Singles – Page 96 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Lloyd Cole and the Commotions – Lost Weekend

I like this bouncy story song by Lloyd Cole. His hiccupping style of singing is appealing. I first posted a song by Cole and his Commotions back in June and I’ve been listening to them ever since.

This song was on their album Easy Pieces released in 1985. This band was a success in the UK but didn’t do much in America.

Easy Pieces would enter the UK album charts at number five, and sold over one-hundred thousand copies within a month. Two successful singles were taken from the album. Brand New Friend reached number nineteen and Lost Weekend reached number seventeen.

They released three studio albums total and all were successful. Rattlesnakes in 1984, Easy Pieces in 1985, and Mainstream in 1987. All were in the top twenty in the UK. In 1989, the band decided to break up and released a best of compilation, 1984-1989.

Lost Weekend

It took a lost weekend in a hotel in Amsterdam
And double pneumonia in a single room
And the sickest joke was the price of the medicine
Are you laughing at me now?
May I please laugh along with you?

This morning I woke up from a deep, unquiet sleep
With ashtray clothes and this lonely heart’s pen
With which I wrote for you a love song in tattoo upon my palm
‘Twas stolen from me when Jesus took my hand

You see I, I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it
Drop me and I’ll fall to pieces
So easily

I was a king bee with a head full of attitude
Wore my heart on my sleeve like a stain
And my aim was taboo, you
Could we meet in the marketplace?
Did I ever hey please, did you wound my knees?

You see I, I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it
Drop me, and I’ll fall to pieces
Yeah too easily

There’s nobody else to blame
I hang my head in a crying shame
There is nobody else to blame
Nobody else except my sweet self

It took a lost weekend in a hotel in Amsterdam
Twenty four gone years to conclude in tears
And the sickest joke was the price of the medicine
Are you laughing at me now?
May I please laugh along?

I was a king bee with a head full of attitude
An ashtray heart on my sleeve, wounded knees
And my one love song was a tattoo upon my palm
You wrote upon me when you took my hand

You see I, I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it
Drop me and I’ll fall to pieces too easily
Too easily
Too easily

Joe Walsh – Space Age Whiz Kids

I was a sophomore in high school when this was released. I was surprised because it was a big departure from what we were accustomed to from Joe Walsh. To my surprise this was the last song of Joe Walsh to chart in the Billboard 100. It peaked at #52 and #21 in the Mainstream Rock Charts.

Space Age Whiz Kids was released in 1983 as a lead single from his sixth studio solo album, You Bought It – You Name It. Something about Joe Walsh, he had some of the best names for albums ever.

The video is classic as Walsh jumps from the pinball era to the video game era with his mocking of the stereotypical kids who played games featured in the video like Donkey Kong and Pac Man at the time.

The album peaked at #48 in the Billboard Album Charts. The album contains rock songs such as “I Can Play That Rock & Roll” and a cover of the Dick Haymes track, “Love Letters”.

Space Age Whiz Kids

I used to play that pinball, I used to go outside
I had to spend my money, get on your bus and ride
I used to go out dancing, put on my high-heeled shoes
Get in my short black chevy, go on a downtown cruise
I feel a little bit mixed up, maybe I’m obsolete
All us pinball pool sharks, we just can’t compete

Space age whiz kids kids
Leaders in the field
Pioneers of research
Space age whiz kids

Arcade mothership monsters, laserbeam blastshield eyes
Full on space age madness, make-believe satellite skies
Alien ships approaching, there’s trouble in sector five
Left hand on the joystick, right hand hyperspace drive

Space age whiz kids kids, Space age whiz kids

Space age whiz kids kids, Space age whiz kids
Space age whiz kids
Space age whiz kids
Space age whiz kids
Space age whiz kids

They got nothing to do, put another quarter in
Pay those space age dues
Donkey Kong high score, Pac Man’s on a roll
Klingons on the warpath, whiz kids on patrol

Space age whiz kids, Space age whiz kids
Space age whiz kids, Space age whiz kids
Space age whiz kids, Space age whiz kids
Space age whiz kids, Space age whiz kids
I like space age whiz kids
I like…I need…I need quarters…quarters!
Give me quarters! I like quarters!

Pogues – If I Should Fall from Grace With God….80’s Underground Mondays

This great song is listed under Celtic Punk. This song was on an album with the same name released in 1988. Its been called the Pogues best album and it peaked at #3 in the UK and #4 in New Zealand in 1988. This song was was originally recorded for the “Straight Too Hell” soundtrack

This is such pure music and I’m a sucker for a well placed accordion.

The Pogues formed in Ireland in 1982 by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left because of drinking problems and was replaced for a time with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before breaking up in 1996.

They reformed with MacGowan in 2001 and are still together and playing. The band was awarded the life-time achievement award at the annual Meteor Ireland Music Awards in February 2006.

If I Should Fall From Grace with God

If I should fall from grace with god
Where no doctor can relieve me
If I’m buried ‘neath the sod
But the angels won’t receive me

Let me go boys
Let me go boys
Let me go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry

This land was always ours
Was the proud land of our fathers
It belongs to us and them
Not to any of the others

Let them go boys
Let them go boys
Let them go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry

Bury me at sea
Where no murdered ghost can haunt me
If I rock upon the waves
No corpse can lie upon me

It’s coming up three boys
Keeps coming up three boys
Let them go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry

If I should fall from grace with god
Where no doctor can relieve me
If I’m buried ‘neath the sod
And still the angels won’t receive me

Let me go boys
Let me go boys
Let me go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry

Rascals – I’ve Been Lonely Too Long

What a great band! I could almost leave it at that and post the song. They were technically the Young Rascals when this song came out of AM radios in the sixties. They were never really an album band but more of a super singles band. The dropped the “young” in 1968 and continued having hits.

The Rascals rose to prominence playing rhythm and blues and soul music. Their 1966 cover of the Rudy Clark and Artie Resnick song…Good Lovin went to the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart. They had the majority of their hits between 1966-1968.

They had nine top 20 hits and thirteen top 40 hits…they also had three number 1 hits and a total of 18 songs in the Billboard 100 before they disbanded in 1972. This song was written by Felix Cavaliere and Eddie Brigati.

This song was known as I’ve Been Lonely Too Long and Lonely Too Long…it peaked at #16 in the Billboard 100 and #7 in Canada. It was released on January 16, 1967.

They went on to have more hits with “Groovin,” “People Got to Be Free,” “How Can I Be Sure?” and “A Beautiful Morning” before disbanding in 1972.

I’ve Been Lonely Too Long

I’ve been lonely too long, I’ve been lonely too long
In the past it’s come and gone, I feel like I can’t go on without love
I’ve been lonely too long (he’s been lonely too long)
I’ve been lonely too long (he’s been lonely)

As I look back
I can see me lost and searching
Now I find that I can choose, I’m free, oh yeah
So funny I just have to laugh
All my troubles been torn in half
I been lonely too long (he’s been lonely too long)
Lonely too long (he’s been lonely)

In the past it’s come and gone
I feel like I can’t go on without love
(Lonely) lonely too long
I’ve been lonely too long (he’s been lonely)

Just see me now
Makes it worth the time I’ve waited
She was all I need to make me see, oh yeah
I keep hopin’ with all my mind
Everything gonna turn out right
I’ve been lonely too long (he’s been lonely too long)
I’ve been lonely too long (he’s been lonely)

Now look at me
Gliding through this world of beauty
Everything I do brings ecstasy, oh yeah
No wonder I could die
I feel like I’m ’bout ten miles high
I’ve been lonely too long (he’s been lonely too long)
Lonely too long (he’s been lonely)

Found myself somebody (he’s been lonely)
Don’t have to be alone no more (he’s been lonely, he’s been lonely)
Don’t have to alone no more, no more (he’s been lonely, he’s been lonely)

Emitt Rhodes – Long Time No See…. Power Pop Friday

It’s a shame this guy didn’t get the recognition he should have. He was obviously influenced by the Beatles and Paul McCartney especially.

Emitt was turned down by A&M Records so he built a studio in his parents garage. Rhodes recorded his first album (Emitt Rhodes) in that studio. ABC/Dunhill Records signed him and they released his album as well as the next three albums he recorded.

He played all the instruments himself and recorded on a four track tape machine. ABC/Dunhill then transferred the tapes to 8 track and Emitt redone all of his vocals.

This song is on his debut album Emitt Rhodes and every song is quality. The first single Fresh as a Daisy peaked at #54 in the Billboard 100 while his album Emitt Rhodes peaked at #29 in 1970.

The album was a critical success – Billboard called Rhodes “one of the finest artists on the music scene today” and later called his first album one of the “best albums of the decade“.

Unfortunately Emitt passed away in 2020 in his sleep.

From Wiki: Italian director Cosimo Messeri shot a documentary movie about Emitt Rhodes’s vicissitudes: life, past, present, troubles and hopes. The movie, titled The One Man Beatles, was selected for the International Rome Film Festival 2009, and it received standing ovations. In 2010 The One Man Beatles was nominated for David di Donatello Award as Best Documentary of 2010. Its US premiere screening was scheduled for May 29, 2010, at the Rhino Records Pop Up Store in Westwood, California.

Long Time No See

It’s been a long time, I remember you well
It’s been a long time no see, where you been keeping yourself?

You’ve been staying all alone when you should be playing
Been feeling all alone when you should be praying
It’s been a long time no see.

It’s been a rough road to ride, says the sun in the West
It’s been hard but I get by with a moment to rest.

Been thinking all the time that things will get better
And living all alone can’t make me much sadder
It’s been hard but I’ll get by.

Oh oh oh oh, yeah
Oooh…

It’s been a long time, I remember you well
It’s been a long time no see, where you been keeping yourself?

You’ve been staying all alone when you should be playing
Been feeling all alone when you should be praying
It’s been a long time no see.

Oh oh oh oh, yeah
Oooh…

Beatles – This Boy

When I hear this song, it reminds me of just how great the Beatles were at songwriting and harmonizing. My all time favorite rock singers includes John Lennon…this song demonstrates why. His voice could cut through anything and is always sharp…and has been widely imitated but it wasn’t liked by John himself who notoriously wanted it covered up on recordings.

The song was on Meet The Beatles…the first Beatle album I ever listened to. The vocals were a three part harmony sung by Harrison, Lennon and McCartney. The song was written by Lennon and McCartney.

This was the first Beatles composition that was commented on by a music critic. William Mann wrote in The London Times December 27, 1963, that the song had “pandiatonic clusters.” Musicians and parents who knew something about music knew there was something more than just hair with this band. The songs they were hearing were more sophisticated than the regular pop songs at the time.

Capitol of Canada released a couple of unique singles of their own creation in early 1964 to capitalize on the success of Beatlemania in that country. The second of which was “All My Loving” paired with “This Boy” as its flip side.

The song peaked at #1 in Canada and #53 in the Billboard 100.

John Lennon: “Just my attempt at writing one of those three-part harmony Smokey Robinson songs,”

From Songfacts

John Lennon wrote this song. One of his early compositions, it is seemingly simple, but very clever. The song contains only a few notes, but the space between the notes is filled by the arrangements. It’s the same technique you hear in Liszt’s “Liebestraum,” the piano piece in Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze and in Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata.”

George Harrison: “It was John (Lennon) trying to do Smokey (Robinson).”

The Beatles performed this on their second Ed Sullivan Show appearance – Feb 16, 1964. They played six songs on the show that night, and this provided a slow change of pace from the uptempo songs like “She Loves You” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” The Beatles were just beginning their breakthrough in America and got a huge audience from the show.

This was used in Ringo’s big scene in The Beatles movie A Hard Day’s Night. The version used in the film is an instrumental renamed “Ringo’s Theme (This Boy),” and without any harmony singing.

This was one of the first songs on which The Beatles used a 4-track recorder.

Artists to cover this song include Tom Baxter, David Bowie, Sean Lennon, George Martin, Delbert McClinton and The Nylons

George taking a stroll down memory lane:

This Boy

That boy
Took my love away
Though he’ll regret it someday
But this boy wants you back again

That boy
Isn’t good for you
Though he may want you, too
This boy wants you back again

Oh, and this boy would be happy
Just to love you, but oh my
That boy won’t be happy
‘Til he’s seen you cry

This boy
Wouldn’t mind the pain
Would always feel the same
If this boy gets you back again

This boy, this boy, this boy

…

Santo and Johnny – Sleep Walk

This is my fifth song pick for Hanspostcard’s song draft. Santo and Johnny Sleep Walk.

I have always liked and admired good instrumentals. I look at them the same way I look at the great silent movies of the early 20th century. They have to get across what they want to say without dialog. That is not easy to do but when they succeed…they are great. When I hear Sleep Walk it’s like hearing a dream set to music…haunting and beautiful at the same time.

Lyrics would not do this song justice…it says all it needs to say.

I first heard it on the movie La Bamba and I never grew tired of it. Unlike other soundtrack songs…I don’t think of the movie when I listen to this one. It’s on it’s own little island.

I like many instrumentals but this one is probably my favorite. It sets a mood like no other. It was written and performed by Santo and Johnny Farina in 1959. It peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100 and #22 in the UK Charts.

Badfinger – Lost Inside Your Love

I haven’t posted a Badfinger song in a while…and this is the first one I’ll post that came after Pete Ham passed away. Pete Ham was the principle songwriter but Joey Molland and Tom Evans were no slouches. This edition included Tony Kaye, formally of Yes.

This song is slow but the melody is fantastic. This song was long after Pete Ham was gone from the band in 1975. This song was written by bass player Tom Evans. In 1977 the guitar player Joey Molland and Evans started the band back after the death of Ham.

They were signed by Electra Records and released an album called Airwaves. I remember when I was around 11 I saw this in a cutout bin…I bought it because I’d read so much about them from Beatle books. It’s a good album considering there is no Pete Ham

The album flopped, only hitting #125 in America. “Lost Inside You Love”, however, was selected to be the album’s first single release. Backed with the Joey Molland-written track “Come Down Hard”, the song, like the album, was not successful, not charting in America or Britain. Another single followed named “Love Is Gonna Come at Last”, that same year which got some radio play.

In 1983, after a dispute with former bandmate Joey Molland over royalties for the song “Without You”, Tom Evans hanged himself in his garden only eight years after Pete Ham did the same.

Lost Inside Your Love

What can I say, what can I do?
All of my life I’ve been a victim of you
What can I say or do?
Lost inside your love

What can it be, who can I see?
All of your life you’ve been the winner in me
What can I say or do?
Lost inside your love

Is it any wonder there’s no reason why?
Is it all because I left it open wide for your pride
To leave me one more time
Are you leaving me one more time?

[guitar solo (Joey Molland)]

What can I say, what can I do?
All of my life I’ve been a winner with you
What can I say or do?
Lost inside your love
Lost inside your love
Lost inside your love.

LOST INSIDE YOUR LOVE [solo demo version] (Tom Evans)
What can I say, what can I do?
All of my life I’ve been a victim of you
What can I say or do?
I’m lost inside your love

What can it be, who can I see?
All of my life you’ve been the loser in me
What can I say or do?
I’m lost inside your love

Is it any wonder there’s no reason why?
Is it all because I left it open wide for your pride
To lose me once again
Am I losing you once again?

What can I say, what can I do?
All of my life I’ve been a loser with you
What can I say or do?
I’m lost inside your love
Lost inside your love
Lost inside your love.

John’s Children – Desdemona

Marc Bolan didn’t appear on John’s Children’s first album Orgasm album released in 1967…he did join after the album was completed…although he did write, play guitar and sing the backing vocals on this song.

The song failed to chart in Britain, possibly due to the fact it was banned by the BBC for the lyric “lift up your skirt and fly.” However, the song was a minor hit in Europe. The band consisted of Andy Ellison on vocals, John Hewlett on guitar and bass, Geoff McLelland on guitar and Chris Townson on drums. The band started as The Few in Surrey in 1964.

Marc Bolan joined the group for a time as their principal singer and songwriter as well as several unreleased cuts that have surfaced on reissues. Bolan departed in an argument with Napier-Bell (producer), and the group released a couple more flop singles before disbanding in 1968.

They had promise…not a bad sounding mid-sixties mod band.

Some ex-members of John’s Children were involved with the obscure British groups Jook, Jet, and Radio Stars in the ’70s.

Desdemona

Desdemona just because
You’re the daughter of a man
He may be rich he’s in a ditch
He does not understand
Just how to move or rock and roll
To the conventions of the young

Desdemona, Desdemona
Desdemona Desdemona
Desdemona, Desdemona

Lift up your skirt and fly
Just because my friend and I
Got a jute joint by the Seine
Does not mean I’m past fourteen
And cannot play the game
I’m glad I split and got a pad
On Boulevard Rue Fourteen

Desdemona, Desdemona
Desdemona Desdemona
Desdemona, Desdemona

Lift Up your skirt and fly
Just because Toulouse Lautrec
Painted some chick in the rude
Doesn’t give you the right
To steal my night
And leave me naked in the nude
Well just because the touch of your hand
Can turn me on just like a stick

Desdemona, Desdemona
Desdemona Desdemona
Desdemona, Desdemona
Lift up your skirt and speak

Barracudas – We’re Living In Violent Times

This 80s band started off as a surf band and then they switched to a more garage band sound. The song has a 1960s feel…it would be expected from a band who had a song called (I Wish It Could Be) 1965 Again.

The Barracudas are an English-Canadian band that formed in 1978 when Robin Wills (from London) met Jeremy Gluck (from Ottawa) and they are now based in England. The band’s original line-up consisted of Jeremy Gluck (vocals), Robin Wills (guitar and vocals), Starkie Phillips (bass and vocals) and Adam Phillips (drums).

The band broke up in 1984 but reformed in 1989. In 2005 they released their back catalog and that provided a boost to their career. They started to release singles and an album in 2014. They ended up with more compilations albums than regular releases.

This song was released in 1981 on their debut album Drop Out.

There was also a sixties band with the same name.

Jeremy Gluck: Radio was an enormous influence. You can’t imagine now how important it was then, it would seem sentimental to get into it. There were some good local stations, like CFRA, that played the Top 40 – I remember calling them like crazy in hope of my “Bang-a-Gong” request hitting paydirt. But the best was on FM. The night my top FM DJ played all of ‘Quadrophenia’ days before its release was one of many highlights. At night through the crystal clear winter skies I could tune in dozens of American stations, and discovered a lot of music and madness that way. Radio is magic: the first time I heard a record of mine on radio (John Peel show!), it was an epiphany.

Jeremy Gluck is the author and founder of the Nonceptualism art manifesto…yea don’t ask me but he described it.

“Nonceptualism is about the (an) end to art, and the end of the idea of an artist in self-concept and conception and execution of work, as we and consider it…but maybe it’s also my way of saying, It’s about an end to some or all of me as I’ve conceived myself since conditioning began – as it does with all of us – not long after birth. Which I like…”

We’re Living In Violent Times

Stayed in all day
I was scared of getting killed
Didn’t pick up my pay
I know I’ll just get bills
Maybe it’s all in my frozen mind
We’re living in violent times
Maybe it’s in my mind
We’re living in violent times
Took the news off the TV
It always depresses me
Put my new car in the garage
I’m so scared of a crash
I couldn’t wait to turn off the lights
We’re living in violent times
I tell ya
We’re living in violent times
Protested
Guess I should look at the bright side
And be glad just to be alive
I’ll be happy right now
If I come through this and survive
I’m not imagining this I see the signs
We’re living in violent times

Slade – Get Down And Get With It

Noddy’s voice in this song is a perfect example of why AC/DC supposedly asked him to replace Bon Scott in 1980.

When they decided to record it, at Olympic Studios, they did so with a live feel, setting up the microphones in the stairwell outside which gave the echo for hand clapping and stamping. Most DJs wouldn’t play it because they thought it was too rowdy, but a few did, including John Peel.

The song was written by Bobby Marchan and he released it in 1964. Little Richard covered it and released it in 1967. Slade heard the Little Richard version and based their recording off of his. Little Richard was given the writer’s credit, then they were sued by the real writer, Bobby Marchan. Slade’s record company, Polydor, sorted out the mess.

It peaked at #16 in the UK in 1971.

From Songfacts

Slade ended their live set with “Get Down And Get With It” for nearly two years; in his autobiography, band member Noddy Holder said it was a Little Richard cover in 12-bar format, but “had something magical about it”; the original was all piano and sax, but they did it with guitars.

It peaked at #16, and earned them an appearance on Top Of The Pops.

When the sheet music was published by Burlington Music at 20p, it was credited correctly to Marchan, copyright 1965 by Tree Publishing of Nashville. The full title was given as “GET DOWN AND GET WITH IT (GET DOWN WITH IT).”

Get Down and Get With It

All right everybody
Let your head down
I want to say everybody get on of your seat
Clap your hand and step your feet
*Get down and get with it
I said*
Do the turns
Come on baby
I’m going to watch everybody work
I said come on baby
Watch everybody do the dance
(*repeat)
It’s been a long long time
Yeah,yeah,yeah
I’m going to watch everybody go around
I said (*repeat) baby
Watch everybody make some time

(* repeat)
It’s alright
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Ma ma ma ma…..
Baby it’s alright
Ma ma ma ma ma ma

Everybody raise both of your hand in the air
Everybody, everybody
I said clap your hands
Everybody clap your hands
Yeah,yeah,yeah
Ma ma ma ma
Everybody clap your hands ma ma ma…
I want to see everybody get your boots on
Everybody everywhere
I said step your feet
Come on and step Your feet Yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Ma ma ma ma…
Everybody step your feet
Ma ma ma ma…
I want to say everybody get above your seats
Clap your hands and step your feet
Make it

(* repeat)
I said (*repeat)
I said (*repeat) baby
Yeah,yeah,yeah
Ma ma ma ma
I said come on baby, ma ma ma ma…
I said step your feet and do the thing baby
Yeah,yeah,yeah
Ma ma ma ma…
Everybody step your feet baby
I said ma ma ma ma
Yeah…
I said (*repeat) now
Yeah,yeah,yeah
Ma…..
(*repeat) baby
Ma…..

I want everubody to say their feels
All right

Fuzztones – Bad News Travels Fast

This song rocks… The riff sounds like it was borrowed from Jethro Tull’s “Locomotive Breath” but he goes somewhere else with it.

This was the debut single of the Fuzztones in 1984. The band was formed in 1980 by Rudi Protrudi in New York. The band was nicknamed “The Gurus of Garage Grunge.” a decade before grunge existed. They played a large role in the mostly underground ’60s revival during the 1980s.

Their debut studio LP, Lysergic Emanations, was released in 1985. Thanks to praise from Ian Astbury of the Cult… the newly relocated Los Angeles-based Fuzztones were one of the few to get a major label deal. Thanks to a hugely successful tour of Europe in 1985, the group built a loyal and dedicated fan base there, and they toured there regularly ever since.

The band broke up in 1987 but Rudi Protrudi recruited other members to form a new Fuzztones and they have touring and releasing albums ever since…with Rudi being the only original member.

According to Discogs they have released over 21 studio and live albums between 1984 through 2020.

Bad News Travel Fast

Well I got somethin’ to say girl
I hope you’re listenin’ close
‘Cause here’s one fish you caught that’s
Slippery than most
Baby You’re just a schoolgirl
Well here’s a lesson you can use
All the other women
Say that I’m Bad News
You’re not the first
You won’t be the last
Bad News Travels Fast

Well you’re friends they all warned you
My heart is black as coal
So if you wanna ride my highway baby
You gotta pay the toll
You know I’m bad
That’s where it’s at
Bad News Travels Fast
Well, don’t you try to change me
I’ll just string you along
Sit back and enjoy the ride
Tomorrow I’ll be gone

Baby you’re just a schoolgirl
Here’s a lesson you should learn
If you want my lovin’, baby
You gotta wait your turn
Well You’re not the first
You won’t be the last
Bad News Travels Fast
Bad News Travels Fast
Bad News Travels Fast

Pixies – Here Comes Your Man ….80’s Underground Mondays

Thanks to Dave at A Sound Day for bringing this song back up to me a few months ago. That 12 string caught my ear right away.

Songwriter and guitarist Black Francis (Charles Thompson IV), he called this song “Hobo film noir.” He said the song was about hobos traveling by train and dying in a big earthquake in California. He started writing it when he was about 15 and was inspired by small earthquakes experienced growing up in California.

This was probably their most popular song, getting lots of airplay on college radio stations. They couldn’t be bothered promoting it but it did well on the alternative charts.

This song was released in 1989 and it was on the album Doolittle. It peaked at #3 in the Alternate Charts and #54 in the UK.

The band broke up in 1993 and reunited in 2004.

Black Francis: “This is a pre-Pixies song that I wrote when I was about 15. It’s about winos and hobos travelling on the trains who dies in the California earthquake. Before earthquakes everything gets very calm, animals stop talking and birds stop chirping and there’s no wind. It’s very ominous. I’ve been through a few earthquakes actually ‘cos I grew up in California. I was only in one big one in 1971. I was very young and I slept through it. I’ve been awake through lots of small ones at school and at home. It’s very exciting actually, a very comical thing. It’s like the earth is shaking, and what can you do? Nothing.”

From Songfacts

The Pixies included this song on their first demo when they set out to get a record deal. Once they were signed, Frank Black had no intention of recording the song, and didn’t until their third album, Doolittle. “People have been telling us to record it ever since so we finally did,” he said.

This became a concert favorite for the Pixies after they reunited in 2004 (they broke up in 1993), but when it first came out, Frank Black had no intention of playing it. “The poppiest song on Doolittle, which we couldn’t even play live if we tried, is ‘Here Comes Your Man,'” he told The Catalogue in 1989. “We would never play that song live; we’re too far removed from it. It’s too wimpy-poppy.”

Joey Santiago played a 12-string Rickenbacker to get the jangly guitar sound on this track.

Here Comes Your Man

Outside there’s a box car waiting
Outside the family stew
Out by the fire breathing
Outside we wait ’til face turns blue

I know the nervous walking
I know the dirty beard hangs
Out by the box car waiting
Take me away to nowhere plains

There is a wait so long
You’ll never wait so long

Here comes your man
Here comes your man
Here comes your man

Big shake on the box car moving
Big shake to the land that’s falling down
Is a wind makes a palm stop blowing
A big, big stone fall and break my crown

There is a wait so long
You’ll never wait so long

Here comes your man
Here comes your man
Here comes your man
Here comes your man

There is a wait so long
You’ll never wait so long

Here comes your man
Here comes your man
Here comes your man
Here comes your man

Here comes your man

Jan and Dean – Surf City

You know we’re going to Surf City ’cause it’s two to one, now…Two girls for every boy”

It’s time to mix it up a little before Fall arrives and think about summer and fun. This will wrap up the surfing weekend at powerpop…it’s been fun to feature these surfing songs and they will occasionally pop up here and there. I know people who look down upon songs like this…What do I tell them? Lighten up Moondog and catch a wave while you are at it.

As I said in a previous post…When I was a senior in High School…1985… for some unknown reason I really got into surf music at the beginning of the year. I listened to Jan and Dean, the Beach Boys, Dick Dale, Link Wray, and The Ventures. I loved those songs then and now.

I remember watching Dead Man’s Curve when I was a kid about Jan and Dean and the terrible car wreck Jan Berry was involved in.

This song was written by Brian Wilson and he didn’t think he would ever finish it. Jan met him at a party and helped Brian finish the song. Dean also contributed some lines but never asked for any writing credits. “Two girls for every boy”…what teenage boy didn’t want to go there for a visit. It was the first surf record to hit #1 nationally.

Brian Wilson’s controlling dad Murry was furious at Brian for giving away a number 1 hit to someone else. Brian was happy that another group took his song and made a hit with it.

Surf music is bout fun… The Beach Boys expanded surf music and then left it with Pet Sounds. By that time Surf purists didn’t like it. They wanted the old formula songs… I wasn’t a purist…I like them all.

Surf City

Two girls for every boy

I bought a ’34 wagon and we call it a woodie
(Surf City, here we come)
You know it’s not very cherry, it’s an oldie but a goodie
(Surf City, here we come)
Well, it ain’t got a back seat or a rear window
But it still gets me where I wanna go

Yeah, we’re going to Surf City ’cause it’s two to one
You know we’re going to Surf City, gonna have some fun
You know we’re going to Surf City ’cause it’s two to one
You know we’re going to Surf City, gonna have some fun, now

Two girls for every boy

They say they never roll the streets up ’cause there’s always somethin’ goin’
(Surf City, here we come)
You know they’re either out surfin’ or they’ve got a party growin’
(Surf City, here we come)
Yeah, there’s two swingin’ honeys for every guy
And all you gotta do is just wink your eye

And I’m going to Surf City, gonna have some fun, now
Going to Surf City ’cause it’s two to one
You know we’re going to Surf City, gonna have some fun
You know we’re going to Surf City ’cause it’s two to one, now

Two girls for every boy

And if my woodie breaks down on me somewhere on the surf route
(Surf City, here we come)
I’ll strap my board to my back and hitch a ride in my wetsuit
(Surf City, here we come)
And when I get to Surf City, I’ll be shootin’ the curl
And checkin’ out the parties for a surfer girl

And I’m going to Surf City ’cause it’s two to one
You know, we’re going to Surf City, gonna have some fun
You know, we’re going to Surf City ’cause it’s two to one
You know, we’re going to Surf City, gonna have some fun, now

Two girls for every
Two girls for every boy

Dick Dale – Miserlou

I thought I would continue with the surfing theme of the Beach Boys song yesterday.

Love the beginning to this song…the twangy guitar that Dale plays like a rubber band. When I heard this song in the beginning of Pulp Fiction I knew I was going to enjoy the movie. Miserlou being used in the movie helped revive his career all over the world.

The song is a traditional Mediterranean song dating to the 1920s and originating in Greece. Dick Dale then reworked and beat the song over the head to his surf rock tone and sound…and it works perfectly.

In March 2005, Q magazine placed Dale’s version at number 89 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.

This song was released in 1962.

Dick Dale: “The sound is a Stratocaster guitar. It’s the solidity of the wood – the thicker the wood, the bigger and purer the sound. It was a Strat. Not the Jaguar, not the Jazzmaster, all these things we created later, for different reasons. Even the reverb – reverb had nothing to do with the surfing sound, and here they got ’em on the cover going ‘That’s the wet, splashy sound of reverb.’ No! We created the reverb because Dick Dale did not have a natural vibrato on his voice. I wanted to sustain my notes while singing. So we copied the Hammond organ, which had a tank in it. We took the tank out, rewired it, and had an outboard reverb! It was for the vocal. Our first album, Surfer’s Choice, sold over 88,000 albums – locally! That’s like more than 4 million today. Dick Dale was already established as King of the Surf Guitar, and that album did not have reverb on it. It wasn’t even invented!”

From Songfacts

Variations of the song have appeared in numerous movies, but when Dick Dale’s version was used to open the 1994 movie Pulp Fiction, it revived both Dale’s career and the Surf Music genre. Dale earned his first appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman a few weeks after the movie came out, and became a popular live act once again. His success in the ’60s was limited to America, but this time he was welcomed in the UK, as well as Australia and Japan, where his sound caught on and he made tour appearances for the first time. Dale’s “Miserlou” was also used in the movies Space Jam and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.

Dale included a traditional version of the song on his 1993 album Tribal Thunder as a hidden track (you can thank Nirvana for the hidden track craze of the early ’90s). Dale was showing his producer how the song was done originally, and they decided to include it with the set.

Dick Dale got his start in the late ’50s playing with his band The Del-Tones for surfers at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa, California. With authorities concerned about the mix of young people and guitars, one of the requirements at the Ballroom was that every male patron wear a tie, so the audience was often made up of barefooted guys in surfer garb wearing ties that were handed out at the door.

This was used on Friends when Ross, Chandler, and Joey squared off against Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe in a game of touch football in the 1996 Thanksgiving episode “The One With The Football.”

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