Monthly Archives: April 2024

Song of the Week – Finding Out True Love Is Blind, Louis XIV

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Today’s SotW has me conflicted.  It is “Finding Out True Love Is Blind,” by Louis XIV.

In 2005, when this song was released, I was living in San Diego, the home base of Louis XIV.  I remember hearing it on XETRA-FM, Radio 91X .

I know, you’re confused that the prominent British accent of the lead singer, Jason Hill, could be from a guy based in San Diego, CA.

So, what is my conflict?  The track has a very cool sound.  It has primal guitar riffs and a great arrangement with sweet female backing vocals.  But the lyrics!?!  Oh, those lyrics.  They are so troublesome.  Here’s just a sample from the first two verses:

Ah chocolate girl, well you’re looking like somethin’ I want
(finding out true love is blind)
Ah your little Asian friend well, she can come if she wants
(finding out true love is blind)
I want all those self-conscious girls who try to hide who they are with make-up
(finding out true love is blind)
You know it’s the girl with the frown with the tight pants I really want to shake up
(finding out true love is blind)

Hey carrot juice, I want to squeeze you the way until you bleed
(finding out true love is blind)
And your vanilla friend well she looks like something I need

I want miss little smart girl with your glasses and all your books
(finding out true love is blind)
And I want the stupid girl who gives me all those dirty looks
(finding out true love is blind)

Where do we go from here?  We can go totally woke and cancel the song, or we can accept it as the same kind of misogynistic, rock and roll stance that the Rolling Stones took with songs like “Stupid Girl” and “Under My Thumb.”  Tell the truth.  We love those songs, even though the lyrics might make us cringe, having the benefit of current enlightenment.  It’s only rock and roll, and I like it.

Walmart doesn’t agree.  They censored the cover of the band’s album by cropping off the bottom of the model’s butt crack.

Hill went on to work with David Bowie, The Killers, and The New York Dolls.  He also wrote film music for director David Fincher’s Gone Girl and Mindhunter, among other soundtracks.

So don’t judge me.  Just groove to the music.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Book of Love Songs

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I wonder, wonder who, mmbadoo-ooh, who.  Who wrote the Book Of Love?

The Monontones, 1957

I know the answer.  Lots of people.  But the first in the rock and roll era were members of the R&B/Doo-wop group, the Monotones – Warren Davis, George Mason, and Charles Patrick.

This popular song went all the way to #5 on the Billboard pop chart and has been included on the soundtracks of several “period” films, including American Graffiti and Stand by Me.

Fast forward through the ‘60s and ’70s to 1980 when British pub rock band Rockpile released their only album, Seconds of Pleasure.  The disc included the upbeat “When I Write the Book”, penned by Nick Lowe.

Seconds of Pleasure was one of the best albums of 1980,  so if you haven’t heard it, check it out.

Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello had a long-standing relationship, coming from the same music scene in England.  So it should come as no surprise that Costello credited Lowe for influencing him to write his “Everyday I Write the Book” (1983).

Included on Costello’s Punch the Clock, and released as a single, “Everyday…” was his first recording to make it into the US Top 40.

In the ‘80s, Fleetwood Mac also embraced the topic.  Their follow-up to the commercially disappointing Tusk was Mirage (1982), which included the track “Book of Love.”

“Book of Love” is a deep track, written by Lindsey Buckingham and Richard Dashut, who produced Mirage and other Fleetwood Mac albums.

In 1999, the Magnetic Fields (Stephin Merritt) released 69 Love Songs, one of which was another “Book of Love.”

This one is a lovely, introspective ode to the simple things that make us love someone.  It was later covered by Peter Gabriel on the album Scratch My Back (2010).

I have a feeling we should expect more books to be written in the years to come.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Fun to Lie, Psycho Sisters

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Hello readers.  I’m posting today from the French Quarter Fest in sunny New Orleans!  I’ve heard a lot of great music so far including Lena Prima, Kermit Ruffins, Bonerama, and Irma Thomas.  I also heard Susan Cowsill (yes, of the famous Cowsill family of the 60s) who has been a resident of New Orleans for many years.  That inspired me to make today’s SotW one of my favorite songs that features her.

The Psycho Sisters was a side project by Cowsill and Vicki Peterson, who was the lead guitarist for The Bangles.  They worked together in The Continental Drifters, along with Peter Holsapple (the dBs) and Mark Walton (the Dream Syndicate).  The duo wrote tunes together and toured as the Psycho Sisters in the mid-90s.  But they didn’t record their work together… until 10 years ago!

In 2014 their schedules realigned and they decided the songs they wrote and performed together as the Psycho Sisters were worthy of recording, along with a few covers.  I couldn’t agree more.  The result was a 10-track album called Up On The Chair, Beatrice.

The songs they wrote together are what you would expect, given their backgrounds – hook-laden power pop, complete with jangly guitars and memorable choruses.  The highlight is their tight, soaring harmonies.  But don’t let the music distract you from the charming and witty lyrics.  They deliver the complete package.

By the way, Cowsill and Peterson are now really sisters – or at least sisters-in-law.  Peterson married Cowsill’s brother John in 2003.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Scratch My Back, Jan Panter

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In the mid-60s, the British music industry seized on the popularity of “girl” singers with artists such as Marianne Faithfull (“As Tears Go By”), Petula Clark (“Downtown”), and Lulu (“To Sir With Love’).

But remaining true to the SotW mission statement, I need to go deeper than those well know singers.  Today’s track is “Scratch My Back” (1966), written and performed by Jan Panter.

The song reeks of mid-60s musical clichés.  It opens with a cowbell counting off quarter notes and a heavy, fuzz guitar riff.  I immediately picture this recording being used in an Austin Powers movie.  Horns and background vocals amp up the intensity.  You can see why it was chosen as the lead track on Ace Records compilation disc Scratch My Back! Pye Beat Girls 1963-1968.

Panter is a decent singer, but there’s no doubt that her good looks and sex appeal helped her launch her musical career.

I perused Discogs to check out the availability of Panter’s singles (she never released a full album).  A copy of “Scratch My Back” will set you back over $300!

Enjoy… until next week.