Tag: Marshall Crenshaw

Marshall Crenshaw – Mary Anne

Marshall reminds me of Nick Lowe a little because they make every song sound like a potential hit in a good way. It’s a kind of song that makes everything feel alright for three minutes. It’s one of those perfect power pop songs. 

He got his first break playing John Lennon in the off-Broadway touring company of the musical Beatlemania between 1978-1980. Crenshaw said: “In the beginning, I was bothered by it, as an egotistical young person, maybe because I had just gotten out of Beatlemania, and I was sick of any kind of heavy association with some other figure.”

He later played Buddy Holly in La Bamba in 1987. “I’ve been a Buddy Holly fan all my life. The joy still comes across in his music. It’s really got its own je ne sais quoi. It really stands apart from a lot of ’50s rock, because it conveys a sense of intimacy. I think it’s because it was made in this little building on the side of a highway late at night with this isolated group of people.”

Marshall Crenshaw’s 1982 self-titled debut is a rare bird in the rock canon, a flawless record that never seems to age. On the album with the jangle of Someday, Someway and the Buddy Holly bop of Cynical Girl, Mary Anne is the track that quietly steals the show. That chorus. It just opens up like sunshine bursting through the clouds. “Mary Anne, you’re not alone,” Crenshaw assures her, and suddenly you’re not alone either. 

The arrangement is a masterclass in restraint. The chiming guitars are pure Rickenbacker, and the bassline has a McCartney-esque melody. No frills, no tricks, just three minutes of songcraft that feels like it could’ve been pulled from AM radio in 1966. In the endless search for a great pop song, Mary Anne is the kind of track that makes you stop searching for a while. 

Marshall Crenshaw peaked at #50 on the Billboard album charts in 1982. As the old phrase goes…it’s got more hooks than a tackle box.

Mary Anne

It isn’t such a crimeIt isn’t such a shameIt happens all the timeYou shouldn’t take the blameGo on and have a laughGo have a laugh on meGo on and have a laughAt all your misery

Mary Anne, Mary Anne (don’t cry Mary Anne)I really wanna tell you Mary Anne, Mary AnneI’m thinking of youMary Anne, Mary Anne (don’t cry Mary Anne)I really wanna tell you Mary Anne, Mary Anne, Mary Anne

You take a look aroundAnd all you seem to seeIs bringing you downAs down as you can beGo on and have a laughGo have a laugh on meGo on and have a laughAt how bad it can be

Mary Anne, Mary Anne (you’ll be all right)I really wanna tell you Mary Anne, Mary AnneI’m thinking of youMary Anne, Mary Anne (you’ll be all right)I really wanna tell you Mary Anne, Mary Anne, Mary Anne

Mary Anne, Mary Anne (goodnight Mary Anne)I really wanna tell you Mary Anne, Mary AnneI’m thinking of you Mary Anne, Mary Anne (goodnight Mary Anne)I really wanna tell you Mary Anne, Mary Anne, Mary Anne

…

Marshall Crenshaw – Whenever You’re On My Mind ….Power Pop Friday

Marshall Crenshaw wrote this song during the making of his debut album but was saved for his second album release. I had his first two albums in the 80s and I thought the guy would be huge. He could come up with some sophisticated, unexpected chord changes in a song yet maintain the feel of the song.

This song has a wonderful guitar intro that sets up the song. As the old phrase goes…it’s got more hooks than a tackle box.

He got his first break playing John Lennon in the off-Broadway touring company of the musical Beatlemania between 1978-1980. Crenshaw said: “In the beginning, I was bothered by it, as an egotistical young person, maybe because I had just gotten out of Beatlemania, and I was sick of any kind of heavy association with some other figure.”

He later played Buddy Holly in La Bamba in 1987. “I’ve been a Buddy Holly fan all my life. The joy still comes across in his music. It’s really got its own je ne sais quoi. It really stands apart from a lot of ’50s rock, because it conveys a sense of intimacy. I think it’s because it was made in this little building on the side of a highway late at night with this isolated group of people.”

“I always say the guys from the ’50s who invented ’60s rock were Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly. When you watch documentaries about Holly, you see people like Keith Richards, and he still gets broken up talking about him. The English guys, they just loved Buddy Holly.”

He released his self-titled debut album in 1982 and it was nearly perfect. This song was on Field Day his second album that was released in 1983. The album peaked at #52 in the Billboard 100 in 1983. This song peaked at #103 in the Billboard 100 and #23 in the Main Rock tracks in 1983.

He also performed as a guest vocalist for the Smithereens since the 2017 death of their lead singer Pat DiNizio.

Ronnie Spector recorded a cover of this song in 2003.

When Ever You’re On My Mind

I think about you and forget what I’ve tried to be
Everything is foggy and hard to see
It seems to be, but can it be, a fantasy?
Whenever I think about you, strangers eyes in the crowd flash past
I go on and think of the fate you’ve cast
It seems to be a reverie, you’re here with me

’cause whenever you’re on my mind
Whenever you’re on my mind
I leave the world behind
Whenever you’re on my mind

I think about you and I’m weak though I’m in my prime
Set my watch and still lose the track of time
It seems to be, but can it be, a fantasy?
Whenever I think about you, strangers eyes in the crowd flash past
I go on and think of the fate you’ve cast
It seems to be a reverie, you’re here with me

Whenever you’re on my mind
Whenever you’re on my mind
I leave the world behind
Whenever you’re on my mind

I never thought I’d be in this situation
It seems wherever I go I’m with you
And though I never seem to find my place
At every turn I see your face
Whenever I think about you
It seems to be a reverie, you’re here with me
’cause whenever you’re on my mind
Whenever you’re on my mind
I leave the world behind
Whenever you’re on my mind

Marshall Crenshaw – Cynical Girl —-Powerpop Friday

It doesn’t get much better than this. This song was off his self-titled debut album Marshall Crenshaw that peaked at #50 on the Billboard album charts in 1982. Marshall only had one chart hit and that was with Someday, Someway off of this same album…it just shows that life isn’t fair at times. Every song is good on this album…you cannot say that about most albums.

Songs like this… is the reason I do this on Fridays.

Marshall Crenshaw on the song: ‘Cynical Girl’ sounds like it just came off the top of my head in one pass; that’s probably what happened. Quite a few of my songs are like that: I just start singing and playing without any advance thought. But then, with ‘Cynical Girl’ and so many others, the words take time to arrive. I asked another person to take a crack at it first but the guy wrote something that had no cohesion. My idea for the lyrics came to me one day when I was walking out of traffic court, just out of the blue. The lyrics have an oddness to them, and humor too; they said some things that I wanted to say. People have sometimes asked me, ‘Who’s it about?’ ‘Did you find her yet?’, etc. It’s really not about a girl—that’s just off-the-shelf rock-and-roll language. To me, what the song says in a funny way is ‘I hate brain-dead mass-culture [stuff] and I want to hang around with people who feel the same.’ People have always really loved that song and identified with it and of course I love that!”

Cynical Girl

Well I’m goin’ out
I’m goin’ out lookin’ for a cynical girl
Who’s got no use for the real world
I’m lookin’ for a cynical girl
Well I hate TV

There’s gotta be somebody other than me
Who’s ready to write it off immediately
I’m lookin’ for a cynical girl

Well I’ll know right away by the look in her eye
She harbors no illusions and she’s worldly-wise
And I’ll know when I give her a listen that she
She’s what I’ve been missin’
What I’ve been missin’
I’ll be lost in love

And havin’ some fun with my cynical girl
Who’ll have no use for the real world
I’m lookin’ for a cynical girl
Well I’m goin’ out

I’m goin’ out lookin’ for a cynical girl
Who’s got no use for the real world
I’m lookin’ for a cynical girl

Yeah I’ll know right away by the look in her eye
She harbors no illusions and she’s worldly-wise
And I’ll know when I give her a listen that she
She’s what I’ve been missin’
What I’ve been missin’
I’ll be lost in love

And havin’ some fun with my cynical girl
Who’ll have no use for the real world
I’m lookin’ for a cynical girl

Marshall Crenshaw – Someday, Someway —Powerpop Friday

I’ve said this before about other artists but I thought Marshall would have had more hits when I first heard his music in the early 80s. This is his only top forty hit…incredibly it was the only song Crenshaw had in the top 100. The song peaked at #32 in the Billboard 100 in 1982. Someday, Someway was on his self-titled debut album Marshall Crenshaw that peaked at #50 on the Billboard album charts in 1982.

This is a review of the Crenshaw’s debut album at Aphoristic Album Reviews…he has a very good album review and music site.

Marshall Crenshaw on the song: “I was taking basic rhythmic grooves from some of my favorite old rock ‘n’ roll records,” “There was a record that I really loved by Gene Vincent called ‘Lotta Lovin” that had a particular kind of beat to it. It just really did a thing to my nervous system.”

From Songfacts

Marshall Crenshaw is an American singer-songwriter who got his first break playing John Lennon in the off-Broadway touring company of the musical Beatlemania. While in New York, he recorded this song for Alan Betrock’s Shake Records, after which he was signed to Warner Bros. Records. “While I was there, I wrote ‘Someday, Someway’ and five or six of the other tunes on my first album,” he recalled to Spinner UK. “I wrote those in my hotel room. That was my next move in life, to be a recording artist. I actually had a sense of artistic direction and off I went.”

Retro rocker Robert Gordon was the first to record this tune, taking the song to #76 in 1981, then Crenshaw’s own version made #36 the next year. Though his self-titled debut album was acclaimed as a pop masterpiece upon release, this song was to be his only Billboard Top 40 hit. However he has continued to record over the next few decades and has also had some success in Hollywood, appearing in the film Peggy Sue Got Married as well as portraying Buddy Holly in La Bamba.

Speaking to American Songwriter magazine, Crenshaw described the writing of this song as an ‘Eureka’ moment. He said: “By this time I’d already written ‘(You’re My) Favorite Waste of Time’ and some other good ones, but I really thought that “Someday” was a breakthrough. I liked that it had this hypnotic riff-type basis; I’d used the basic groove to ‘Lotta Lovin’ by Gene Vincent as a starting point, thought that that was cool. And I liked the lyrics, they were nice and spare but had some depth, lots of possible meanings and implications, etc. There was something kind of mysterious about it and I liked that. It was one of those ones that came out in a rush.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH44d9UTDUs

Some Day, Some Way

I can’t stand to see you sad
I can’t bear to hear you cry
If you can’t tell me what you need
All I can do is wonder why

Someday, someway aw
Someday, someway, yeah now
Someday, someway
Maybe I’ll understand you

After all you’ve done for me
All I really want to do
Is take the love you brought my way
And give it all right back to you

Someday, someway
Someday, someway yeah yeah
Someday, someway
Maybe you’ll understand me
You’ve taken everything from me
I’ve taken everything from you

I’ll love you for my whole life through
Now after all you’ve done for me
All I really want to do
Is take the love you brought my way
And give it all right back to you

Someday, someway aw
Someday, someway, yeah now
Someday, someway maybe you’ll understand me
You’ve taken everything from me
I’ve taken everything from you

I’ll love you for my whole life through
I can’t stand to see you sad
I can’t bear to hear you cry
If you can’t tell me what you need
All I can do is wonder why

Someday, someway aw
Someday, someway, yeah yeah
Someday, someway
Maybe I’ll understand you

Someday, someway aw
Someday, someway, yeah yeah
Someday, someway
Maybe you’ll understand me

Someday, someway oh!
Someday, someway, yeah now
Someday, someway
Maybe I’ll understand you