Posted On: Saturday - March 16th 2024 7:30PM MST
In Topics: Music Peak Stupidity Roadshow
Tonight we will continue* our Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders music from their excellent early 1980s Learning to Crawl album with Thumbelina. Thumbelina is a little girl whose Mom, the song lyricist narrator**, is taking across this country on a road trip from somewhere in the northeast on the way to Tucson, Arizona... where her Mama's waiting, wearing a low-necked sweater, ... and the cat was cool and he never said a mumblin' word ... or something ... sorry, confusing my music here.
No, but there's no doubt what this song is about, going along with the concept of this album. I'll put all the lyrics here:
Hush little baby. Don't you cry.
When we get to Tucson, you'll see why
we left the snowstorms and the thunder and rain
for the desert sun. We're gonna be born again!
What's important in this world -
a little boy, a little girl.
Hush little darling. Go to sleep.
Look out the window, and count the sheep
that dot the hillsides and the fields of wheat
across America, as we cross America.
What's important and here today -
the broken line on the highway.
All the love in the world for you, girl.
Thumbelina, in a great, big scary world.
All the love in the world for you, girl.
Take my hand, and we'll make it through this world.
Hush little baby, my poor little thing.
You've been shuffled about like a pawned wedding ring.
It must seem strange. Love was here then gone,
and the Oklahoma sunrise becomes the Amarillo dawn.
What's important in this life -
Ask the man who's lost his wife.
Even MORE IMPORTANT, to us listeners, is that this song has a great Carter/Cash style flat-picking sound. Even that fade ending sounds like a country song by Johnny Cash, this one, which is about not one road trip, but many road trips. I've been everywhere in this here land.
What a fantastic song! (... though it's only my 2nd favorite on the album.)
I want to again thank the illustrious and ebullient Peak Stupidity commenters and all the other readers whose mood I have no idea of, since they don't write. We've got something different about the yellow pages and hotel reservations scams, a story out of Harvard good enough for the Babylon Bee, were it not unfortunately real, something about Mexican quality roofing, and plenty of stuff I'll remember next week. Happy Sunday, all!
* The first 3 songs we featured were Middle of the Road - - Back on the Chain Gang and Time the Avenger.
** It's written by Chrissie Hynde.
Comments:
Moderator
Monday - March 18th 2024 7:41AM MST
PS: "Any resemblance to any persons living or dead is purely in your head."
Haha, good video. Chrissie was definitely well past that wall by '99 too, but she was a good sport.
Haha, good video. Chrissie was definitely well past that wall by '99 too, but she was a good sport.
The Alarmist
Monday - March 18th 2024 5:11AM MST
PS
I forgot how cute the video for Popstar was...
https://youtu.be/rPLufihGZhE
I forgot how cute the video for Popstar was...
https://youtu.be/rPLufihGZhE
Moderator
Sunday - March 17th 2024 9:52AM MST
PS: I will look that up shortly, Alarmist. Where I am now, I can't turn the sound up. Thanks.
The Alarmist
Sunday - March 17th 2024 7:35AM MST
PS
I kind of liked some of the later, gritty stuff, like “Nails in the Road” from ¡Viva el Amor! The video from “Popstar” on that album was pretty funny as it spoofed popular artists like Britney Spears in what was their hey day.
I kind of liked some of the later, gritty stuff, like “Nails in the Road” from ¡Viva el Amor! The video from “Popstar” on that album was pretty funny as it spoofed popular artists like Britney Spears in what was their hey day.
"So your girlfriend wants to be a popstar
And beat the charts outta me
She wants to move a million units man
Probably just to prove she can
And after a couple of hits
She'll be buying a new pair of mitts
I can see just where she's heading
She's as predictable as Armageddon
Oh, they don't make 'em like they used to
They don't make 'em like they used to
No, they don't make 'em like they used to
You should have just stuck with me
Your girlfriend wants to be a popstar
And live in primrose hell
She'll join the meritocracy
And get to meet all of rocks aristocracy
And be someone everyone knows
Who all the designers send all their new clothes
But when she starts to look like Kylie Minogue
She might even get her picture in Vogue.
Baby they don't make 'em like they used to
They don't make 'em like they used to
No, they don't make 'em like they used to
You should have just stuck with me
Your baby wants to be a popstar
Probably just to spite me
She thinks it's so easy to get to the top
But a girl like that, she won't know where to stop
And when her most recent therapist
Suggests that maybe she become a buddhist
She might even consider giving up red meat
Man, you're gonna look back to when your life was so sweet
You know, they just don't make 'em like they used to
No, they don't make 'em like they used to, baby
They just don't make 'em like they used to
Yeah - you should have just stuck with me
You should have just stuck with me, baby "
I didn't do spelling, punctuation and other grammar correction on this one, since it's not a post.
This was maybe 5 years beyond the time I'd regularly - or even just in the car - listen to radio stations. Also, I'd already been off TV for a year or so, if this was '99. That's a decent tune, though, Alarmist, and, yes, the video is fun.