Saturday, April 08, 2006

Oldie moldie reflections

Thoughts from a wandering mind as the oldies station droned on ...

How many times have I had to listen to "Brandy You're A Fine Girl" in the last 34 years? It's a lovely song, but gimme a break.

Modern listeners must wonder if the 1960s were really that great a time in musical history, seeing as the same 150 songs keep playing over and over again. Where's all this variety the geezers keep telling us about?

"What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson, Joltin' Joe has left and gone away." What's the difference between leaving and going away?

I looked it up - "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" by the Walker Brothers peaked at No. 13 in 1966. It's a nice song, but howcome I hear that song more often than just about any song that hit No. 1 that year?

Worst song lyric in the history of music: "'I am,' I said to no one there, and no one heard at all - not even the chair."

7 Comments:

Blogger Wally Conger said...

Worst song lyric in the history of music: "'I am,' I said to no one there, and no one heard at all - not even the chair."

I dunno. I nominate "Someone left the cake out in the rain. I don't think that I can take it, 'cause it took so long to bake it, and I'll never have that recipe again! Oh nooooooooooo!"

Sheesh!

11:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Even though I adored it years ago, I nominate "Goo goo goo joob".

12:08 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Every oldies station seems to have its own unique flavor. In one part of the country I could hear the same song three times in a week that I never heard at all while living several years in another part.

The best development among decent oldies stations is that they play more songs from the 70's. That was a great decade for pure songwriting, and it crowds out the "Leader of the Pack" crap of the early 60's.

4:55 AM  
Blogger Wally Conger said...

the "Leader of the Pack" crap of the early 60's.

Heretic!

11:51 AM  
Blogger B.W. Richardson said...

I nominate "Someone left the cake out in the rain. I don't think that I can take it, 'cause it took so long to bake it, and I'll never have that recipe again! Oh nooooooooooo!"

As goofy as the metaphor is, I have to admit some admiration for how the writer carries it all the way through. By comparison, Neil Diamond introduces the concept of a sentient piece of furniture and then drops it as if, heaven forbid, he was just strapped for a rhyme.

7:30 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Do we really want to descend into the lyrical abyss of songwriters being strapped for a rhyme? Even though it's overplayed and I like other Alice Cooper songs much better, School's Out always brings a smile to my face because he admits, "We can't even think of a word that rhymes!"

11:45 AM  
Blogger Rays profile said...

I know the feeling - a while back I downloaded about 15 CDs worth of songs from 1970, and I'll bet maybe 40 get heard on oldies stations.

(As for interesting lyrics, I nominate Norman Greenbaum's follow-up to "Spirit in the Sky," "Canned Ham."
When ya gonna buy me a canned ham
I been waitin so long
Put it in a skillet
Fry it nice and brown
Put it in my pocket
Gonna carry it around and around and around and around.

12:42 PM  

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