(Speaking of Elvis – did anyone know that a guy named ‘Johnny Ryall’ wrote ‘Blue Suede Shoes’? Us neither, but Beastie Boys swear blind that he did.) Rock’n’roll heroes have also proved a source of fascination for many, with Ian Dury trying to convince us that ‘Sweet Gene Vincent’ was a lovely guy after all Weezer wishing they were “just like” ‘ Buddy Holly’ and Dire Straits ‘Calling Elvis’, hoping to make a connection with that long-gone icon. Yes, marvel at ‘Happy Jack’, who, according to The Who, was completely impervious to the kids who “dropped things on his back” or T.Rex’s ‘Telegram Sam’, whose 3D vision and automatic shoes continue to astonish.
#WORDS TO BAD BOY SONG FULL#
Full of celebratory charm ( The Beach Boys’ ‘Brian’s Back’ rejoices in their leader’s return from a long hiatus), late-night laments (Tom Waits’ ‘Tom Traubert’s Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen)’ is enough to bring a grown man to tears) and pleas for understanding (‘John, I’m Only Dancing’ – well, that’s David Bowie’s side of the story), it runs the gamut of emotional experience, capturing, somewhere among the existential crises (Dionne Warwick’s ‘Alfie’ remains an exquisite outpouring of emotion), just how much those boys can enthral, frustrate and amaze. In the tradition of the great “answer” records of the 60s, our Mad About The Boys playlist is something of a riposte to our Girl Talk playlist, featuring the best songs about boys, and with boys’ names in them.
Dinah Washington was mad about the boy Chuck Berry implored Johnny to ‘B Goode’ (though Leroy Brown was no better: a bad, bad man, or so Frank Sinatra would have us believe) while Ulysses was, according to Cream, an extremely brave individual who commands us to sit in awe. Bad boys, toy boys, naughty boys and bell boys – the world is full of all kinds of fellas, and musicians have been inspired to write songs about boys in all kinds of ways.
0 kommentar(er)
