"Come On Eileen" by Dexys Midnight Runners (f/John Franklin)

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, Chris Vifalius here.

[00:00:02] If you enjoy One Hit Thunder, which I'm assuming you do considering you're listening to it

[00:00:06] right now, I want to tell you about another great music podcast on the Evergreen Podcast

[00:00:10] Network.

[00:00:11] It's called Riffs on Riffs.

[00:00:13] On this season of Riffs on Riffs, hosts Toby Braswell and Joe Watson are breaking

[00:00:17] down one iconic pop song each week.

[00:00:20] Everything from Taylor Swift's Cruel Summer to Journey's Don't Stop Believing to Naughty

[00:00:24] by Nature's OPP.

[00:00:27] Each week, they crack open the song, trace its history, decode those cryptic lyrics and

[00:00:32] unearth the hidden gems in its musical DNA.

[00:00:35] Not only do they dive into the song's history, lyrics and impact, they also go down some

[00:00:39] fun and oftentimes hilarious rabbit holes.

[00:00:42] So yeah, if you're a fan of One Hit Thunder, I think you'll also enjoy Riffs on Riffs,

[00:00:47] so go hit that subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get

[00:00:51] your pods.

[00:00:54] Join us this week as we welcome back comedian and reality show star John Franklin to explore

[00:01:12] the irresistible come on Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners.

[00:01:16] While you may only remember them for their one US hit and for dressing and overalls,

[00:01:20] Dexys Midnight Runners are far more than just a novelty act.

[00:01:23] Led by the visionary Kevin Rowland, the band is a fully-fledged concept group revered

[00:01:28] by critics and cherished by fans worldwide.

[00:01:31] Tune in to discover the depth and brilliance behind this iconic band and why their

[00:01:35] repertoire extends far beyond their most famous hit.

[00:01:53] Alright, so John, welcome back.

[00:02:19] You're here today to talk with us about a song and a band.

[00:02:24] I cannot believe we are like 200 some episodes into this podcast and have not covered

[00:02:30] this. Some people might think this would be one of the first 10 episodes we do,

[00:02:35] but here we are.

[00:02:36] Special little disclaimer to people in the UK.

[00:02:39] Yes, we know that Dexys Midnight Runners are not a one hit wonder in the UK.

[00:02:44] In fact, they had two number one hits, Gino and Come on Eileen in the UK.

[00:02:50] But we are a US based show.

[00:02:53] So to us, Dexys Midnight Runners are a one hit wonder as I'm sure you guys would

[00:02:58] agree. Well, this is also a first because this is the first time we're covering

[00:03:02] the song for a second time.

[00:03:04] Somehow we did the Save Ferris one hit thunder episode before we did the

[00:03:09] Dexys Midnight Runners one.

[00:03:11] And I think our struggle with the Save Ferris episode was that there really

[00:03:16] wasn't much to say about the band Save Ferris, but there is so much to say

[00:03:22] about Dexys Midnight Runner.

[00:03:24] Is there? Oh, John, did you do any research on this or are we about to

[00:03:28] educate you?

[00:03:29] We're going to learn together.

[00:03:32] This is I watched a little mini documentary on YouTube that was titled

[00:03:38] something like the chaotic history of Dexys Midnight Runners.

[00:03:43] And boy, oh boy, trying to even keep track of this one is pretty crazy.

[00:03:49] But I will say Kevin Rowland, Kevin Rowland is the center of the

[00:03:54] universe when it comes to Dexys Midnight Runners.

[00:03:57] Wait, I'm looking at their Wikipedia page right now.

[00:03:59] What did they do?

[00:04:00] The entire UK play in this band at some point.

[00:04:04] Forty nine, forty nine past members.

[00:04:07] I counted them.

[00:04:08] Forty nine past members and 13, I think 13 to 14 of them left the band

[00:04:13] before Come On Eileen.

[00:04:15] Like the the rotation.

[00:04:17] So basically, John, what do you have to understand right out the gate

[00:04:21] with this? And this will probably explain a lot about this band, too,

[00:04:25] to a certain extent.

[00:04:26] Like you like Chris just said, Kevin Rowland is the name you need to

[00:04:29] know with Dexys Midnight Runners.

[00:04:32] And by all accounts, he is the entire creative force of this band.

[00:04:36] And he is a bit of a control freak.

[00:04:39] And that can be one of two things.

[00:04:42] And that can either just be a complete narcissist

[00:04:44] or it could be an actual genius at work.

[00:04:49] And there are a lot of people and I won't say for sure,

[00:04:53] but let's just say that maybe I'm one of those people

[00:04:56] who leans towards the genius side.

[00:04:58] Dexys Midnight Runner put out three albums during their first run as a band,

[00:05:03] broke up for roughly 15 years and then came back

[00:05:06] and have put out three more records.

[00:05:08] Their most recent record came out last year.

[00:05:10] Like they are still an active recording band.

[00:05:13] And there is not a single record in their catalog

[00:05:17] that is not a critically well received album.

[00:05:23] And a large portion of that is because I think Kevin Rowland

[00:05:26] has exactly what you want in a band leader,

[00:05:29] which is that he has a very clear vision of what

[00:05:34] what he is trying to craft with these albums.

[00:05:37] And that can be detrimental as we get deeper into this.

[00:05:40] But let me ask John a question.

[00:05:42] Let me ask John a question. Yeah, go ahead.

[00:05:44] When you think about Dexys Midnight Runners,

[00:05:47] does a something visual come to mind?

[00:05:51] I was just about to go here. Yeah.

[00:05:53] My cousin, Chris, who I think I believe has also been on the show.

[00:05:56] Oh, yeah, he has showed me.

[00:05:59] And this wasn't in preparation for this.

[00:06:01] This is like years ago, I think a live version of this song

[00:06:04] that is so bad on YouTube is so bad.

[00:06:08] And it's actually been at runners.

[00:06:10] And I know what they look like because of that.

[00:06:12] Wouldn't be able to tell you otherwise.

[00:06:14] But when I think like visually, when I think of this song,

[00:06:16] I think of Tommy Boy. OK.

[00:06:18] But there's not like a specific pair of clothing

[00:06:20] that you associate with with the band fashion wise.

[00:06:23] No, am I am I supposed to be?

[00:06:24] Do they all wear something like high waisted pants or something?

[00:06:27] So so when when this video blew up,

[00:06:31] they went for a look of like they were a band of traveling gypsies

[00:06:37] was the way that he described it.

[00:06:39] So it was like country mixed with that.

[00:06:41] So it was like overalls and bandanas.

[00:06:44] And I'm looking at it. Yeah.

[00:06:46] This is that.

[00:06:47] But that was not their original look the first time around.

[00:06:51] What do you mean?

[00:06:52] So with each album.

[00:06:56] Oh, my God.

[00:06:57] Kevin had a different style for the entire band

[00:07:00] to fit the concept of every album that they put out.

[00:07:04] Oh, I'm looking at it.

[00:07:08] Wow. Yeah.

[00:07:10] Like stark contrast between first album in the late 70s and and come on.

[00:07:14] Eileen, right? You've got are you looking at the one now

[00:07:17] where they're in like jackets and leather coats with wool caps

[00:07:21] and they kind of just all look like they're Robert De Niro from Mean Streets?

[00:07:24] I see that one.

[00:07:25] But I also see it looks like Don't Stand Me Down.

[00:07:29] Yep. Totally different band as well, right?

[00:07:31] And they are they look like like a corporate American family.

[00:07:36] That's my favorite Dexys look.

[00:07:38] That was the album.

[00:07:39] That was the album after Come On, Eileen.

[00:07:42] But you know what?

[00:07:44] Yeah. Well, we'll get into that.

[00:07:46] There this that may be a very big reason why there was

[00:07:50] not a follow up hit from this.

[00:07:52] But people loved that album.

[00:07:53] That was people love that album.

[00:07:55] But we'll get there. We'll get there.

[00:07:57] We have to start at the beginning of this.

[00:07:59] So the start of this band was two guys,

[00:08:04] Kevin Archer and and Kevin Rowland,

[00:08:07] who are in a punk band called The Killjoys in the 70s.

[00:08:12] Now, in the UK, specifically in Birmingham, England,

[00:08:17] there was this huge movement called the Northern Soul.

[00:08:21] Are you familiar with this at all?

[00:08:23] Me personally? Yeah.

[00:08:26] No, yeah, you don't have to be.

[00:08:28] You don't have to be. I'm just trying.

[00:08:29] I'm going to assume that John was not in England in the late 70s.

[00:08:33] Can we assume what it is, though?

[00:08:35] I'm like reading along as you're doing this.

[00:08:37] So I know what I see what it is.

[00:08:39] So I'm not I don't know what it is.

[00:08:41] So, Chris, I think that we talked about Northern

[00:08:44] Soul with AJ Santini when he came on to talk about.

[00:08:49] But it's all right.

[00:08:51] And basically, Northern Soul was in Birmingham, England.

[00:08:55] There was this huge movement of mostly it seemed punk rock teens

[00:09:01] who just like to take speed and dance their asses off

[00:09:06] to obscure 60s American soul records and not the famous ones.

[00:09:12] The the deep cuts that barely charted in the states.

[00:09:18] They ate that shit up.

[00:09:19] In fact, speed was so prevalent

[00:09:23] that that's where this band name literally comes from.

[00:09:27] Yeah, I'm literally looking at this right now.

[00:09:30] So it was basically it was basically like their band name was like,

[00:09:34] we really like speed is like with which is funny because Kevin

[00:09:39] Rowland asked all the bands to abstain from drinking or doing any drugs

[00:09:43] before they would go on stage.

[00:09:44] Well, also, I would like to say I'm not pushing drugs here.

[00:09:48] Don't do drugs. But if you're going to do drugs,

[00:09:51] if you're going to use amphetamines

[00:09:54] for the sake of dancing all night to old soul records,

[00:09:58] I think that's a pretty cool reason to do it.

[00:10:02] It's not a bad one. Yeah, I agree with that.

[00:10:04] Well, Kevin being the.

[00:10:07] I mean, crazy bandleader here, crazy, I think in a good way.

[00:10:12] He insisted I agree, too.

[00:10:14] He insisted that anyone that played in his band,

[00:10:16] you approach this like a full time job.

[00:10:18] We are practicing from nine to five every day.

[00:10:21] So if you're not down with that, get out. You're out.

[00:10:25] And I mean, yeah, I mean, if you're going to take it seriously

[00:10:28] and make this your career, I think that's a pretty awesome approach.

[00:10:33] And especially with if you watch,

[00:10:35] if you watch the performances from this era,

[00:10:39] I mean, they have like 12 people on that stage

[00:10:43] playing all types of different instruments.

[00:10:45] And that's you can't do that well

[00:10:48] if you're practicing for like two hours a week.

[00:10:51] You know what I mean?

[00:10:51] Like you need to really hammer out what every horn player is doing,

[00:10:56] what like the rhythm section is doing and like really get that down

[00:11:00] to a fine, fine art.

[00:11:03] And they kind of that first album is kind of interesting

[00:11:05] because it is very northern soul inspired.

[00:11:08] But at the time, they were also touring with the specials.

[00:11:12] And it does feel like it has a little bit of that, like specials madness

[00:11:16] walking that line of ska versus new wave music of like the early 80s

[00:11:21] a little bit with how heavy the horns are in there.

[00:11:26] There's a great quote from Roland in 1980.

[00:11:30] So before Come on, Eileen, this was when they were blowing up

[00:11:33] with their first single, Gino, which we'll talk about.

[00:11:36] But he said, we didn't want to be part of anybody's movement.

[00:11:39] We want it to become our own movement.

[00:11:42] Image became extremely important in our group.

[00:11:44] We want it to be a group that looked like something,

[00:11:47] a formed group, a project, not just random people on a stage.

[00:11:52] That's exactly what they looked like.

[00:11:54] Let's say they looked exactly like random people on the stage.

[00:11:58] If you saw them, if you saw them four years apart,

[00:12:01] you saw an entire you were probably so fucking confused.

[00:12:04] Yeah. Like if you weren't prepared for it,

[00:12:06] like you just showed up and you were like,

[00:12:08] I last time I saw them, they look like a bunch of vagabonds.

[00:12:11] And now they look like they they learned how to use like TI-83

[00:12:14] calculator calculators.

[00:12:17] Ridiculous.

[00:12:19] Yeah, the dude definitely had a vision with each album

[00:12:23] beyond just the music, the music especially.

[00:12:25] Now, John, you said you saw a performance of them where they were bad.

[00:12:29] I'm surprised there's a flute. There's a flute in there.

[00:12:34] Like on the Wikipedia page, I love it.

[00:12:36] Like there's like when you look under the timeline of the band members,

[00:12:39] like they have different colors for different instruments.

[00:12:40] And like one of them is just like it's this flute.

[00:12:42] And you're like, I hope that was one person.

[00:12:46] You know how many they went through multiple flute players.

[00:12:48] They're out there.

[00:12:50] Yeah. How many flout is it going to take to get Dexys Midnight

[00:12:53] Runners really running? Yeah.

[00:12:54] That's what I want to know.

[00:12:56] Yeah, it's a lot. Yeah.

[00:12:58] All right. So they they have a minor hit out the gate with this song

[00:13:01] Dance Dance, their first ever single.

[00:13:04] They get signed their second single Gino hits number one in the UK

[00:13:08] before the album's even close to completion.

[00:13:11] And it's literally a song in tribute to Gino Washington

[00:13:15] and the Ram Jam Band, which was another one of those obscure.

[00:13:20] No one's ever heard of them.

[00:13:21] 60 soul singers that was huge in this northern soul style.

[00:13:25] But it's obviously the second album called To La Ray

[00:13:31] that comes out and it ends with this song.

[00:13:35] Come on, Eileen.

[00:13:37] This this massive hit that became number one in the UK

[00:13:42] and it became the number one song in the United States.

[00:13:45] Let's dive into this factoid, because this is so cool.

[00:13:49] It peaks at number one on April 23rd, 1983.

[00:13:56] And if there's one thing that Dexys Midnight Runner can take credit for,

[00:14:00] it is for one week.

[00:14:02] They kept Michael Jackson from having back to back number one hits.

[00:14:06] Because the week before this, the number one song in America was Billie Jean.

[00:14:10] And the week after this, the number one song in America was Beat It.

[00:14:13] But he was held back by the the power of the Dexys.

[00:14:19] Unbelievable is this top 10 during the week that this peaked.

[00:14:23] Chris, I feel like you also normally check into this stuff.

[00:14:26] I hope you didn't, because I would love to get both of your reactions.

[00:14:29] I did to this stacked list. OK.

[00:14:32] At number 10, we had a song that we've covered

[00:14:35] on this podcast, Thomas Dolby's She Blinded Me With Science.

[00:14:39] OK, great song. Great song.

[00:14:42] Number nine, David Bowie, Let's Dance. Right.

[00:14:45] OK. Number eight, Journey Separate Ways.

[00:14:48] Oh, wow.

[00:14:50] Number seven, probably the deepest cut on this entire top

[00:14:53] 10 list, Hall and Oates one on one.

[00:14:56] Oh, I love that song.

[00:14:57] Very solid song.

[00:14:58] But yeah, that is not for the ones that you've said it against. Yeah.

[00:15:03] Yeah. Number six, After the Fire, Der Carmezar,

[00:15:07] which for those of you who don't know, it's the don't turn around.

[00:15:11] Oh, yeah.

[00:15:13] Now this top five number five, Michael Jackson's Billy Jean

[00:15:17] making its way down the chart.

[00:15:19] Number four, the Greg Ken band Jeopardy.

[00:15:22] Great song.

[00:15:23] Number three sticks, Dr. Roboto or Mr. Roboto.

[00:15:28] Dr. Roboto is from Sonic the Hedgehog.

[00:15:30] That's that's my father.

[00:15:34] Michael Jackson beat it at number two and sitting at the top of the pile.

[00:15:38] Dixie's Midnight Runners, Tomon Eileen.

[00:15:40] That does.

[00:15:41] Mid 80s are awesome for music.

[00:15:44] Matt, you skipped over, though, something I think is pretty important

[00:15:48] from Gino, which would this hit this number one hit in the UK

[00:15:53] between the time that that came out and they recorded another album

[00:15:57] and this becomes a hit.

[00:15:58] He fired pretty much he fired and or members quit the entire band.

[00:16:03] And this was a bit was just him and the trombone player

[00:16:06] were the only people left by the time he formed, you know, a brand new band.

[00:16:09] The ever important trombone player.

[00:16:13] He stuck around the trombone player stuck around because he probably

[00:16:16] he was like, it's not getting better than this.

[00:16:18] Yeah. Well, they those two, Kevin and the trombone.

[00:16:24] What was his name?

[00:16:25] It was a big, big Jim Peterson.

[00:16:29] They wrote this.

[00:16:30] Those two were known as what the Celtic Brothers or something like that?

[00:16:35] They were. Yeah. And there's even a song.

[00:16:37] There's a song on the album even called like the Celtic Brothers

[00:16:40] jig or something like that.

[00:16:41] Yeah. So those two went on and just things never stop changing.

[00:16:47] So for this era of Dexys that we all know and love because of this song,

[00:16:52] they got some string and they made everybody

[00:16:55] everybody who joined the band to play like violin or let me see what

[00:16:59] who played what in this era, because he made them all change their name

[00:17:04] to sound like more Irish or Scottish.

[00:17:07] Well, I know that the violin player, he changed her name to Helen O'Hara.

[00:17:11] Yeah, that's not her name.

[00:17:13] But yes, they were all made to change their names to sound

[00:17:17] to fit in with that look of that era of the band.

[00:17:21] And yeah, it became a huge song.

[00:17:23] Kevin Rowland really hated the press.

[00:17:27] So after Gino became a hit, he put an embargo on any of his band members

[00:17:32] or him talking to the press ever because

[00:17:36] what they were writing about them was that they were

[00:17:40] effectively that they were inauthentic,

[00:17:43] that they were just imitating this 60s music,

[00:17:47] but it wasn't coming through as real or authentic,

[00:17:50] which I tend to disagree with.

[00:17:52] I think it sounds pretty good and pretty cool to me.

[00:17:55] Maybe it's because I'm 40 years removed from it now.

[00:17:57] So it all sounds like classic music to me.

[00:18:00] But that was the complaint at the time, which I could see.

[00:18:04] I don't remember people saying this too much about Amy Winehouse,

[00:18:07] because she had a throwback sound, but I think she did a good job

[00:18:10] of replicating it.

[00:18:12] But I have heard complaints about people that try to throw it back,

[00:18:16] but it doesn't sound authentic.

[00:18:17] It just sounds too modern for what they're doing.

[00:18:21] You know who I think that it didn't happen to Amy Winehouse,

[00:18:25] but it definitely, I think, happened to like Meghan Trainor.

[00:18:28] Oh, right. Like Meghan Trainor had more of like just not very good.

[00:18:31] Yeah. Well, that's also it too.

[00:18:33] But that goes hand in hand with it.

[00:18:35] I think she was inauthentic.

[00:18:37] Yeah. She was trying to sound

[00:18:39] do-wop ish or whatever she was trying to sound.

[00:18:41] But it was too, too modern pop.

[00:18:44] But hey, she had a huge hit from it.

[00:18:46] So I guess it works for her.

[00:18:48] Well, in the UK, they had another minor hit after Come on, Eileen,

[00:18:54] which I love.

[00:18:55] They covered Van Morrison's song.

[00:18:58] Jackie Wilson said, I'm in heaven when you smile.

[00:19:01] It's a great song and they do an equally good version of it like

[00:19:05] they this style translate.

[00:19:07] The transition of sound makes total sense

[00:19:11] with them covering this particular song.

[00:19:13] And yeah, that is one of I would say that's in like the top 10

[00:19:16] Van Morrison songs for me.

[00:19:17] That is a great, great song.

[00:19:20] Now, let me ask you this, John.

[00:19:23] What do you think the song Come on, Eileen is about?

[00:19:26] Oh, well, because there's technically two answers to this question.

[00:19:31] Right. So.

[00:19:34] When a man and a woman love each other very much,

[00:19:38] I knew you were going for this.

[00:19:39] No, I won't go there.

[00:19:41] You were going blue. Yeah.

[00:19:43] I was going get me canceled before I even started.

[00:19:46] I mean, he's at a bar.

[00:19:47] He sees a girl that's really beautiful.

[00:19:49] She's in that dress.

[00:19:51] He wants to take her home.

[00:19:53] His thoughts for John dirty.

[00:19:55] I'm one of the rare people who might know all the words

[00:19:57] to come on straight forward.

[00:19:58] I think I'm right there with you, but I think I think what he did.

[00:20:02] He sees a girl across the bar, wants to take her home type of a situation.

[00:20:05] Very simple.

[00:20:06] But so so there's two answers to this.

[00:20:10] So one answer is that Kevin Rollins said that there's no actual Eileen,

[00:20:15] but that she's a composite

[00:20:17] to make a point about his growing up as a Catholic schoolboy

[00:20:21] and the sexual repression that he experienced as a teenager

[00:20:25] because he was told that sex is dirty.

[00:20:28] Hands like a lyric like Verges on dirty.

[00:20:30] But since you say you think you know all the words to it,

[00:20:33] I want you to think of it through this lens.

[00:20:36] It at the time very often was referred to

[00:20:40] as England's version of born to run.

[00:20:42] That it's about two people trying to escape the shittiness

[00:20:47] of the world that they live in, specifically with that second verse

[00:20:51] where it says these people around here were beaten down eyes

[00:20:55] and sunk in smoke dried face and are resigned to what their fate is.

[00:20:58] But not us. We're too young and clever.

[00:21:01] So it's like that idea of like we're going to pack up

[00:21:03] or we're going to run away like, come on, Eileen,

[00:21:05] we're going to get the fuck out of this.

[00:21:06] This shit makes sense.

[00:21:08] I mean, now to be and look, look, look, I'm not.

[00:21:11] I'm not trying to get myself an out here, but had I given you

[00:21:15] the answer that I thought it was about.

[00:21:19] His Catholic upbringing and giving you all that information,

[00:21:23] you would have been like, all right, well, that's cheating.

[00:21:26] Like you would not believe me.

[00:21:30] So I set you up to fail.

[00:21:32] Yeah, and that's totally fine.

[00:21:35] And that is so OK.

[00:21:36] Like that is so OK.

[00:21:37] But that's interesting because like I grew up Catholic.

[00:21:40] I grew up Catholic, too.

[00:21:42] Yeah, which I think is a good interesting point because I make this joke on stage

[00:21:47] because like Catholicism and growing up that way is interesting

[00:21:51] because there's a lot of like tongue in cheek.

[00:21:52] You don't talk about certain things.

[00:21:54] They're like, I never had the talk with my parents at all, like ever.

[00:21:57] Yeah, but probably lucky whenever is awkward.

[00:22:01] The only the only time that my dad ever talked to me about sex was

[00:22:05] the day before I left for college, he came into my bedroom

[00:22:08] in my parents' house and threw Steely Dan's greatest hits on vinyl

[00:22:12] and a 300 pack box of direct brand condoms on my bed.

[00:22:15] And she went, I did my job and left the room.

[00:22:18] So you could say I didn't get the best.

[00:22:20] But my overall my overall point being with the Catholicism thing

[00:22:23] was like, we don't talk about anything.

[00:22:25] But then if you're married,

[00:22:27] all you could talk about at family events is like, we're trying to get pregnant.

[00:22:30] Yeah, which I think is like super uncomfortable because it's like

[00:22:34] it's like, oh, great.

[00:22:35] Like cousin Joanne's getting raw dog this week.

[00:22:37] Like, you know, that's so funny.

[00:22:40] You say that I think about that all the time.

[00:22:41] People say we're trying to get pregnant.

[00:22:43] So yes, I am like it's like, yeah.

[00:22:47] What are we talking about? What are we talking about?

[00:22:49] Yes. And so I get I get where he's coming from.

[00:22:52] He's like, I wasn't even allowed to talk about finding a woman attractive.

[00:22:55] So I'm going to write a song about how much I find this

[00:22:57] like essentially fictionalized version of what I like.

[00:23:00] The idea of being attracted to a woman into hit song,

[00:23:03] I think is pretty interesting. Right. Yeah.

[00:23:05] And Chris, we actually very recently discussed

[00:23:09] an element of this song on the podcast because we covered

[00:23:13] the beloved hit Are You Jimmy Ray?

[00:23:14] Where one of the questions is, are you Johnny Ray?

[00:23:17] Wow. We talked about how the opening line of this song

[00:23:20] is poor old Johnny Ray sounded sad upon the radio.

[00:23:24] And we were talking about how all of his hit songs

[00:23:26] were songs like crying and crying on the on the moon.

[00:23:30] And like a lot of his songs really said,

[00:23:32] I did read someone breaking down that lyric.

[00:23:35] And they were saying like that song,

[00:23:38] that part almost feels like saying like poor old Johnny Ray

[00:23:41] sounded sad upon the radio.

[00:23:42] He moved a billion hearts in mono.

[00:23:44] Our mothers used to sing along and who could blame them?

[00:23:48] And then we can sing just like our fathers, like

[00:23:51] that, it's almost saying like this throwback to

[00:23:55] these were the good old days of music and like the modern

[00:23:58] music isn't good.

[00:24:00] And him kind of saying like, we'll have our songs

[00:24:02] that we can sing the same way that our fathers sang

[00:24:04] those old Johnny Ray songs.

[00:24:06] That's interesting. Again, I am a very pro

[00:24:08] Dexys Midnight Runner person.

[00:24:10] I think that Kevin Rowland is a very interesting

[00:24:14] and creative songwriter.

[00:24:15] I think that he comes up with great like

[00:24:18] the melodies to this are really funny and interesting.

[00:24:22] But there's a memory that I have.

[00:24:23] And if I can find this clip to put into the episode, I will.

[00:24:27] But I don't know how easy it will be to find

[00:24:30] when Garth Brooks hosted S&L.

[00:24:34] That was when Jim Brewer was doing the Goat Boy

[00:24:37] Remember the 80s sketch.

[00:24:39] And there is a bit that I think of all the time

[00:24:42] where he's like, and coming up next, the guy from Dexys

[00:24:45] Midnight Runner and like Garth Brooks comes out

[00:24:49] and he sits down, he goes, I don't want to be a super fan or anything.

[00:24:52] But could you please sing the song?

[00:24:54] And he's like, yeah, sure.

[00:24:56] And he goes, poor Johnny Ray.

[00:24:58] It's sad. It's sad.

[00:24:59] He goes, no, no, no. Sing the Eileen song.

[00:25:02] And he's like, that is the Eileen song.

[00:25:04] He goes, funny, I don't remember any of that.

[00:25:07] Because this song is the chorus and the bridge.

[00:25:09] Well, that is what people remember.

[00:25:15] Hello, everybody.

[00:25:17] I'm Bruce and I'm Nolan.

[00:25:19] And this is the corner of Gray Street podcast.

[00:25:22] As longtime Dave Matthews band fans, we set out to create a podcast

[00:25:26] to dive deep into the past, present and future of DMV.

[00:25:30] Not only do we recap and review shows within an ongoing tour,

[00:25:35] but we revisit past shows from throughout the band's history,

[00:25:38] conduct interviews with a wide variety of guests with ties to DMV

[00:25:43] and create unique and exclusive content

[00:25:46] like our concerts on the corner series.

[00:25:49] Whether you're a fan of the band or just a fan of great music,

[00:25:52] we think you'll find something you'll enjoy.

[00:25:54] We can't wait to see you on the corner of Gray Street.

[00:26:02] By now, I'm sure you've at least heard about Factor,

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[00:27:26] Hey, one hit thunders, thunder heads,

[00:27:30] thunder buns.

[00:27:32] All right. I'll just go with one hit thunder listeners.

[00:27:35] This is Chris to makes guitarist and vocalist for Less Than Jake

[00:27:38] and host of Chris to Makes a Podcast, a songwriting podcast

[00:27:42] where every week I'm joined by an amazing guest to break down

[00:27:45] the writing, recording and release of one iconic song

[00:27:48] that they have written in our giant evergreen back catalog of episodes.

[00:27:52] We've had rock legends such as Dee Snider and Huey Lewis,

[00:27:55] punk rock favorites such as Mark Hoppus, Fat Mike and Brett Gurowitz.

[00:27:59] Up and coming artists of today, such as Liz Stokes of the Beths

[00:28:02] and Genesis Owusu and even some of the artists

[00:28:05] that have been featured on one hit thunder.

[00:28:08] The show is even produced by one hit thunder host Chris Fafalius.

[00:28:11] What more could you possibly ask for?

[00:28:14] Krista Makes a Podcast is available for free on all the places

[00:28:17] you listen to podcasts and new episodes come out every Monday.

[00:28:20] I guarantee you'll like it or we'll give you your money back.

[00:28:23] I saw a lot of talk about Kevin Rowland's delivery as well,

[00:28:27] that he like really spent a lot of time lyrics really important to him.

[00:28:31] And then the producer would be like, why do you care so much

[00:28:34] about all these lyrics when no one can?

[00:28:36] I guess you guys understand it, but the way he delivers it

[00:28:39] is a little mush mouth.

[00:28:41] And also, I saw a comparison not in this song.

[00:28:44] Other songs where he gets even more mush mouthy

[00:28:47] and they compared it to do you guys know that song by Chairman of the Board?

[00:28:52] Give me just a little more.

[00:28:54] A little more time.

[00:28:54] Yeah, our love will surely grow great.

[00:28:57] Another great, such a great song.

[00:28:58] But that singer, he does these things.

[00:29:01] We pay attention to the verses where he he like

[00:29:04] really messes with the words.

[00:29:06] And he also he also does this thing, which not in this song

[00:29:09] in a different song.

[00:29:10] But Kevin Rowland rips off completely where he goes.

[00:29:13] Yeah, that's one of the best parts of that song.

[00:29:16] It's awesome.

[00:29:17] I want to do that in a song at some point.

[00:29:20] It's so fun to do, Chris.

[00:29:22] And you know who else does that in a song? Who?

[00:29:26] It's St. Clown Posse does that in fucking what song?

[00:29:30] House of Horrors. OK.

[00:29:42] Nice. I'm sure they did it.

[00:29:44] I'm sure they were big Chairman of the Board fans.

[00:29:49] They drew massive inspiration.

[00:29:50] One of my favorite things that I think about when I hear that song,

[00:29:53] the Chairman of the Board song, and I've always heard about this

[00:29:55] since like my dad had played this for me as the song as a kid.

[00:29:58] Like every time he says baby, it sounds like somebody is squeezing him

[00:30:02] at the waist and like lifting him into the mic.

[00:30:05] I was like, baby, please, baby.

[00:30:07] And she's like so like loud. It's great.

[00:30:10] It's awesome. Good song.

[00:30:11] It's awesome. His delivery is very unique.

[00:30:14] And I think Kevin Rowland openly admits they did a side

[00:30:17] by side in the video that I watch where it's like, oh, yeah, he's doing

[00:30:20] he's doing this.

[00:30:22] And look, I kind of think this

[00:30:25] I mean, I don't like to throw the G word around a lot.

[00:30:28] The genius thing like, I don't know, this guy could just be really good.

[00:30:32] I think that maybe he got in his own way a little bit.

[00:30:36] I think you got to keep a band together.

[00:30:39] You can't if you want to be a band, you kind of got to keep a band together.

[00:30:42] He couldn't seem to keep that.

[00:30:44] Maybe he just didn't have people that were dedicated enough around him.

[00:30:48] Or maybe he was just laying the hammer down too hard on these people.

[00:30:52] I don't know which is which could be a little bit of column A

[00:30:55] and a little column B.

[00:30:57] But this band, talent wise and his songwriting ability,

[00:31:01] they could have been even more of a household name.

[00:31:05] They could have had more hits in the States, I think.

[00:31:07] Well, let's talk about Don't Stand Me Down,

[00:31:10] because that I think is the career ender for this band.

[00:31:15] And mostly because, again, I think Kevin Rowland got in his own way.

[00:31:20] So if you look at the track list for this album,

[00:31:23] this is the next seven.

[00:31:24] This is the album.

[00:31:26] Yeah, the album after Colen Eileen.

[00:31:28] It took it took three years to put this album out.

[00:31:31] It is seven tracks long.

[00:31:33] The shortest tracks.

[00:31:35] There's two tracks that are three minutes.

[00:31:37] The rest are six minutes, seven minutes, eight minutes

[00:31:40] and a 13 minute song in the middle of the album.

[00:31:44] And at the time that this came out,

[00:31:46] Kevin Rowland refused to release anything as a single because in his mind

[00:31:50] and he cited Led Zeppelin as a group that he was inspired by.

[00:31:54] When you put out a concept album,

[00:31:56] you can't take any of these songs out of out of the story.

[00:32:00] People just have to buy the album and listen to it in full.

[00:32:03] And like to release a single would somehow diminish the enjoyability of it.

[00:32:09] So this album tanks hard and the band finally breaks up.

[00:32:13] Now, this album is in multiple like greatest albums of all time lists.

[00:32:18] I know it's unlike the 1001 albums to listen to before you die.

[00:32:22] It's it's a beloved release now.

[00:32:25] But at the time it was it was very much rejected

[00:32:30] as being far too much of a departure from what their first two albums were.

[00:32:34] And for 15 years, Kevin Rowland tried to make it as a solo artist

[00:32:39] and struggled to reunite the band.

[00:32:41] Finally, in 2003, they officially reformed.

[00:32:44] But then they didn't put out a record until 2012.

[00:32:47] Now they've released a couple of CDs since or albums since then.

[00:32:50] But like it is a long, interesting storied career.

[00:32:56] And for this band.

[00:32:57] And we just glossed over so many things.

[00:33:01] The Kevin Rowland getting in his own way thing.

[00:33:03] Let me give you another example of that at the height of their US popularity.

[00:33:08] They got an opening slot on the David Bowie tour.

[00:33:12] And then Kevin Rowland came out, I think, at one of the first shows,

[00:33:15] maybe the first show played Come on, Eileen first,

[00:33:18] and then told the crowd to fuck off.

[00:33:21] Unbelievable.

[00:33:22] Like, I guess because that's what people were.

[00:33:26] That was all that people cared about with them.

[00:33:28] Something along those lines.

[00:33:31] Also, you know, all these like past members

[00:33:34] of the band started another band without him,

[00:33:37] like after the first breakoff before Come on, Eileen, after Gino.

[00:33:42] And Kevin Rowland is accused for Come on, Eileen

[00:33:46] of ripping off one of that band's songs.

[00:33:50] And you could go watch YouTube's about or whatever.

[00:33:53] There's some side by sides out there

[00:33:55] where I haven't seen anything about Kevin Rowland speaking on it,

[00:33:59] but his trombonist guy who came with him,

[00:34:03] Pete Peterson, Big Jim Peterson, Jim Nibb, Big Jim.

[00:34:07] He said, I don't know anything about that.

[00:34:09] He said, I never heard their song and I am a co-writer on that song.

[00:34:13] And I am telling you, I did not rip that song off.

[00:34:16] So it could just be that they were influenced by the same things or whatever.

[00:34:22] There was and Chris, maybe you remember this or wrote this down,

[00:34:25] but there was also a quote from Kevin where he essentially

[00:34:30] basically said that he reformed Dexys Midnight Runner

[00:34:33] as soon as all those guys left to form their own band

[00:34:37] because he just felt like, fuck you.

[00:34:39] How dare you walk away?

[00:34:40] Full of spite.

[00:34:42] Yeah, it was he was driven by spite to keep the band going

[00:34:45] and become bigger than them.

[00:34:47] I don't I don't know if you guys have experienced it in

[00:34:50] in your lives or professional careers or anything at all.

[00:34:53] Spite, it's pretty motivating.

[00:34:56] I got to say, it certainly worked for Kevin.

[00:34:59] I always think when I when I hear these stories about people like this,

[00:35:02] what always is interesting to me is like how different

[00:35:08] the time, like the interests of music are in different countries

[00:35:12] at different times, because you're looking at this band

[00:35:15] as a whole is a massive success.

[00:35:17] You would say, regardless of all the turmoil and different crap

[00:35:19] that they went through, like they have a lot of really good success in the UK

[00:35:24] and they have one major hit in the US. Right.

[00:35:26] Yeah. And like you got to think that a good portion of that

[00:35:30] is like they hit on

[00:35:33] those hard strings of like the American public

[00:35:35] and the general public that might like something like Come On I Lean.

[00:35:38] But then America doesn't give like a rat's ass

[00:35:41] stylistically about what they do.

[00:35:43] But back home, they're like, this isn't a one hit wonder.

[00:35:46] This is just a really good band.

[00:35:48] It's like how I think a lot of not.

[00:35:53] If you're not very well versed in like rock and roll music in general,

[00:35:57] if you just know them for the one song,

[00:35:59] I think a lot of American people think Thin Lizzy is a one hit wonder.

[00:36:02] But then Lizzy is a fucking incredible band

[00:36:05] and they have a lot of incredible songs.

[00:36:08] But if you're not a rock and roll head, you think that they're a one hit wonder.

[00:36:11] I think that might that you might you might be able to

[00:36:13] park them under this category a little bit.

[00:36:15] I think we see that a lot just in general with like,

[00:36:20] you know, like I've had someone ask me before,

[00:36:22] like when is one hit thunder going to do an episode on Blur?

[00:36:26] And like to me, that has never in a million years passed my mind.

[00:36:29] Never crossed your mind.

[00:36:29] Yeah. Like now, theoretically,

[00:36:33] I did end up looking into it and I'm like, theoretically,

[00:36:35] they're kind of like a US no hit wonder if you're going on Billboard

[00:36:39] standing because it wasn't like song to like

[00:36:42] tore it up the hot 100 or whatever. Right.

[00:36:44] You know what I mean? But it's a sports arena anthem.

[00:36:47] But anybody who's even a little bit of a music nerd

[00:36:51] knows a bunch of songs by Blur, right?

[00:36:54] Because they're this like insanely popular band

[00:36:57] that literally outsold Oasis in the UK at one point

[00:37:01] at like the peak of the second wave of Britpop.

[00:37:04] Like it's yeah, it's very it's very weird walking that line.

[00:37:09] Chris, I don't know if you came up with a game for us today, did you?

[00:37:13] I did. I always have a game.

[00:37:15] OK, well, then let me do this real quick and then we'll do the game real fast.

[00:37:19] The power of Come On Eileen, though, I did pull up a few stats

[00:37:23] in the year 2000, Channel 4, which I believe is the UK.

[00:37:27] Very popular UK station. Yeah.

[00:37:29] Yep. They placed this song at 38 of the 100 greatest

[00:37:33] number one singles of all time.

[00:37:35] VH1 placed it as the number three greatest one hit wonder of all time

[00:37:40] and 18 on the greatest songs of the 80s,

[00:37:44] but number one on the greatest 80s one hit wonders list.

[00:37:48] So like this song has a lot of power.

[00:37:51] Like I said, I think a big part of it,

[00:37:53] the Come On Eileen chorus is catchy as hell, but.

[00:37:58] For my money, it is that bridge.

[00:38:01] It is that that come on, Eileen, to the right

[00:38:06] and that slow build. Yeah, yeah, like that.

[00:38:09] That's the part that I think sealed that we talk about this sometimes.

[00:38:13] There had to have been a point where they wrote that part

[00:38:16] and Kevin Rowland knew that he had just struck gold with that.

[00:38:20] Like because it's so catchy.

[00:38:23] You hear it once and you'll never ever forget that part in the song.

[00:38:27] Yeah. And then like the fiddle right at the end of it, that

[00:38:31] and it goes right into the car.

[00:38:33] So that's incredible. It's yeah.

[00:38:35] We you know, we've talked a lot about the history

[00:38:38] and we've talked about Kevin Rowland and the chaos of the band.

[00:38:41] But the song, it's a beast of a song.

[00:38:45] It is very well done. It's exciting.

[00:38:48] You just have every part you're looking forward to the next.

[00:38:51] Yeah, the the the bridge, the the tempo increase during that part.

[00:38:56] Kick it up into the last one.

[00:38:57] It's it's a party.

[00:38:59] This song is a party and it it definitely defines the 80s.

[00:39:03] It's one of probably the ten songs you would put

[00:39:06] if you had to put like Take On Me and I don't know, Billy Jean and this.

[00:39:11] And you know, a few others would all fit

[00:39:13] perfectly as the songs that everybody knows from the 80s.

[00:39:16] And I think that even that top ten that Matt pulled up is

[00:39:19] like a perfect cross section of the 80s, too, because like

[00:39:22] there's so many crazy influences in the 80s, like the pop like that.

[00:39:27] You know, like George Michael had just come around with Wham.

[00:39:30] But then you also have like,

[00:39:32] you know, like Tainted Love and Soft Cell like existed in the 80s is all

[00:39:35] like there was so much different stuff going on.

[00:39:38] There was a lot of different stuff going on.

[00:39:40] But again, and I think I have to credit

[00:39:42] Todd in the shadows for this particular point, but a point all the same.

[00:39:47] There really wasn't other bands on the radio

[00:39:50] that sounded like Dexys Midnight Runner, even in the eclectic

[00:39:54] ness of the 80s, like you're talking about a band

[00:39:57] at the peak of synthesizers in music that had not a synthesizer to be found.

[00:40:02] They had a flute and a trombone.

[00:40:05] Like it really was like a going back to the basics of

[00:40:09] of what music was in 60 in that 60s soul style

[00:40:14] and just like finding that way to hone like a little bit of ska,

[00:40:18] a little bit of Celtic music, a little bit of soul music,

[00:40:21] a little bit of new wave music, a little bit of rock

[00:40:23] and like really crafted their own unique sound

[00:40:28] that no one else, including Michael Jackson,

[00:40:32] could top for that moment because it sounded like nothing else.

[00:40:36] That's right.

[00:40:37] That's an awesome way to approach music.

[00:40:39] Man, I had to look at this.

[00:40:40] You keep I was like, am I wrong?

[00:40:42] You keep making them singular.

[00:40:45] Dexys Midnight Runner.

[00:40:47] But that aside, you always mispronounce all the band names.

[00:40:50] It doesn't. That's what I'm known for.

[00:40:51] That aside, it is Dexys Midnight Runners.

[00:40:54] But I always assumed it was Dexys like a poxed apostrophe S.

[00:40:59] Like it is it not? It's not.

[00:41:01] No, it's Dexys.

[00:41:02] No apostrophe. Like all because of the drug.

[00:41:05] Yeah. Like it's not a it's not like a possessive ownership.

[00:41:09] It feels like it's missing a like Dexys

[00:41:14] are for midnight runners or something like that.

[00:41:17] Yeah, I don't know.

[00:41:17] It's Dexys Midnight Runners.

[00:41:19] No apostrophe.

[00:41:21] We'll keep that in mind when we put this up, Matt.

[00:41:24] Yes. No apostrophe.

[00:41:25] But hey, speaking of all this great music of the time

[00:41:28] and how eclectic it was, I have a quick game for you guys.

[00:41:31] I got five to five questions.

[00:41:34] You guys, if you know the answer, you can ring in.

[00:41:36] But you got to ring in by going, Brrrr.

[00:41:39] Oh, geez.

[00:41:40] You got to do the chairman of the board ring in.

[00:41:43] Let me I can wet the whistle.

[00:41:44] Brrrr.

[00:41:46] Or your best version of that.

[00:41:48] Mine won't be good, but that's right.

[00:41:49] You eliminated one of my questions because one of them was what song came after

[00:41:54] I we already talked that beat it came on after.

[00:41:58] So you have five questions.

[00:41:59] So these are all 1983 related.

[00:42:03] OK, it's they're going to be songs we all know.

[00:42:07] OK. In January and February of 1983,

[00:42:10] Men at Work had the number one spot for four.

[00:42:14] No, not yet.

[00:42:15] OK, damn it.

[00:42:16] I mean, yeah.

[00:42:18] Let me finish this one because it's not going to work.

[00:42:20] This in January and February of 1983,

[00:42:23] Men at Work had the number one spot for four out of the five weeks

[00:42:27] on the Hot 100 with Land Down Under.

[00:42:30] OK, got it.

[00:42:31] What other song about a place hit number one

[00:42:35] for one week to break up their run?

[00:42:38] So Men at Work had Land Down

[00:42:40] Land Down Under was number one for three weeks.

[00:42:43] Then it wasn't for one week.

[00:42:44] Then it was again.

[00:42:45] What song about a place,

[00:42:48] also about a place, took the number one spot for one week?

[00:42:53] No, there's no way this song went to number one.

[00:42:55] You know what? Fuck it. Why not?

[00:42:57] Oh, I like that. I like that.

[00:43:00] I don't remember this being a number one hit when we covered it.

[00:43:02] It's not Murray heads one night in Bangkok.

[00:43:04] No, but that was a pretty good guess based on a place.

[00:43:07] Yeah, that's a pretty good guess.

[00:43:08] I'm going to take I'm going to take a wild guess.

[00:43:11] Go ahead. Salisbury Hill by Peter Gabriel.

[00:43:15] Also a good guess of a place.

[00:43:17] Can I try one more time for no point?

[00:43:19] OK, for no point, you can go ahead.

[00:43:21] Was it Toto Africa? It was.

[00:43:23] Oh, we should have got that.

[00:43:25] Well, you and I both went way too like outside.

[00:43:28] Yeah. Popularity.

[00:43:31] But wasn't I don't know what was Salisbury Hill number one hit.

[00:43:34] I don't know. I don't know about that.

[00:43:36] But Africa for me, Africa feels later than 83.

[00:43:40] So that was a jump into my mind.

[00:43:42] Not even not even the best Toto song.

[00:43:44] Now hold the line.

[00:43:46] Well, also, I'm a Rosanna guy, but both all those songs are awesome.

[00:43:51] But also it's surprising to me that Africa wasn't number one more than one week.

[00:43:55] Yeah, only one week.

[00:43:56] It didn't really take it back after. Wow.

[00:43:59] OK, for a song that had the staying power that it does.

[00:44:02] OK, no points yet.

[00:44:03] One could argue that has more staying power than men at work land down under.

[00:44:07] Oh, yeah, it does.

[00:44:09] OK, you should get this one.

[00:44:12] OK, after beat it,

[00:44:14] this David Bowie song kept the number one spot for one week on May 21st, 1983.

[00:44:21] Go ahead. Is it let's dance?

[00:44:23] You got it. Yeah, it was on the top 10 that Matt.

[00:44:25] Yeah, yeah.

[00:44:26] I would not have gotten it if you didn't list the whole top 10.

[00:44:30] All right. One nothing, John.

[00:44:32] OK, you guys ready for fans of 80s Joel?

[00:44:36] This Billy Joel song took the number one spot for one week

[00:44:40] on September 24th, 1983.

[00:44:43] OK. Go ahead.

[00:44:46] You're bad at that.

[00:44:48] I know I'm trying to think I think 83 would have still.

[00:44:53] Fuck. I'm going to say don't ask me why.

[00:44:56] That is incorrect.

[00:44:57] Damn it. Well, OK, so my head is also on Glass Houses.

[00:45:01] Yeah, and I was.

[00:45:02] House is 81.

[00:45:03] There's no way it took him three years for the next album.

[00:45:06] That that's my like my thought was and I'm going to bring in.

[00:45:12] Go ahead. It opens that album.

[00:45:13] I say you may be right.

[00:45:15] Sorry, that is right.

[00:45:17] Can I throw another no point guess?

[00:45:19] Yeah, go ahead.

[00:45:19] Was it Uptown Girl?

[00:45:21] Nope. You're closer, though.

[00:45:22] Is it for the longest time?

[00:45:24] No, you guys are so close.

[00:45:26] Oh, hold on.

[00:45:28] I'm trying to think what other songs are on that one.

[00:45:30] It's on that album.

[00:45:32] OK, so wait, hold on.

[00:45:33] I definitely know. Is it it's not some money one.

[00:45:35] That's it's not the French one set to twats.

[00:45:38] One of the most awful Billy Joel songs ever.

[00:45:41] It's on that album.

[00:45:42] Leave that alone.

[00:45:44] That is on Glass Houses.

[00:45:45] Oh, wait, what are we? What album are we looking for?

[00:45:47] We're on the one that has Uptown Girl and is it Innocent Man?

[00:45:51] Is that is that that that's the name of the album?

[00:45:52] Yeah, I guess in the album.

[00:45:54] I'm almost positive this song is on that album.

[00:45:56] I think I'm tapping out.

[00:45:57] What what is it?

[00:45:59] You know, I mean, was I OK?

[00:46:01] Give me just a little more time.

[00:46:05] OK, OK.

[00:46:06] Innocent Man has tell her about it.

[00:46:08] That's it. Yeah, that's the one I'm taking.

[00:46:11] I'm positive that's on Innocent Man.

[00:46:13] Yeah. Yeah, I was on.

[00:46:15] I was still on Glass Houses.

[00:46:16] I was for the record.

[00:46:18] If you ever listen to Glass Houses straight through again,

[00:46:20] which is a great album, this is nothing to do with what we're talking

[00:46:22] about right now.

[00:46:23] There is a song on that album called Sleeping With The Television

[00:46:26] On that for the life of me, I don't know how it didn't become

[00:46:29] a a Billboard hit of some sort.

[00:46:32] It is such a good pop rock song.

[00:46:35] That's listen to it whenever you get a chance.

[00:46:37] That is all of Glass Houses as far as I'm concerned,

[00:46:39] because the fact that sometimes a fantasy wasn't like one of the biggest

[00:46:43] readouts in his career is bizarre to me.

[00:46:46] It goes like it goes like sometimes a fantasy something else and then

[00:46:50] sleeping with the television on.

[00:46:52] It's unbelievable.

[00:46:53] It's an amazing side A to that record.

[00:46:55] All right.

[00:46:55] We should not discredit that Billy Joel picks some of the worst

[00:46:59] sound effects to start songs of all time.

[00:47:02] He should not be allowed to do that glass shattering, glass shattering.

[00:47:05] Like Allentown is garbage.

[00:47:08] Oh, yeah.

[00:47:09] And it's my favorite.

[00:47:10] We're really going down a Joel hole.

[00:47:12] Yes, I'm sorry.

[00:47:14] Keep that in mind, Chris.

[00:47:15] I think, Patreon, we need to do a Joel hole.

[00:47:18] I stole that.

[00:47:19] I actually stole that from Vic Berger from the office hours.

[00:47:22] They do it.

[00:47:23] They do a podcast called The Joel Hole and it's spelled J.O.E.L.

[00:47:27] H.O.E.L.

[00:47:29] I like that bonus episode, The Joel Hole.

[00:47:32] OK, so it's still one nothing, John.

[00:47:35] Question five.

[00:47:36] Oh, who's going to buzz in first for this one?

[00:47:38] This song, which just saw a recent resurgence thanks to a big event,

[00:47:44] took the number one spot for four weeks throughout the month of October 1983.

[00:47:50] Go ahead. Is it totally close to the heart?

[00:47:52] You got it. Let's go.

[00:47:56] We are recording this two days after Totality, baby.

[00:48:00] Oh, you were probably in a better space for Totality.

[00:48:02] I didn't really I didn't notice much.

[00:48:04] Yeah, there was there was a little bit of Totality.

[00:48:06] Yeah, I watched it. It was cool.

[00:48:08] I was pretty cloudy here.

[00:48:10] Yeah, same. All right, John, one.

[00:48:12] But I'll give you guys the last question so Matt can maybe get a point.

[00:48:15] Probably won't. Let's do this.

[00:48:17] These two music icons teamed up to dominate

[00:48:20] the number one spot in December of 1983.

[00:48:25] Go ahead.

[00:48:26] I'm going to guess is it Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney?

[00:48:30] That is incorrect.

[00:48:31] Oh, yeah, that's right.

[00:48:34] OK, I'm going to say Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney.

[00:48:36] You got it. Yeah, girl is mine.

[00:48:39] No, it was Say Say Say actually.

[00:48:41] Say, say, say what the oh, I guess it was promoting a Paul McCartney

[00:48:44] album and not thriller.

[00:48:46] I was just thinking that's a good job.

[00:48:49] Yeah, that was really good.

[00:48:51] Yeah, I walked into that one, though,

[00:48:55] because I was thinking of a totally different song.

[00:48:57] You beat Matt, you beat Matt. Good job.

[00:48:59] And hey, thunder thunder or blunder here on

[00:49:04] how we feel about Dexys Midnight Runners.

[00:49:05] We'll start with John.

[00:49:07] You think they brought the thunder or was this a blunder?

[00:49:09] I think with the everything about them brought the thunder.

[00:49:12] I mean, song is incredible.

[00:49:13] We know what they did after the fact in the UK.

[00:49:15] And then also like even though we were kind of making fun of it

[00:49:18] with all the band moving around like the people like that's crazy

[00:49:22] and awesome all at the same time that like you kind of got to be like

[00:49:25] I love the all the lore behind them.

[00:49:28] That makes it all a thunder for me.

[00:49:30] So I'm going thunder. Yeah, Matt.

[00:49:32] I mean, I thought that they were thunder before we even did this episode.

[00:49:35] I have still to this day

[00:49:37] their first three albums on CD because I just I really like it.

[00:49:40] It's really good.

[00:49:41] So thunder for me on that.

[00:49:44] I think I'm going to have to agree with you guys.

[00:49:46] I dove into this band and I there was some of that early stuff

[00:49:50] that really put me in the mind of not you said it earlier,

[00:49:52] the specials and madness.

[00:49:54] They fit right in there nicely as they went on.

[00:49:57] I mean, I love that he was trying new things each album.

[00:50:00] Maybe that was part of the reason why the band was changing each album to.

[00:50:05] I think this guy, Kevin Rowland, could have been.

[00:50:09] I think he's pretty legendary, probably could have been

[00:50:12] even on a higher tier than he is if he'd been able to keep it together

[00:50:16] a little more, keep the band together a little more.

[00:50:18] I watched some recent performances of them on ITV.

[00:50:22] They still sound great.

[00:50:23] I think they play the song a key or two lower.

[00:50:25] That's understandable when you when you get up there in years,

[00:50:29] but it still still sounded really good.

[00:50:32] And yeah, I think this this band's pretty much undeniable thunder.

[00:50:36] I've seen some like blowback to them.

[00:50:39] I think maybe in our Facebook group or something about people being like,

[00:50:42] oh, I hate that song and stuff.

[00:50:44] But I I don't see it.

[00:50:47] I think I don't say it at all.

[00:50:49] And I think Kevin Rowland is is that if nothing else,

[00:50:52] he seems like a real musician's musician.

[00:50:54] Oh, yeah. Seems like the music nerds love him.

[00:50:56] And you know who else we love? John Franklin.

[00:50:59] Yeah. You've got a one man show coming up next week.

[00:51:02] I do. Thanks for that transition, that you're a legend for that.

[00:51:06] Yeah, I got one man show debuting next week in Hoboken, New Jersey.

[00:51:09] So if you're in the area in New York City or Hoboken,

[00:51:11] it's at the Miles Square Theatre.

[00:51:13] Let me correct myself.

[00:51:14] This is coming out the week of this is going to be on Wednesday.

[00:51:17] So go check it out.

[00:51:18] So in the recording, we're a few weeks out.

[00:51:20] But when you hear this faithful listener, you'll be a couple of days away.

[00:51:24] So go get your tickets.

[00:51:25] You could go to my Instagram

[00:51:27] TikTok anywhere to get the tickets at my Lincoln Bio.

[00:51:29] Go to the Miles Square Theatre website.

[00:51:31] You can get the tickets there.

[00:51:33] It's a really cool show.

[00:51:34] I'm going to I'm really geeking out on it.

[00:51:36] We're filming it mostly just for shits and giggles.

[00:51:39] And hopefully eventually we'll turn into a tour next special.

[00:51:42] But it talks all about the title of it is reality TV rules.

[00:51:46] One man struggle with lying.

[00:51:48] Totally based on Ferris Bueller because he was my childhood hero.

[00:51:51] And it talks about my mastering in the art of bullshit

[00:51:54] and why lying is not as bad as you might think it is

[00:51:58] because it leads to some of the greatest truths of your entire life.

[00:52:01] So you're a fan of reality TV, you're a fan of comedy,

[00:52:04] you're a fan of just people trying new stuff.

[00:52:06] Come check out the show.

[00:52:07] Check me out on Instagram at John Franklin.

[00:52:09] You can just search me. It's easy.

[00:52:10] I ticked off John Franklin comedy.

[00:52:12] And yeah, that's it. Come check out the show.

[00:52:14] I really appreciate it.

[00:52:15] We're close to selling out while this episode is being recorded.

[00:52:18] So I hope we're not sold out when people actually hear it,

[00:52:20] but we're getting there.

[00:52:20] Well, I hope we are sold out.

[00:52:22] Yeah, I hope they miss their chance.

[00:52:25] And now they just have to wait for the tour.

[00:52:27] Yeah, I'll take either one of it.

[00:52:28] I'll take either one of it.

[00:52:30] But yeah, I'm excited about this one.

[00:52:31] It's it's not just stand up.

[00:52:33] There's a lot of acting involved.

[00:52:34] There's a lot of character play.

[00:52:37] It's it's a cool one.

[00:52:38] And I'd like to shout out the Edinburgh Fringe for piquing my interest

[00:52:42] in one man shows because I think it would have just stuck with stand up

[00:52:44] if I didn't get the chance.

[00:52:45] But I'm excited about this one. It's going to be cool. Nice.

[00:52:47] Oh, yeah. Love it.

[00:52:49] Thanks for coming back, John.

[00:52:50] And Kevin Rowland, look in the mail for your certified thunder

[00:52:54] because you you are now officially thunder, according to our podcast.

[00:53:14] This has been one hit thunder.

[00:53:16] One hit thunder is hosted by Chris Fafalios of the band Punchline

[00:53:19] and produced by Matt Kelly of Geekscape dot net.

[00:53:21] Underneath me, you're hearing the hit off the Punchline album.

[00:53:24] Just say yes.

[00:53:26] Visit Punchline Music dot com for any upcoming news on the band.

[00:53:29] Our podcast is on Patreon now.

[00:53:31] Find us at Patreon dot com backslash o h t podcast for early access

[00:53:37] to episodes, bonus conversations and a ton of other stuff.

[00:53:41] For early access to episodes, bonus conversations

[00:53:44] and a chance to vote on future songs for us to cover.

[00:53:46] Be sure to rate, review and subscribe to us on any podcasting app

[00:53:49] and tune in next week for more one hit thunder.

[00:54:40] You're listening to the Geekscape Network.

[00:55:11] Yes, along the way.

[00:55:11] So tune in every week.

[00:55:12] Your state room is available every Monday morning.

[00:55:15] So welcome aboard.

[00:55:24] Hey there, I'm Johnny Christ from Revenge Sevenfold,

[00:55:26] and I've got a podcast called Drinks with Johnny

[00:55:28] you're going to want to check out.

[00:55:30] I sit down with a bunch of different people from all different walks of life,

[00:55:33] from professional wrestlers to actors, comedians, fighters, musicians,

[00:55:38] everything in between.

[00:55:39] I'm just looking to make some friends and have a good time doing it.

[00:55:42] So if that sounds like something you're into, go check out Drinks with Johnny

[00:55:45] streaming everywhere now.