Wow, I really don't have anything better to do tonight.
Give your opinions, experiences, feelings and thoughts on the nominated song. Next, nominate another for the next poster to discuss.
King Horse
Lordy, why have I never really noticed this song before? It is now my favourite. New bumper CD reissue, I kiss you! *mwah* Er.... that'll do. (I'm crap at this kind of thing but I like the idea)
Just a brilliant record with The Attractions at their peak. I love the drum sound and Pete's variation on the assorted cymbals etc that he hits during the song. (Sorry to get so technical!)
And fantastic in live performance, particularly when coupled with Backstabbers.
riot act..........definitely among my top 5 faves
i used to skip this song whenever i play the get happy album.....until one night i had my headphones on......and listened to it all the way....(really listened to it!) and i completely fell in love with it.........!!!!!!!!!
...the promise of indulgence in my confidential voice approached inmortal danger but you´ll never know how close....
Riot Act...is incredible.....love it to death! Love playing it and singing it ...loved a great live version I saw on Swedish TV! That song is great live!
"when the heat gets sub-tropical and the talk gets so topical*.....good stuff Maynard
1) Write about your feelings concerning the song the previous poster has nominated.
2) Select a different song for the next poster to discuss.
3) Next poster, repeat steps 1 and 2.
This continues until we all get bored, which I think has happened already.
Watch Your Step - an ode to desire for youthful independence against family and other crap that tries to hold you back... a very groovy tune I might add.
My Science Fiction Twin...brilliant rip guitar opening, some the funniest EC lyrics as well...the way the song changes when he sings "He sips in the glow of a '61 vintage"...amazing!
Next song... Heathen Town
Last edited by laughingcrow on Mon Sep 08, 2003 10:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
"They used to call it Sin City--now, it's gone way past that..." I love the calm, almost deadpan way he delivers the lines in this song. I have to say that I love EC's voice the most when he's soft--he's almost resigned in this one, though.
If there's one thing you can say about mankind--there's nothing kind about man
I guess "Tiny Steps" is one of the songs that helped get EC labeled a misogynist back in the late 70s, which is kind of understandable.
"Make her walk or make her kneel
Oh she's almost human beneath that cuban heel"
Still, I dont think its misogyny in any of his songs. I do like this song a lot. I think it would have worked well on armed forces, dont know why it wasnt included.
Battered Old Bird is the kind of song that doesn't make a strong instant impression as a key song on the LP, but grows on you and leaves a lasting one. B&C wouldn't be the same without it. I love the wordiness around the totally minimal rhythm. I think EC has written about genuinely autobiographical elements from the house he lived in (Surrey or Middlesex, or somewhere in the south, I think, rather than PorP-land) as a kid. I always thought the 'there' in the chorus, as 'And he's living up there' was three words, only I couldn't make them out (something like 'he's living up the whole world'!). I love the singing on this song. I've always been struck by the syntax of 'a bottle of sweet sherry that everything redeems'. He has the poetic licence to invert and put the object before the verb, but it still sounds to me as though normal sentence order applies and everything is the subject which redeems the bottle of sweet sherry, which would be pretty surreal.
"Thought I knew all the steps quite clearly, I don't have a clue." For me, this is a song about waiting too long to do something, waiting for the "right time" to arrive, and having life pass you by while you are trying too hard to figure it out. Love the live version with just Elvis and Steve.
What? Who's afraid of Taking My Life in Your Hands? My Juliet Letter cassette is totally mangled, so I haven't heard this tune in quite a while. It's a torrid heart-wrencher about what a lover can mean: life or death.
If you do what you might, you're taking my life in your hands. This song is one of those "only from the mind of Elvis" creations that must be studied to be truly understood.
I, Bobster, do take up the gauntlet of this criminally underrated, superfun little gem that's far more enjoyable (well, to me anyway) than that other McCartney collaboration, "Veronica" (oh, I hear the Veroni-fans gritting their teeth now!)
I love a song that tells a story and this is just a rock and rolling unpretentious little treat that really needs to be sung by a woman at some point.
And, since we've got songs with "man" in the title, how about that enigmatic gem, "You'll Never Be a Man"
As an interruption, Playboy to a Man and You'll Never Be a Man should both be on the next Whitney Houston release, along with 13 Steps Lead Down, and Spooky Girlfriend.
Is 'You'll Never Be a Man' just another OK song between the both superior 'Lovers Walk' and 'Pretty Words'? Steve is excellent as usual and Bruce is solid, but it's never really appealed to me. At least it's better than 'Luxembourg'.
this is a fabulous, spooky and seemingly woefully underated elvis song. it takes him almost 2 minutes to build it to that little "go" scream right before the guitar attack, which is where i come unglued. then he only half backs off and keeps building. the song somehow remains coiled and tension grows until, unfortunately, it ends. i want 10 minutes. but i'm so thankful it didn't just go to johnny cash and never get done by elvis.
this is like one song with three titles
cannot think of coal train robberies without any king's shilling and last boat leaving.
for the 'three' of them, none stick out in any way , shape or form.
it is hard to find an 'immemorable'(word?) elvis song but these three come close
when i had spike on cassete i dreaded the end of side two yet looked forward to one of me favorite scathers to end side one so...
Tramp The Dirt Down isn't really for casual listening (too annoying, treating it like that). I try to really savor it when I do listen to it. Probably EC's most pointedly political song in that he's very specific directing it at Thatcher, and with what an image. He went all Celtic around this time with the aforementioned Spike songs, and there's some of that flavor here. He seemed to particularly sympathize with anti-UK establishment at this time it seems, hence he moved to Ireland and got in touch with his Irish roots. I just put it on (turned up quite loud), probably for the first time in months, and it really had its impact. "Try telling that to the desperate father who just squeezed the life from his only son." Full on. It must've taken guts to come up with this and be so direct. It would seem to have sat better sinking in at the end of side 1 in LP format with only the instrumental Stalin Mallone after it (so you can meditatively reflect on it further till you decide to flip the record over), than on a CD.
It was fun to discover that not only was 'no. 2' not a gimmick (a nod towards Dylan perhaps) but that it was rather good. And totally different to no. 1, though they both share the 'It was so much easier line before the title', although the rest of the lyric is as different as the two songs are, which is fun and playful. It's quite a straightforward song, but quite memorable, with a good chorus. Would like to hear it live (which I recall he did at least once last year), with proper drums and all. I haven't played Cruel Smile much since the first month or so after it was out, but I did find myself wanting to hear this song the other day, so must dig it out.
OK, being fully reconnected with Get Happy!! right now, how about Possession? One for So Lacklustre?
One of my favorites - I have a bad habit of saying - "and it's persuasive" , whenever anyone says "money talks" - and I never credit EC and usually the person nods in agreement - I think I read somewhere that Elvis felt he went a little too far with "you lack lust, you're so lacklustre" line - a little too clever for his own good. I disagree - the only problem with this song is that it's too short.
Is there a better run of songs on any album than side 1 (or is it side 2?) of "Get Happy"? The only one I can think of is side 2 (or is it side 1?) Almost too good to be true .....
White Knuckles - a straightforward tale of domestic violence. Not one of my particular faves but it has simple lyrics and not too much - if anything - for you to work out for yourself or misinterpret.
Try
Blue Chair
Perhaps this should be left to our man on the board himself...
Can I just add I love Steve's Sci-fi-esque turns on the keyboard towards the end of White Knuckles when it goes a bit mad. A hated song at first, now loved. Thanks.