What is Pop Music Trying to Tell Me?
The other day I was crossing the Evergreen Point Bridge (the BBQ sauce over at the 3 Pigs restaurant on 108th is worth a trip to the East side once a week or so), listening to a lesser known Dire Straits album from 1982 called Love over Gold.
"I'm tired of this!" I complained. "He's trying so hard to sound like Dylan, it's not even funny. Or actually it is funny. Whatever. I'm turning this off."
I stopped "It Never Rains" at about the third verse and dialed back a couple of songs to "Industrial Disease" (including the great lines Two men say they're Jesus one of them must be wrong / There's a protest singer singing a protest song, which at least acknowledges the ubiquitous Dylanesqueness throughout), but then turned the whole album off, muttering to myself that not even that lyric was enough to keep my interest.
On comes the radio, and what happens to be the song playing? Oh yes: "Industrial Disease".
"Wait a minute," says my fellow BBQ lover. "What's going on here?"
"I'm not sure," I said, "but I think maybe I should pull over." I hardly remember eating my BBQ sandwich.
Really, what are the odds of that happening? Or when was the last time you heard "Industrial Disease" on the radio?
Okay, so maybe that isn't all that big a deal. Seems pretty strange to me, but then I'm a little like Rufus when it comes to potential signs from the back of beyond. But just a few days earlier I was trying to find a parking spot around 15th and Olive to meet some friends at the Clever Dunnes. It was pretty tough going and I was running late. Lucky for me that the radio was playing "Stop Dragging My Heart Around", another killer song from the early 80's, which eased my frustration quite a bit. Eventually I parked the car and made my way into the bar. I didn't even have to walk very far. When I caught up with my friends (who by this time were all pretty trashed) they were all finishing up a game of "Name that Tune" over pitchers of Bass and shots of Jagermeister. By this time the song was over, but I don't think I even need to mention which song they were working on.
"Tell me y'all just heard that on the radio," I said. Knowing, just knowing, that they hadn't.
"Well, kind of." said Rich. "It was on the jukebox just a minute ago. Why do you ask?"
"Never mind," I said, figuring that between the Jagermeister and the 7th Dimension gathering like storm clouds swirling overhead, their own heads might explode.
"The thing is," said Rich, "he doesn't know the name of the song either. Or even who sings it."
He nodded towards Cam, who was banging his head along to some imaginary chords. "Baby, you could never look me in the eye..."
I joined in:
"Then you buckle with the weight of the word...
Stop draggin' my...
And then everybody, nodding with enthusiasm:
"Stop draggin' my...
Stop draggin' my heart around!!!"
"That's it! That's it!" Everbody was yelling and slapping my back.
"Yeah," I said, rather more nonchalantly than I actually felt. "Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks. It was on her album Bella Donna, from about 1982."
"Whoah, man. You're spooky," said Rich.
They have no idea.
"I'm tired of this!" I complained. "He's trying so hard to sound like Dylan, it's not even funny. Or actually it is funny. Whatever. I'm turning this off."
I stopped "It Never Rains" at about the third verse and dialed back a couple of songs to "Industrial Disease" (including the great lines Two men say they're Jesus one of them must be wrong / There's a protest singer singing a protest song, which at least acknowledges the ubiquitous Dylanesqueness throughout), but then turned the whole album off, muttering to myself that not even that lyric was enough to keep my interest.
On comes the radio, and what happens to be the song playing? Oh yes: "Industrial Disease".
"Wait a minute," says my fellow BBQ lover. "What's going on here?"
"I'm not sure," I said, "but I think maybe I should pull over." I hardly remember eating my BBQ sandwich.
Really, what are the odds of that happening? Or when was the last time you heard "Industrial Disease" on the radio?
Okay, so maybe that isn't all that big a deal. Seems pretty strange to me, but then I'm a little like Rufus when it comes to potential signs from the back of beyond. But just a few days earlier I was trying to find a parking spot around 15th and Olive to meet some friends at the Clever Dunnes. It was pretty tough going and I was running late. Lucky for me that the radio was playing "Stop Dragging My Heart Around", another killer song from the early 80's, which eased my frustration quite a bit. Eventually I parked the car and made my way into the bar. I didn't even have to walk very far. When I caught up with my friends (who by this time were all pretty trashed) they were all finishing up a game of "Name that Tune" over pitchers of Bass and shots of Jagermeister. By this time the song was over, but I don't think I even need to mention which song they were working on.
"Tell me y'all just heard that on the radio," I said. Knowing, just knowing, that they hadn't.
"Well, kind of." said Rich. "It was on the jukebox just a minute ago. Why do you ask?"
"Never mind," I said, figuring that between the Jagermeister and the 7th Dimension gathering like storm clouds swirling overhead, their own heads might explode.
"The thing is," said Rich, "he doesn't know the name of the song either. Or even who sings it."
He nodded towards Cam, who was banging his head along to some imaginary chords. "Baby, you could never look me in the eye..."
I joined in:
"Then you buckle with the weight of the word...
Stop draggin' my...
And then everybody, nodding with enthusiasm:
"Stop draggin' my...
Stop draggin' my heart around!!!"
"That's it! That's it!" Everbody was yelling and slapping my back.
"Yeah," I said, rather more nonchalantly than I actually felt. "Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks. It was on her album Bella Donna, from about 1982."
"Whoah, man. You're spooky," said Rich.
They have no idea.
posted by Quin Finnegan at 12:01 AM
1 Comments:
Indeed. Very good all the way around. Family owned and operated for 15 or 20 years. Located just north of the Bellevue Whole Foods, across from the Overlake Hospital.
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