Tag: sweet

Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz

In the early seventies, I noticed a single that my sister had. It was on Bell Records, a band called The Sweet, and the song was Little Willy. The more I heard their hits, the more I couldn’t believe it was the same band. This song is explosive, yes, but it’s also tight, controlled chaos.

It kicks off like a scene from a glam rock horror movie. “Are you ready, Steve?” Andy Scott answers, “Uh-huh,” and one by one, they check in like a gang about to knock over a ballroom. Then BOOM, you’re punched with that guitar riff, drums, and the Sweet launch into one of the most over-the-top rock singles ever recorded.

This song was inspired by a real onstage attack. The Sweet were playing at the Grand Hall in Kilmarnock, Scotland, when the crowd went into an almost riot and started hurling bottles at the band. Most acts might’ve run for cover or written a moody ballad. The Sweet? They wrote a glam rock anthem with more drama than a Saturday night punch-up at a neighborhood pub.

This band seemed to sound like a different band on many of their singles. They were rock, glam rock, pop, some disco, and bubblegum rock. This song has been covered by several different artists. I first heard the song by Krokus in the 1980s.  The song peaked at #5 in the Billboard 100 and #2 in the UK in 1973.  Their other well-known songs were Little Willy, Fox on the Run, and Love is Like Oxygen.

This was written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who wrote many glam songs. They also wrote Sweet’s Blockbuster, Suzi Quatro’s Devil Gate Drive, and Tony Basil’s Mickey.

The Ballroom Blitz

Are you ready, Steve? Uh-ha!

Andy? Yeah!

Mick? Okay.

All right, fellows, let’s go!Oh, it’s been getting so hard

Livin’ with the things you do to me, ah-ha

My dreams are getting so strange

I’d like to tell you everything I see, mmOh, I see a man at the back as a matter of fact

His eyes are red as the sun

And a girl in the corner, let no one ignore her

‘Cause she thinks she’s the passionate one

Oh yeah, it was like lightning
Everybody was frightening
And the music was soothing
And they all started grooving
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

And the man at the back said: “Everyone attack”
And it turned into a ballroom blitz
And the girl in the corner said: “Boy, I wanna warn ya”
It’ll turn into a ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz

Oh, I’m reaching out for something
Touching nothing’s all I ever do
Oh, I softly call you over
When you appear, there’s nothing left of you, ah-ha

Now the man at the back is ready to crack
As he raises his hands to the sky
And the girl in the corner is everyone’s mourner
She could kill you with a wink of her eye

Oh yeah, it was electric
So frantically hectic
And the band started leaving
‘Cause they all stopped breathing
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

And the man at the back said: “Everyone attack”
And it turned into a ballroom blitz
And the girl in the corner said: “Boy, I wanna warn ya”
It’ll turn into a ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz

Oh yeah, it was like lightning
Everybody was frightening
And the music was soothing
‘Cause they all started grooving
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

And the man at the back said: “Everyone attack”
And it turned into a ballroom blitz
And the girl in the corner said: “Boy, I wanna warn ya”
It’ll turn into a ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz

It’s, it’s a ballroom blitz
It’s, it’s a ballroom blitz
It’s, it’s a ballroom blitz
Yeah, it’s a ballroom blitz

Sweet – Love Is Like Oxygen

This band had quite a few hits in the seventies. Each of their singles sounded a little different than the previous one. They had songs that included Little Willy, Fox On The Run, Ballroom Blitz, and this one Love Is Like Oxygen. This song marks a change in their sound. You can hear a little Queen and 10cc in their sound.

Sweet guitarist Andy Scott wrote this song and was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for the composition. It lost to “Baker Street” by Gerry Rafferty.

Life Is Like Oxygen peaked at #8 in the Billboard 100, #8 in Canada, #9 in the UK, and #6 in New Zealand in 1978. This song was the last hit for Sweet as punk coming in.

 

From Songfacts

Many songs make liberal use of metaphor in the lyrics, but rarely is a song title a direct metaphor, which is the case here. Sweet eschews subtlety as they make the case that love, much like oxygen, must be constantly regulated.

One of Sweet’s more serene song titles, this was Sweet’s last US, UK and German Top 10 hit, as the group left the glam rock scene for the more plush atmosphere of pop-driven music. 

Level Headed was Sweet’s first album for their new label Polydor, in which like ELO they found themselves experimenting with mixing rock and classical sounds.

In 2002, Andy Scott told the Slovakian Box Network: “We had finished with our first record company and had begun on a project for another. At that time the era of the Sex Pistols had started, and how people thought of music reached new dimensions. No one knew what was coming next. We were already a part rock, part metal band. Therefore in the area which was most touched by the changes. That is when I wrote the song ‘Love is Like Oxygen,’ and then the idea came along to compose it in a style which at that time was totally new, yet one that suited us. I think it worked out well. Of course the people didn’t accept it so easily. I consider Level Headed to be a good album, it sold around the world.”

The 1975 Hall & Oates’ song “Grounds for Separation” contains similar lyrics: “But isn’t it a bit like oxygen, ’cause too much will make you high, but not enough will make you die.”

Love Is Like Oxygen

Love is Like Oxygen,
You get too much, you get too high,
Not enough and you’re gonna die.
Love gets you high.

Love is Like Oxygen,
You get too much, you get too high,
Not enough and you’re gonna die.
Love gets you high.

Time on my side.
I got it all.
I heard that pride
Always comes before a fall.

There’s a rumor goin’ around the town.
That you don’t want me around.
I can’t shake off my city blues.
Everywhere I turn, I lose.

Love is Like Oxygen,
You get too much, you get too high,
Not enough and you’re gonna die.
Love gets you high.

Love is Like Oxygen,
You get too much, you get too high,
Not enough and you’re gonna die.
Love gets you high.

Time is no healer.
If you’re not there.
Holy fever.
Set words in the air.

Some things are better left unsaid.
I’m gonna spend my days in bed.
I walk the streets at night,
To be hidden by the city light. City light.

Love is Like Oxygen,
You get too much, you get too high,
Not enough and you’re gonna die.
Love gets you high.

Love is Like Oxygen,
You get too much, you get too high,
Not enough and you’re gonna die.
Love gets you high.

The Sweet – Little Willy

Most of the Sweet’s singles sounded like different bands were on each one. They changed their styles quite a bit. Little Willy was their most successful single and it peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, and #4 in the UK.

This song is a catchy pop song and they would soon move to Ballroom Blitz, Fox On The Run, and Love is Like Oxygen.

From Songfacts

This song was written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman – neither of whom were members of Sweet. Instead, Chinn and Chapman were a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. Just as in the US, Leiber and Stoller became known for “the Brill Building sound,” Chinn and Chapman in the UK became known as the “Chinnichap” sound. They produced songs for Suzi Quatro, and British bands Smokie, Mud, Racey, and The Arrows. Chapman would later produce albums for Blondie and The Knack, and along with Holly Knight, wrote Pat Benatar’s hit “Love Is A Battlefield.”

“Little Willy” was Sweet’s biggest US hit, peaking the charts at #3 when it was re-released in 1973. It was a non-album single, but went gold in the US and UK all by itself anyway. Critics in the UK dismissed the song as “bubblegum” and referred to the lyrics as “nursery porn.” Sweet wanted to shed their bubblegum/ glam-rock image and become more hardcore, so they later turned to writing their own songs.

Putting this song together, Chinn and Chapman used a pounding drum beat popularized by Slade and producer Mike Leander. They mixed in the riff from the Who song “I Can’t Explain,” and added the exceptionally catchy chorus, which dug into your ear and wouldn’t let go. The song didn’t tell any kind of story – just that Willy won’t go home – but listeners didn’t care and with Glam Rock, the lyrics weren’t supposed to make sense anyway.

Little Willy

North side , east side
Little Willy, Willy wears the crown, he’s the king around town
Dancing, glancing
Willy drives them silly with his star shoe shimmy shuffle down

Way past one, and feeling allright
‘Cause with little Willy round they can last all night
Hey down, stay down, stay down down
‘Cause little Willy, Willy won’t go home

But you can’t push Willy round
Willy won’t go, try tellin’ everybody but, oh no
Little Willy, Willy won’t go home
Up town, down town

Little Willy, Willy drives them wild with his run-around style
Inside, outside
Willy sends them silly with his star-shine shimmy shuffle smile
Mama done chase Willy down through the hall

But laugh, Willy laugh, he don’t care at all
Hey down, stay down, stay down, down
‘Cause little Willy, Willy won’t go home
But you can’t push Willy round

Willy won’t go, try tellin’ everybody but, oh no
Little Willy, Willy won’t go home
Little Willy, Willy won’t
Willy won’t, Willy won’t

Little Willy, Willy won’t
Willy won’t, Willy won’t
Little Willy, Willy won’t
Willy won’t, Willy won’t

Little Willy, Willy won’t
Willy won’t, Willy won’t
Little Willy, Willy won’t go home
But you can’t push Willy round

Willy won’t go, try tellin’ everybody but, oh no
Little Willy, Willy won’t go home
Little Willy, Willy won’t go home
But you can’t push Willy round

Willy won’t go, try tellin’ everybody but, oh no
Little Willy, Willy won’t go home