Long before Coronavirus I think Jonathan Richman was onto something when he said people would rather watch TV than hear a real person sing; for all his whimsy and clownlike goofiness, in 'USA Parties' Richman documents the rapid decline in fun and dearth of parties & encapsulates it beautifully in a tight 60s homage to both 'Louie Louie' and 'Hang on Sloopy'. In this miserable post-Brexit, Covid world we currently find ourselves in I think we could all do with Jonathan Richman in our lives right now.
"People are moving to California who hate the beach and things,
I think they'd rather watch TV than hear a real person sing."
Jonathan Richman - Parties in the USA (1992)
Yes, he saw the shape of things to come, sadly.
ReplyDeleteThere's a great line in Joe Jackson's Is She Really Going Out With Him? when he sings 'Tonight's the night when I go to all the parties down my street.' That's always resonated with me; a time when. seemingly, there was always a party going on somewhere.
DeleteReminds me of a Billy Connolly story - In the Glasgow of his youth you just walked the streets listening for parties in the tenements. You made up a common name and said they’d told you to go on up. Same everywhere I expect.
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