Trick/Treat: Candy

Iggy Pop featuring Kate Pierson: Candy
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And now here’s the Treat.

That Iggy Pop wrote a catchy pop love song is more than a little surprising. Best known for musical and personal excess, confrontation, and a wildly unpredictable stage persona, Pop reached out in early 1990 to Don Was, a fan and fellow Michigander, who was beginning to make a name as a producer, to try to make an album that would be more polished and commercial than his recent output. Was gathered a diverse group of musicians, including Slash and Duff McKagan from Guns N’ Roses, Kate Pierson, from the B-52’s, whose recent hit album, Cosmic Thing, he had produced, John Hiatt, studio veterans Waddy Wachtel, Kenny Drayton, Kenny Aronoff, and David Lindley, and members of his own band, Was (Not Was).

He succeeded. Brick By Brick is a great album, filled with great songs that split the difference between the harder rock of his prior work and a more commercial sensibility, but with, for the most part, angry, cynical lyrics.

And then there’s “Candy.” A love song sung as a duet with Pierson, it is an anomaly, and was a hit. As Pop has said, “I’ve written one good pop song, ‘Candy.’ It’s a very decent, proper pop song, but that’s as far as that went.” It is a more than decent pop song. On its surface, it appears to be a song about a lost love, who herself regrets the loss. Although it is a duet, the characters are singing past each other, but are heading to the same place. If you take that interpretation, which Pop has advanced (he says it is about a teenage girlfriend, Betsy), it really is sweet, and poignant.

But this is Iggy Pop, we are talking about, so there are other, darker, interpretations. One is that Pierson’s character is a prostitute, who gave Pop’s character “love for free.” And another is that Pierson’s character represents heroin, to which Pop was addicted to on and off over the years (and which he has written about before, maybe most famously in “Lust for Life,” a song that someone thought was an appropriate tune to use in commercials for a family cruise line. At least they edited out the part about liquor and drugs.)

You know, I’m going to take Iggy’s word for it—that he reached into his past to write a love song to a childhood sweetheart who still meant something to him—and not try to read too much into it.

Prison: Prisoners of Their Hairdos

Christine Lavin: Prisoners of Their Hairdos
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My recent run of television-related posts would suggest a discussion of The Prisoner, one of the great TV shows of the 1960s, and one of the first shows designed to blow the viewers’ minds, and I still might, but while it had a theme song (with a great credit sequence), it really wasn’t a music based show.

I’ve also recently written elsewhere about Jason Isbell’s cover of Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak,” so that’s out. As I perused my music library, I came across this song, which I hadn’t listened to in years, and which reminded me that you don’t need to be in a cell to be a prisoner.

Christine Lavin has been on the folk scene since the 1980s, and while she has had a long, successful career as a singer-songwriter, she never had the sort of national breakout that some of her contemporaries like Suzanne Vega, Tracy Chapman or Shawn Colvin, although she is incredibly well respected in the folk music world. Lavin writes mostly about relationships, and while she can write seriously, she is probably best known for her sense of humor. Many of her songs are laugh out loud funny. I sometimes wonder if her lack of fame stems from the fact that women folk singers are stereotypically supposed to be sad, tortured souls, and Lavin’s humor prevents her from being taken seriously. But that’s really too bad, because she has consistently written and performed great songs, not all of which are jokey.

In addition, she has long been an incredible supporter of other musicians, playing them on the radio, and working with them. I remember listening to her as the first host of WFUV’s Sunday Breakfast, playing music by artists she liked, sometimes even unreleased tracks. Even after friend (and fellow former WPRB Program Director John Platt) took over the show, Lavin would send him music to play, and she occasionally would sub for him. As much as I loved listening to John, which I don’t get to do as much since the station, in a bad move, pushed him to Sunday evening, when sports, TV, life and dinner usually take precedence (sorry!), it was fun to hear Lavin’s unique style every once in a while.

“Prisoners of Their Hairdos” is on the funny side of Lavin’s musical spectrum, and points out that some people’s coiffures are so distinctive that:

If they changed the way they combed their hair 
They'd never be recognized anywhere 
They're prisoners 

Lavin lists Crystal Gayle, Dorothy Hamill, Don King, Lyle Lovett, Gloria Steinem, Stevie Nicks Leon Redbone, Pee Wee Herman, Tom Wolfe, Pope John Paul, Ted Koppel, and Mary Travers as hairdo prisoners, and I’m sure we could think of more recent ones, since the song was released in 1991. An amateur golfer/more amateur president comes to mind…..

The song points out that ZZ Top are, similarly, prisoners of their beards, and Dolly Parton is a prisoner of her…….wigs. But, on the other hand, the B-52’s beehives, she suggests, are prisoners of the band.

There was a time where I had a great deal of hair, but time and genetics has rendered me almost bald, and now I keep my hair short, for ease of care. Typically, when I go to the barber, she asks me, “what do you want to do?” And my response is usually, “there really isn’t much you can do.” My daughter’s father-in-law (English really needs a word like machatenester or consuegro) shaves his head daily, and has tried to convince me to do the same. I’ve declined, because I don’t want to become a prisoner of my baldness.

Alphanumeric: Mesopotamia

The B-52s: Mesopotamia

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This seems to be one of those weeks when my fellow Star Makers and I avoid obvious choices in favor of lesser known ones. I can think of several well known groups that would fit our theme, and I really thought someone would have posted them by now. I can’t completely resist the urge to share lesser known music myself, so here is my solution: a lesser known song by one of those obvious bands.

In the early days of this band, Kate Pierson and Cindy Williams wore their hair in a style known as a bouffant, or a b-52, and that is where The B-52s got their name. Of course, the band burst on the scene with one of the first new wave hits, Rock Lobster. Their first two albums continued with that basic sound, but there were no other hits as big as Rock Lobster. So, for their third album, the band changed their sound. I don’t know if they decided to do this themselves or were told to by their record company, but the result was that they found themselves working with David Byrne of Talking Heads as their producer. Mesopotamia was supposed to be a full length album of ten songs, but disagreements arose between the band and Byrne, and what was finally released was a six song EP. It may be telling that Byrne only ever produced one other album for an artist other than himself, Fun Boy 3’s album Waiting. So Mesopotamia, the album and the song, may not be the music The B-52s wanted to make, but I have always found the song irresistible. I hope you will as well.

The Night Sky: Planet Claire

The B-52s: Planet Claire

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From 1967, we now jump ahead 11 years to 1978. But, in a sense, we also jump back to the 1950s, at the drive-in. Planet Claire opens the B-52s debut album, and the sound is all fifties science fiction movie organ, played on top of the Peter Gunn Theme. Half way through the song, Fred Schneider enters with a profoundly silly lyric about a visitor from another planet. And somehow, this was all cool. The B-52s wanted you to know that you should not take their songs very seriously, and that reminded the listener to lighten up. Maybe there were other things they were taking too seriously as well. So much of the more portentous music from the 80s sounds dated today, but Planet Claire sounds as good to me now as it did then.

1979: Rock Lobster

B-52's: Rock Lobster

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I was one year old in 1979. I can't tell you that I disco danced with Michael Jackson to Off the Wall or worked for the "Clampdown" with the Clash. Or maybe I did... I don't know. I was still in diapers. But, just because I wasn't much aware of what was happening musically in 1979, doesn't mean that some of the songs from that year don't immediately transport me to a certain place or time.

One such song is "Rock Lobster" from the B-52's off the band's 1979 self-titled debut.

I attended college and grad school at Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky (about an hour east of Lexington). Morehead is a fairly small town with limited options when it comes to late night eateries. That meant I often found myself heading east along I-64 in the morning's wee hours to a place called The Smokey Valley Truck Stop. It was the place to get a hot breakfast or double decker "Smokey Valley Burger" at 2AM.

The food was the primary draw... but the Truck Stop also had a juke box in the corner that always drew my attention. It held all the typical juke box fare... Bon Jovi, The Eagles, Garth Brooks, various "Hits" collections, etc... It also held the debut album from the B-52's.

That's where I came to love this song. I played it every time I went to the Truck Stop (which was pretty often) even if it did seem to annoy some of the other patrons who didn't want their stream of classic rock and current country interrupted by some abstract, seven-minute, new wave anthem about a ocean dwelling crustacean. I'm still not quite sure what this song was doing on that juke box, but I'm glad it was there.

1989: Love Shack

The B-52's: Love Shack

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I may have mentioned before that we lived in Puerto Rico (for my husband's job) from January 1985 through June 1989 - there were obvious plusses and minuses... the latter mostly being out of the loop of all things entertainment-related. We tried to stay current but always seemed to be many steps behind - as soon as we moved back to the States, I was like a kid in the proverbial candy shop, gorging on albums until I hit sensory overload...

My younger sister had turned me on to The B-52's years before, and I loved their vintage look and infectious sound - one night not too long after our return, she, her boyfriend and I went out drinking and playing pool... and when Love Shack came on the jukebox, I could not stop smiling. What a perfect song - glitter and door-banging and hot-as-an-oven, oh my!

Not two weeks later we were at the wedding of a friend and the DJ played the tune at the reception (with all of us yelling out "tin roof... rusted!" at the end - I decided then and there that people weren't officially married unless Love Shack was played at the celebration afterwards to consummate their union... :-)

My planned epitaph (but since I'm choosing to be cremated and won't have a formal headstone, they can carve it on the coconut floating out to sea with my ashes) has always been, "Her Children Knew All The Words To Love Shack!" - I still consider it a perfect song, and I even heard it at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival a few years ago on a workshop stage, performed by Jian (from Moxy Fruvous), Lucy Kaplansky, The Nields and The Kennedys...

For the backstory on the *real* Love Shack, go here - then click the Play button above... again... crank it up to 11... and shimmy like you mean it!

Blog Names: Planet Claire

The B-52s: Planet Claire (live and goofy)
The Foo Fighters: Planet Claire

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Though it's not a music bog, per se... And though the title of the blog is only coincidental in being a fanTAStic B-52 number, there are myriad reasons for my submission of Planet Claire for your perusal...

Our gang appreciates a nice turn of lyric, right? (A loaded question - I know we do!) Then y'all should oughta check out Claire's Tim Easton lyrics part of the site. Such a devoted fan, she has - for our, and future generations' eludiation - transcribed the guy's catalog.

Read it.

Then go investigate futher: Tim Easton official site

And then get back to Planet Claire to dig the wild, rare sounds she's stashed inside her junk drawer... Stuff l(i)ke: rare Replacements, Uncle Tupelo, and even a peek at some animated Bloom County cartoon...

If you wanna know what's a salving for your over-loaded brain-wreck, I just told ya!

Then, get back to Claire's main site for an on-going, ever-growing collection of quotes from some popular (and some not-so-popular) television shows. She's a devoted type, bringing you the quotes you want to read.

I hate to say you want to.

But you will want to.

Fifty States: Idaho

The B-52's: Private Idaho

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I love this song because it coined the phrase, "d00d, you're living in your own private Idaho", something I've been known to utter on occasion. There was also a great film based on it, Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho. Since Idaho is the potato state, you'd think that Devo, aka "The Spud Boys", would have an Idaho song, but the closest they got was the lyrics of Red Eye Express: "Something's rotten in Idaho and I don't know what to do" - I have the mp3 posted here, if interested. Now, sit back and enjoy The B-52's paean to self-absorption.

You're livin in your own Private Idaho
You're out of control, the rivers that roll
You fell into the water and down to Idaho
Get out of that state
Get out of that state you're in