
It’s everywhere that you may go
The devil’s radio

Oh yeah, gossip
Gossip, oh yeah

Runs thick and fast, no one really sees
Quite what bad it can do
As it shapes you into something cold
Like an Eskimo igloo

It’s all across our lives
Like a weed it’s spread
’till nothing else has space to grow
The devil’s radio

Can creep up in the dark
Make us hide behind shades
And buzzing like a dynamo
The devil’s radio

oh yeah
(Gossip) gossip, (gossip) gossip
Oh yeah, gossip I heard you on the secret wireless
Gossip, oh yeah You know the devil’s radio, child
Gossip, gossip
Gossip, gossip

Two Prostitutes, a Pimp, and a VCR

This is when I learned… if it sounds too good to be true…it is.

This story is so embarrassing I cringe when I think about it. I told a friend I was going to make a post about it and he asked me…are you really going to tell people you were that stupid for a day? It’s not what you think by the title. I’m not a naive person…in fact, I can be cynical at times but…  this incident was undoubtedly the most naive moment in my life. Things started to happen and before I knew it…it was out of control. This, unfortunately, is not a made up story. I was raised right and if I would have practiced what I was taught…none of this would have happened…but it was a valuable lesson…

When I was 18 I was working in Nashville on Murfreesboro Road at a company that sold printers and copiers. I was making a grand total of 3.25 an hour. I would go to lunch and stop at a gas station somedays to get a paper. I met this guy there and he said he had a VCR he wanted to sell for 60 dollars. I’d seen him there before there…He seemed a bit shady…back in 1985 a VCR for 60 bucks was a great price. I wasn’t thinking morals at that time,  like if it was stolen or whatever.

Stupid me… I said sure I would love to buy it…he said to follow him to a house so I did and we went in and I gave him the money…I know I know…but I did. There were a few people there but he went into another room and came out. He then said the VCR was somewhere else…after that, he asked if I could take him to a place a few miles away because his car was acting up. Bells were going off in my head at this point but… I was thinking of that VCR…so I said sure let’s go. Out comes a young woman in spandex and she went with us. I dropped the two of them off at some kind of business. A few minutes later, out they come and now there was an extra woman in spandex plus this guy. He wanted me to drop them off somewhere else to get the VCR since it had been “moved”…

By this time I was angry, embarrassed and I knew I had been not only had…but had good…and was thinking of a way out…I was scared of the cops stopping me with this crew in my car. I told him I wanted the money back and he admitted he had to give it to someone from the first house but the “girls” were going to make the money back so I would have it. I then took the trio to a destination and I said the hell with this when thoughts of shootings and cops flashed in my head…I dropped them off and they told me to wait and I took off.

A month or so later I went back to the gas station and there he was… I saw him there and I yelled at him “Hey want to buy a VCR for 60 bucks?” as I was walking toward him…he jumped in a car and took off and I never saw him again.

60 dollars for a life lesson is not bad.

I later saved up (what a concept!)…and bought a VCR for around $150…well add the 60 I lost and that would be $210.

My friends have never let me live this down…which if it would have happened to them I would not have either.

Again if it sounds too good to be true…it is.