song of the day – “Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards” | BILLY BRAGG | 1988.

With it being Leap Day today (February 29th), I was inspired to share this song, which has no connection to Leap Day or Leap Year whatsoever – the Billy Bragg gem, “Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards.”

Englishman Billy Bragg has been releasing music since 1983, and in that time, he’s tackled Punk Rock, protest songs, Alt-Rock, Americana, Folk Punk and even did a couple of well-received albums with Wilco (of Woody Guthrie lyrics set to their music) in 1998 and 2000.

Billy Bragg, Live @ The Somerville Theatre, Somerville, MA, 3.23.2006

I’ve long been a fan of Billy Bragg, and his passion for what he’s singing about –  whether it’s sexuality, growing up, politics or a broken heart – exudes in every song he does.  When I saw him in perform at the Somerville (Mass.) Theatre in March 2006, he was brilliant.  It was just him and his guitar, and his presence filled the room.  That night, he turned a reworked version of Leadbelly’s “Bourgeois Blues” into his own “Bush War Blues.”  Genius.  He released the song as a free download the following day. 

“Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards” appears on Billy’s 1988 album, WORKER’S PLAYTIME, his fourth full-length record.  While on tour promoting the album, Billy said this about the song:

“I know that today it’s not very cool talk about Maoism.  Everybody says, ‘Maoism!  Oh, no!  How gauche!’  But this next song is called ‘Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.’  Now, the Great Leap Forwards was a plan by Mao to modernize China.  There was going to be a huge burst of activity and development for 18 months, and then China was going to be fully developed to compete in the modern world.

“Well, it didn’t work, and then things deteriorated into the Cultural Revolution, which was a very bad thing indeed.  But Mao once said a very interesting thing.  Someone said to him, ‘What do you think the effects were of the French Revolution in the late 18th century?’

“And Mao said, ‘It’s too early to tell.’”

Some truly great lines in this song, like “If you’ve got a blacklist, I want to be on it” and “If no one seems to understand / Start your own revolution, cut out the middleman.”  “Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards” comes replete with some reverse psychology, too.  The bottom line is, if you want to take the leap, whatever that may be, just go for it…  and don’t wait…

Hope you check out the video link below.  It’s Billy Bragg singing this song on Late Night With David Letterman in 1988 (with an interview too!).  Miss you Dave.  Miss you, too, Billy – hope you come back and see us again soon.  Cheers…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M9DC2DFtGs

song of the day – “Rachel” | STEVEN WRIGHT | 1985.

Of all the great comedy albums released in the 80s (Robin Williams’ brilliant REALITY…WHAT A CONCEPT was released in 1979), Steven Wright’s 1985 gem, I HAVE A PONY, stands out for me as THE best comedy album of the 80s.

A Cambridge, Mass. native, Steven Wright has had an excellent career in stand-up comedy and has been in many films and TV shows, including DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN and an early episode of WKRP IN CINCINNATI, which I will now have to re-watch to see him in it. 

For those who don’t know about Steven Wright or his one-liners and subdued type of comedic delivery, please, please, please check out I HAVE A PONY.  This album is smart (genius is more appropriate), absolutely hysterical and was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Comedy Album.  One of the many highlights on this 1985 album is the lone song on the record, “Rachel,” replete with references to The Beatles, poison ivy on the brain, emerald eyes and plaid hair, and Slinkys on escalators.  How can you go wrong with that?…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc2ksvUXwOw

song of the day – “Laughing” | R.E.M. | 1983.

I have been under the weather today, which sucks because it’s a Saturday and I had a lot to do, but with a kind suggestion from my dear and über-talented friend, Hope, I got some needed rest before doing anything else.  One of the things I needed to do today was laundry, and while switching back and forth between loads of colors and whites, I watched a movie called SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD, starring Steve Carell and Keira Knightley. 

If you haven’t heard of SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD, that’s prolly because it was in theaters for just 2 weeks.  It was released on July 18, 2012, the 70th birthday of the legendary Roger Ebert, who gave it a positive review and said of the film, “The best parts of this sweet film involve the middle stretches, when time, however limited, reaches ahead, and the characters do what they can to prevail in the face of calamity.  How can I complain that they don’t entirely succeed?  Isn’t the dilemma of the plot the essential dilemma of life?”

Roger Ebert sadly passed away that following April (2013) and, like many, many films he critiqued over the years, he was right about this one.  Those who know me know of my odd affection for apocalyptic-related films, not that I would ever want any of it to actually happen.  This film was released on Focus Features, which also released my favorite film of all time, 2004’s ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND with Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, and which won a much-deserved Academy Award for brilliant screenwriter Charlie Kaufman.

I just bought this used DVD copy of SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD, because I was curious about it, not thinking I would really, really dig it.  Some of my favorite actors are in it, like Martin Sheen, the always funny Patton Oswalt, and the wonderful Connie Britton.  The soundtrack was excellent, too, with some 80s gems from INXS and Wang Chung, and a song I have a huge soft spot for from 1968 – Herb Alpert’s “This Guy’s In Love With You.”

Now, those who also know me know I would try and correlate SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD with R.E.M.’s 1987 gem, “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” and use that as my “song of the day,” and it would be a fair bet I would do something like that.  Instead, and in a roundabout way, I’m going with one of my all-time favorite R.E.M. songs – “Laughing,” from their 1983 full-length debut studio album, MURMUR. 

I can’t exactly remember when “Laughing” became a part of my life.  1986’s LIFE’S RICH PAGEANT is my favorite R.E.M. album of the 80s, and being a Top 40 music fan for several years in my youth, I didn’t start getting into R.E.M. and their music until DOCUMENT came out, and “The One I Love” hit the Top 10 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100.  After that, perhaps with a big help from Michael, one of my best and oldest friends, I ended up being well-versed in all things R.E.M. soon enough, and maybe that’s how “Laughing” and I got to know each other.

“Laughing” is a simple song, with simple lyrics and a simple melody.  Sometimes that’s all you need to love a song.  Plus, I love laughing.  And I love “Laughing.”  And R.E.M.  And the very underrated, beautiful and laughingly lovely SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz7u-9ZHOgE

song of the day – “In The Shape Of A Heart” | JACKSON BROWNE | 1986.

I may have brought this up before in the blog (and I may again), but every once in awhile, I’ll think of a song and wonder, why didn’t that do better than it did?  Why didn’t radio get behind it more?  Why wasn’t it promoted more?  How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?  Well, I’m sure other folks have pondered those questions at some point, too, and maybe even the recording artists themselves (except maybe not that last question). 

Today’s “song of the day” popped up on my iPod in my Valentine’s Day playlist of “Heart Songs”  (thank you Weezer), featuring songs with the word “heart” in them.  A little kooky maybe and a roundabout way to put a playlist together, but it’s what I do.  Well, Jackson Browne’s “In The Shape Of A Heart” came on, and I still wonder to this day why it wasn’t a bigger song than it was.

“In The Shape Of A Heart” appears on the German-born singer’s eighth studio album, LIVES IN THE BALANCE.  In 1989, ROLLING STONE ranked LIVES IN THE BALANCE at No. 88 on a list of the best 100 albums of the 80s.  LIVES IN THE BALANCE featured songs that were essentially slaps in the face towards Ronald Reagan, and included the powerful title track and the album’s first single, “For America.” 

I bought this album, er, rather “received it” from the Columbia Record and Tape Club during my time at the then-New England School of Broadcasting (now the New England School of Communications, or NESCom).  I had enjoyed Jackson Browne’s music for years – not really a hardcore fan or anything – but, for whatever reason, I made a note to pick this album up.

Written about Jackson Browne’s first wife, Phyllis Major, who had died of a drug overdose 10 years earlier, “In The Shape Of A Heart” was a song of love and destruction and heartbreak.  Not knowing the origin of the subject matter, except knowing it seemed like a very personal song for him, I loved this song from the start.  It wasn’t meant for dancing (slow or fast), but that’s okay.  I think Jackson Browne really wanted folks to just listen to it.  And listen I did. 

I was disappointed when it stopped at No. 70 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in early July 1986, but even though I am a self-proclaimed “chart nerd,” if you like or love a song for whatever reason, you can’t let it be about what chart position it ended up at.  If you love a song, that’s good enough for me. 

In that ROLLING STONE list from 1989, the magazine labeled “In The Shape Of A Heart” as “one of Browne’s finest love songs.”  Personally, after faithfully listening to this song for 30 years, I think it’s not only one of hits finest love songs, but also one of his best, and prolly my second-favorite Jackson Browne song ever (after another underrated 80s gem of his I’ll come back to another time)…

People speak of love don’t know what they’re thinking of

Wait around for the one who fits just like a glove

Speak in terms of a life and the living

Try to find the word for forgiving

You keep it up

You try so hard

To keep a life from coming apart

And never know

The shallows and the unseen reefs

That are there from the start

In the shape of a heart…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbRKL6HHN88

song of the day – “Kids In America” | KIM WILDE | 1982.

What song do you think of when you hear the name Kim Wilde?  For me and prolly everyone I know, it won’t be her cover of The Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” the big No. 1 hit that made her a household name in the U.S. in 1987.

No, for most of us, it’ll always be “Kids In America.”  I can hear the opening chords on the WASP synthesizer now…

The 1981 U.K. single version of “Kids In America.”

“Kids In America” was the debut single for British newcomer and New Waver Kim Wilde, originally released in her U.K. homeland in January 1981.  Written by her brother Ricky and her 50s/60s U.K Rock ’n’ Roll star dad, Marty Wilde, “Kids In America” was an instant success, reaching No. 1 in Finland and South Africa, and the Top 10 in at least 12 other countries, including a U.K. peak of No. 2.

It took awhile, though, for “Kids In America” to actually make it to America.  It debuted on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in late May 1982, and worked its way to No. 25 in August of that year and parked itself there for a month.  Despite stopping at No. 25, it’s nearly five months on the Hot 100 was enough to make it one of the 100 biggest American singles of 1982.  It was also a hit on BILLBOARD’s Rock chart.

Besides “Kids In America” and “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” Kim Wilde wasn’t a fixture on the American Top 40, but had much success in the U.K. and abroad.  Between 1981 and 2006, she’s had 20 Top 40 hits in the U.K., and still holds the record for being the most-charted British solo act of the 1980s (with 17 Top 40 hits).

The 1982 U.S. version of “Kids In America.”

My chart nerdiness aside, I can remember the first time I heard “Kids In America” on my go-to radio station out of Bath, Maine, WIGY-FM.  If I could find a WIGY bumper sticker, I’d post a picture of it here in a hot second.  Loved that station!  Maybe somewhere in the bowels of my parents’ hayloft I can find the square Rolling Stones mirror I used to own, situated in a wood frame.  This is the type of memorabilia they used to sell in stores like Kmart in the early 80s.  You know, Rock bands with their logos in things like mirrors – AC/DC, Aerosmith, Boston, that sort of thing.  I used to have that Stones mirror in 1982, with the letters of the WIGY logo from the bumper sticker cut out and placed on the mirror to the left of the Rolling Stones tongue.  Funny (and not) how I can remember that but I can’t remember what I did a couple of days ago.

Sorry, I somehow went from my chart nerdiness to the nerdiness of my 15-year-old self.  But, you know, for three-and-a-half minutes in 1982, Kim Wilde’s “Kids In America” didn’t make me feel nerdy at all.  In fact, I think it’s one of the best songs to come out of the decade.  It’s certainly aged well.  And, regardless of age, it’s good to know we ARE the kids in America, and we DO live for the music-go-round.  At least I do…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t-QIqo-qkg

(real) one-hit wonder of the week – “A Good Heart | FEARGAL SHARKEY | 1986.

Between late 1979 and the end of 1989, there were nearly 500 (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s that reached the BILLBOARD Hot 100 just one time, a list that includes Soft Cell, Gary Numan, Timbuk 3, The Church, Bronski Beat, Nik Kershaw, The Buggles, The Waitresses, Ultravox and two different bands named The Silencers.  Once a week, I’ll highlight a (real) one-hit wonder for you.

If the name Feargal Sharkey doesn’t ring a bell, maybe the 1978 gem “Teenage Kicks” by the Punk / New Wave band, The Undertones, will.  The Undertones were from Derry, Northern Ireland, and Feargal Sharkey, also from Derry, was the band’s lead singer from 1975 through 1983.  “Teenage Kicks” (from the re-release of their 1979 self-titled debut album) put them on the music map, gave them a U.K. Top 40 hit, and a place in Punk / New Wave history.

The Undertones having a laugh…

 

“Teenage Kicks” has since been covered by artists like the Buzzcocks, Green Day, Franz Ferdinand, KT Tunstall, Rasputina, The Saw Doctors, the amazing Nouvelle Vague from Paris, and this small Southern Ireland band you may have heard of, U2.

Feargal Sharkey left the band in 1983 to pursue a solo career, and in the Fall of 1985, he scored himself a hugely popular global hit – “A Good Heart.”  From his self-titled debut album, “A Good Heart” had a lot of star power behind it – the song was written by Lone Justice’s Maria McKee, featured backing vocals by Culture Club’s Boy George, and was produced by one-half of the Eurythmics, David A. Stewart.

“A Good Heart” spent 2 weeks at No. 1 on both the U.K. and Irish singles charts in November 1985, 2 weeks at No. 1 in Australia, and reached the Top 10 in Belgium, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa and Switzerland. 

Now and then, U.S. radio programmers occasionally get it wrong and don’t promote excellent singles for whatever reason.  U.S. radio programmers did not have good tickers towards “A Good Heart.”  It stalled at No. 74 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 for 2 weeks in April 1986, and was gone from the chart 2 weeks later.  Feargal would go on to have 4 more U.K. Top 40 hits (including 1986’s “You Little Thief,” which reached No. 5 there), but he would never again grace the American chart.

Feargal Sharkey released 2 more albums through 1991, and then went to work for the music industry.  In 2013, in an interview with BBC Newcastle, he said, “I’ve had an absolutely brilliant career…  It’s time to get off the stage and make room for [new artists].”  A classy guy for sure, with a good song about a good heart that I, um, heart to this day…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx9qUR9P2ZQ

song of the day – “She Sells Sanctuary” | THE CULT | 1985.

The English band The Cult had been around for years in many incarnations before I was introduced to them in 1987, most likely by my then-new and young friend Travis.  Three bands come to mind when I think of Travis – The Police, INXS and The Cult.  He was (still is?) a HUGE fan of all three.  I believe he still owns just about everything The Cult ever released, including some earlier stuff like Southern Death Cult. 

The Cult family tree!

My first introduction to (the 1985 version of) The Cult – the charismatic Ian Astbury on vocals, guitarist extraordinaire Billy Duffy and gifted bassist Jamie Stewart – was 1985’s “She Sells Sanctuary” (from the excellent album, LOVE). 

“She Sells Sanctuary,” released in May 1985, was the first single released from LOVE, and once I learned about it, I absolutely had to have that record.  The 12” extended mix (or “Long Version,” as it’s labeled) is one of my all-time favorite remixes.  You ever need a Red Bull or that poopy crap 5-Hour Energy to get an energy fix?  Not me.  Put on the 12” mix of “She Sells Sanctuary” (or even the 4-minute album mix), and the driving alt-rock force and energy from that song will find YOU. 

There is something about this song that has always resonated with me, I can’t exactly put my finger on it.  But, if you are a DJ in a club, and you put this on, I promise you I will effing dance to it, no questions asked.  And it’s been (sadly) years since I’ve danced in a club.  It’s that kind of song; it literally moves me.  Not all songs – even if I love them to death – can get me out on the dance floor.  But this one will, every time.

This song never made any radio waves here in the U.S., though its parent album, LOVE, was a Gold album here.  In their U.K. homeland, The Cult hit No. 15 on the U.K. singles chart with “Sanctuary,” No. 12 in Canada and the Top 40 in Holland.  Their biggest American single was 1989’s “Fire Woman” (shake, shake, shake, shake it yeah!), from the album, SONIC TEMPLE.  It reached No. 46 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100.

I was never a huge fan of The Cult, but do love many of their songs, including “Love Removal Machine,” “Fire Woman,” “Wild Flower,” “The Witch” (another cool song from SONGS FROM THE COOL WORLD), 2007’s “Dirty Little Rockstar” and even their WAY out of place remix of 1994’s “Coming Down (Drug Tongue),” to name a few.

Earlier this month (February 2016 for those keeping track), The Cult released their guitar-heavy tenth studio album, HIDDEN CITY, produced by longtime collaborator Bob Rock, and so far it has charted in 12 countries, including America.  It’s the last part of a trilogy of albums that started with 2007’s BORN INTO THIS, and hits upon moments from their music past.

As for The Cult’s music past, the one moment that will always hit upon ME is that no holds barred, 7-minute, kick-ass 12” extended remix of “She Sells Sanctuary.”  One time years ago, during my STUCK IN THE 80s radio show on WMPG-FM and WMPG.org, I had that mix cranked up so loud in the studio, the clock fell off the wall.  In 20 years, it’s the ONLY time that’s happened…

“I’m sure in her you’ll find / The sanctuary…”  If the “her” mentioned in that lyric is about the song itself, then that’s damn right.  I find it every time…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCOSPtyZAPA

song of the day – “On The Road Again” | WILLIE NELSON | 1980.

In September 1980, I was 13 years old, and I had been getting into (mainly) Pop music for about a year and a half or so, faithfully listening to Casey Kasem’s AMERICAN TOP 40 every week.  At the end of September 1980, a song debuted on the chart called “On The Road Again,” by a Country singer/songwriter I had never heard of (yes, it’s true) named Willie Nelson. 

As I mentioned in my debut blog post back in January 2016, my mom listened to Country music, and with the exception of her favorite Country singer, Charley Pride, I was still learning about the genre through the crossover hits on AT40 and the occasional listen to Bob Kingsley’s AMERICAN COUNTRY COUNTDOWN (or, the Country equivalent to AMERICAN TOP 40; both used BILLBOARD charts).

“On The Road Again” was one of those crossover hits.  It was a short, simple, light-hearted song from a movie he starred in, HONEYSUCKLE ROSE, earned him a Grammy award and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.  It’s safe to say I liked it right away. 

I would later learn that Willie Nelson was 47 at that point (he turns 83 this year!), and though this was just his second BILLBOARD Top 40 solo Pop hit, he had been writing and recording songs for decades.  His song, “Crazy,” was popularized in 1962 by the late, great Patsy Cline.  It was a No. 2 Country hit and a No. 9 Pop hit. 

I’ve always had a lot of respect for Willie.  Not only has he been a champion for the farmers and for the working men and women, but he also never forgot who he was and never forgot his friends, or his fans.  And even when trouble found him (the I.R.S. comes to mind), he always prevailed. 

His ninth No. 1 BILLBOARD Country hit, “On The Road Again” spent a couple of weeks at No. 20 on the Hot 100 in November 1980, but he’d be back on the chart again soon enough with a huge, amazing cover of the song co-written by Brenda Lee and was an 1972 Elvis Presley classic (which Willie in 1982, and later the Pet Shop Boys in 1988, would turn into classics as well), “Always On My Mind.”

Willie Nelson is releasing a new album this month (February 26, 2016), SUMMERTIME: WILLIE NELSON SINGS GERSHWIN, which features guest appearances by Sheryl Crow and my girl, Cyndi Lauper, who has her first Country album coming out this year, titled DETOUR. 

There’s just an elite number of recording artists (in my humble opinion) that can take on any genre and run away with it.  Cyndi’s on that list, along with Sting, Elvis Costello and Willie Nelson, to name a few.  I’ve heard Willie cover songs like “The Rainbow Connection,” “Georgia On My Mind” and “Time After Time” with grace and style, and he’ll continue as such on gems like “Embraceable You,” “But Not For Me” and “Someone To Watch Over Me.”  Of that, I have no doubt. 

It’s funny to think that I had no idea Willie Nelson was already a legend in 1980.  I have a bit of a better idea now, all thanks to a two-and-a-half minute song about him not being able to wait to get on the road again…  Thanks Willie…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U52qN5MS6hw

song of the day – “As The End Draws Near” | MANUFACTURE feat. SARAH McLACHLAN | 1987.

I first learned about Sarah McLachlan around 1991 or 1992, and I’m betting it was during my time at the University of Maine at Farmington, DJing at the mighty WUMF (replete with 13 watts of alternative power).  Sarah had released what turned out to be her second album, SOLACE, featuring such great songs like “Into The Fire,” “Drawn To The Rhythm” and “The Path Of Thorns (Terms).”

Fast forward 2 years later, and my first year in Portland, Maine.  It was 1994, when rents were more than reasonable, I was meeting new friends – lifelong friends – and Portland wasn’t anywhere close to imploding, which is what is going to happen if they keep pretending they are a bigger city than they really are and if they keep building apartments and condos upon apartments and condos, where apartments and condos shouldn’t be.  But that’s another argument for another time.

1994 was the year I fell in love with Sarah McLachlan and her music.  FUMBLING TOWARDS ECSTASY had been released in late 1993, and much like myself, it was a late bloomer.  By the time Sarah made it to Portland’s recently reopened State Theater (I had somehow managed to score a couple of great seats near the stage; a time when most ticket prices were also more than reasonable), FUMBLING was finding its feet, and that show is still one of THE best concerts I’ve ever seen.

Between that concert in 1994 and when I started STUCK IN THE 80s on WMPG-FM and WMPG.org in 1996, I managed to learn that Sarah actually released her first album, TOUCH, in late 1988.  The Nova Scotia native was 20 years old.  Prior to the album’s release, a relatively new Canadian record label, Nettwerk, approached Sarah about a record contract.  She was only 17. 

In between Nettwerk’s interest in Sarah McLachlan and the release of TOUCH, I also learned the (then) 19-year-old appeared on an album by a Nettwerk band, Manufacture (out of Boston).  Their 1987 debut album was TERRORVISION, and the song was “As The End Draws Near,” co-written by Sarah McLachlan.

An extended remix of “As The End Draws Near” appeared on Sarah’s 1996 compilation, RARITIES, B-SIDES AND OTHER STUFF.  It was this cool, New Wave-ish dance song that may have been a precursor to other songs she collaborated on, like Delirium’s “Silence,” which Sarah also co-wrote and which was originally released in 1997, but got so much airplay over a long period of time, it stuck around for 3 years and became a global hit.  A 2005 remix actually hit No. 1 on BILLBOARD’s Dance chart.

“As The End Draws Near” didn’t really make any chart waves anywhere, but with Sarah’s popularity in the 90s, especially in her Canadian homeland, it helped RARITIES reach No. 10 on the Canadian album chart and it went triple-platinum there.

In 2014, Sarah released her eighth studio album, SHINE ON, and even came back to Maine for the first time in awhile, though I wasn’t able to go.  I’ve loved Sarah and her music for a long time.  She’s an incredibly gifted musician, singer and songwriter, and as much as I’d love to see her do an all-piano album and tour, I think it’s cool when she branches out and contributes on songs a bit outside of the “pop music” realm, like “Silence” and “As The End Draws Near.”  Maybe a future album, in honor of her 30 years in music, might be fumbling towards piano and dance – together.  I’d like that…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-P5Q65rCUc

song of the day – “Fade Away” | BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN | 1981.

Whenever I think of “lost or forgotten” 80s singles, first I think of Barry Scott, who, for decades, has long-championed those singles from the 60s, 70s and 80s that were once hits but have been mostly forgotten by radio stations for whatever reason.  His show is, appropriately titled, THE LOST 45s.  Check it out at lost45.com. 

In a similar vein, one of the reasons I started my little 80s radio program on WMPG-FM and WMPGorg in Portland, Maine, STUCK IN THE 80s, was so I could bring back some of those songs from the 80s to the airwaves most folks don’t hear much anymore.   One of those “lost or forgotten” gems from the 80s, and today’s “song of the day,” is “Fade Away” by Bruce Springsteen.

“Fade Away” was the second single from Bruce Springsteen’s fifth studio album (and first BILLBOARD No. 1 LP), the 2-record set, THE RIVER.  Released immediately following the big success of his first Top 10 single ever, “Hungry Heart,” “Fade Away” started off strong, reaching the Top 40 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in just its third week (on this date – February 21 – in 1981).

But, 3 weeks later, “Fade Away” quickly reached its peak position of No. 20 on the Hot 100, and after 12 total weeks, it faded away from the chart.  Bruce wouldn’t hit the Hot 100 again for 4 years, when he rocketed in with “Dancing In The Dark.”

I’ve always wondered with certain songs why they start off so strong, and then just fade away (no pun intended).  Was “Fade Away” too slow?  Was it the subject matter of pain and lost love?  That can’t be it, because there have always been slow songs about pain and lost love.  Maybe it’s because “Fade Away” probably wasn’t supposed to be released as the second single.  In the U.K. and Europe, the album’s title track was released as the “Hungry Heart” follow-up, while in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, it was “Fade Away.” 

Paul McCartney would go through the same thing with Columbia Records a few years later when the title track for his album, PIPES OF PEACE, was released as the A-side everywhere but North America, and it reached No. 1 in the U.K. and Ireland, while the North American A-side was “So Bad” – a good song, but it didn’t even crack the BILLBOARD Top 20 on the Hot 100, and one wonders (okay, me) if “Pipes Of Peace” would have been released here, would it have had the same success as abroad?  I think it would have; it’s an amazing song.

“Fade Away” is an amazing song, too, but whether or not it was because of its disappointing chart ranking, it wasn’t played much on the original tour for THE RIVER, and was dropped off the concert playlist completely for a long time.  Well, with the continuation of the 35th anniversary tour for THE RIVER, Bruce and the E Street Band are playing the album in its entirety, which I’m guessing (and hoping) would include “Fade Away.”  Even the E Street’s legendary Steve Van Zandt has said that “Fade Away” is one of his favorite Springsteen songs: “It’s just one of those funny, lost little gems, you know?”  Yes, I do know, Little Steven, yes I do…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP9PHwClSfE