Tuesday Tunes 90: Party

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Those of you outside the UK may not be aware of the news story behind this week’s choice of theme, but believe me it has been huge here for several weeks, and isn’t showing any signs of going away just yet. I’ve said on many occasions that I have no respect for Boris Johnson, either as a person or a Prime Minister, so I have been wallowing for weeks in schadenfreude at his pathetic attempts to lie his way out of a scandal of his own creation. Briefly, there have been reports of upwards of twenty parties being held in government offices and in No.10 Downing Street during lockdowns, which were illegal at the time. Johnson has been at many of these, has given speeches at them, and has tried to claim that he didn’t know they were parties – he thought they were ‘work events.’ Stretching the credulity of the British public, I think. It has, of course, been dubbed ‘Partygate,’ and is currently the subject of a criminal investigation by the police and an internal enquiry, but as both of those ultimately report to him he gets to mark his own homework. The chances are, though, that his party – the political one – will remove him anyway: my fingers are crossed! It’s a great theme for a set of tunes, though, so here we go with: party.

There has been a widely shared parody, which I will give you in a moment, but first here’s the song it is based on. For some reason the video is age restricted so you’ll have to click the link to watch it on YouTube – I hope you do, as it’s a lot of fun:

I’m not really a fan of The Beastie Boys, but that track was on a compilation album I bought many years ago and I’ve always liked it. This was on their debut album, Licensed To Ill, released in November 1986, which reached #1 in the US and #7 in the UK. It was released as a single in early 1987, and peaked at #7 in the US and #11 in the UK. Apparently, the whipped cream used for the pie throwing had all been acquired from supermarket rubbish bins, as there was no money in the budget for it. It was rancid, the room smelled awful after the shoot, and was deemed by one of the actors to be ‘vomit-inducing.’ That’s the way to announce yourself to the record-buying public!

I’m not counting this as one of this week’s quota, but I can’t resist sharing it with you, as it is just so very good. The guys at Politics Joe obviously know their stuff, as there is an extended mini-movie version of the Beastie Boys video, and they have borrowed some scenes from it which weren’t in the original one that accompanied the single. Have a laugh at Boris – I do it often:

Something a little more gentle for you now:

Ricky Nelson had been a teen pop idol from his early days, and had many hits in the US and also here in the UK. Despite changing his recording name to Rick Nelson on his 21st birthday (in 1961) his childhood nickname was hard to shake off, as you can see from this video – both versions are there! He formed The Stone Canyon Band in 1969, and Garden Party became a surprise hit for them in 1972, reaching #6 in the US, #1 in Canada and #41 in the UK – his first hit here for nine years, and his last until a re-release of Hello Mary Lou was a minor hit in 1991. It was also the title track of an album which reached #32 in the US. I’ve always liked its gentle feel, and the way he wrote it in response to being booed at a concert, though it is thought that the boos were actually directed at police actions at the event, not at him. He died at just 45, in a plane crash, though by then his music career was very much on the wane anyway.

This next one has a country feel to it, too, and is a reminder that things don’t always turn out how you hoped or planned. An audio-only one, as it was an album track, but this is one of my favourite artists so I wouldn’t leave her out:

As the video shows, this was a track on Nanci Griffith’s album The Loving Kind, which was released in June 2009 and turned out to be her penultimate album before her death last year. Sadly, it wasn’t a chart success but it has many lovely songs on it – as did everything she released.

This next one is also a song about disappointment – so maybe it’s fitting that I’m disappointed to have to give you another audio-only one:

The Beatles released I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party on their fourth album, Beatles For Sale, in December 1964. This went to #1 in the UK, Germany and Australia, but wasn’t released in its original format in the US until 1987. Eight of the album’s fourteen tracks were included in a North America-only release, Beatles ’65, which was a US #1. This song was one of those that missed the cut for that, though. Don’t you just love it when record companies think they know better than the musicians and mess around like this with their albums?

How do you follow The Beatles? Maybe with another of the biggest artists of all time? OK, heeeere’s Brucie:

Bruce Springsteen originally wrote and recorded Party Lights during the sessions for his 1980 double album, The River, but it didn’t make the final cut – along with a great many other good songs. As the album topped the US chart and made it to #2 here – thanks to my purchase, of course – it doesn’t appear to have suffered! This track finally saw the light of day in 2015 when it was included in a box set called The Ties That Bind: The River Collection. This comprised four CDs and three DVDs, and despite the premium price it sold for it reached a respectable #31 in the US albums chart and #49 here in the UK. It’s a measure of how good Springsteen is that something like this could be kept for 35 years in a cupboard!

I’m going country again for my next tune. Fortunately, as it is an album track, I’ve managed to find this rather nice studio performance:

Late To The Party was on Kacey Musgraves’ second album, Pageant Material, released in June 2015. The album went to #3 in the US and #11 in the UK, and made #1 on both countries’ country charts. It is a rather touching little love song, and is one of my favourite tracks on the album.

Today’s penultimate tune is by one of my favourite bands. As it was only an album track I thought I was going to have to share another static video, until I found this charming little piece from the Fort Smith FCC. It only has just over 1.6k views, probably mostly from those who feature in it and their families, but I think it is rather lovely and fits the song well:

My Parties was a track on Dire Straits’ final album, On Every Street, released in September 1991. The album was #1 in the UK and many other places, but only made #12 in the US. That still translates into good sales figures, though: it has sold more than 1m copies in the US and also in France, and more than 600k in the UK and Italy. Out of curiosity, I looked up the Fort Smith FCC, and found two possibilities for it: the Fort Cannabis Company and the First Christian Church of Fort Smith. I’m assuming that this is a gathering of the latter, but as they all look so happy and laid back, who can tell…

I think this is the first time that I’ve ever done this with a theme, but today’s final song is a blatant cheat. The party bit is in the band’s name, not the song. Still, I can make up my own rules as I go along, can’t I? If it’s good enough for the Prime Minister then why not me too? World Party was a band started by Karl Wallinger, after he left The Waterboys, and named by him after a song he wrote for them. There is a cover of that titular track on World Party’s debut album, Private Revolution, but I think this one from that album is a much more fitting close to today’s music, given where my theme comes from:

The album was released in March 1987, and reached #56 in the UK and #39 in the US. Ship Of Fools had already been released as a single in January of that year, peaking at #27 in the US and #42 in the UK. The song, and in particular its opening lines, is perhaps even more prophetic and relevant now than 35 years ago:

“We’re setting sail to the place on the map
From which no one has ever returned
Drawn by the promise of the joker and the fool“

Karl was right: I don’t want to sail into oblivion with this ship of fools either. A serious note on which to end this week’s tunes – that doesn’t happen very often!

That’s all for today, folks. I hope you’ve enjoyed the party, and will be back for the next set of tunes. Until then, keep watching the news to see more ways in which our Prime Minister has managed to embarrass himself and the country he purportedly represents: hardly surprising that the Russians called him a clown last week and said that British diplomacy is worthless, is it! Have a great week 😊

53 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 90: Party”

  1. Pingback: February Seven | Take It Easy

  2. Interesting selections again Clive. As a huge Springsteen fan I’m surprised I wasn’t aware of Party Lights and for that matter the River Collection CD/DVD collection. This song sounds a bit Bruce-by-numbers for the period, and reminds me of the superior Ties That Bind and Take ’em As They Come but still good to hear.

    I really like the Kacey Musgraves song and as someone else says, excellent voice! I hear there is a new generation of really good country, country/rock artists that are coming through. I’m getting into Jason Isbell at the moment but if you know of any more that are interesting it would be good to know.

    World Party, such an underrated and original band.

    And Southside Johnny, seen him live, loved his early 90’s album Better Days produced and featuring songs by Stevie Van Zandt who’s autobiography I’m currently reading.

    Thanks for the post.

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    • Thanks, Paul, glad you enjoyed them. It’s an ok Bruce track, but that still sets it above many others. The box set has a huge amount on it, a fair bit of which is on Apple Music if you don’t want to pay Amazon £56 for the whole set.

      I love Kacey Musgraves’ voice too. If you’re looking for similar, you could do worse than starting with Jason Isbell’s wife, Amanda Shires. I also enjoy Sarah Darling, Caroline Jones and Carolina Story, amongst others.

      World Party were great, though it was mostly Wallinger’s creation. Goodbye Jumbo, in particular, is an excellent album.

      As I said to Jim the video quality wasn’t good on the Southside Johnny one I considered for the post, but a great band nevertheless 😊

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  3. Pingback: Saturday Snippets…12th February 2022…Today’s one word prompt is “ Face” | Retired? No one told me!

  6. My first time ’round in quite a while … I’ve missed this! Age requirement for a song? I was afraid they’d say I was too old, but they didn’t and I watched the entire thing, finding it really pretty funny! Of all the songs here, the only one I was familiar with is Ricky Nelson’s, but that may be a sign of my age, my taste in music, or the fact that I was busy during the 70s & 80s and didn’t keep up as I should have! I did listen to them all, though, and enjoyed them … some more than others. And yes, even though there is plenty happening on this side of the pond to keep my occupied, I have been keeping up with BoJo’s scandal, but from what I’m hearing, it doesn’t look like he’ll get that ‘vote of no confidence’ any time soon. Like our former guy, he’s Teflon-coated. Thanks for the fun, Clive!

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    • Thanks for dropping in, Jill, and I’m glad you enjoyed them. I think the age requirement was for naughty words and behaviour, which should have been an invitation to kids to watch it.

      I fear you may be right about him getting away with it, but our elections are less fixed than your so he’ll get his come-uppance that way if not sooner.

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      • Interestingly, when I clicked on the link to watch it, they didn’t even ask my age, so I’m not sure how they believe they are keeping the younger kids from watching it. And frankly, most kids 10 or over probabaly know more than you and I do about vulgarity in all its forms!

        True, but from what I’m seeing, there is no dazzling alternative waiting ’round the bend. Same is the case here. Sigh.

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      • I didn’t have to pass an age test either: makes me wonder what the restriction really means and why they bother. There is a version (and app) called YouTube for Kids so I guess this one would be blocked from that.

        The problem here is that Johnson required all who stood as Tory candidates at the last election to be Brexit supporters, basically turning the party into a collection of narrow-minded jingoistic twats. Most of them are manifestly unsuited for office.

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      • Ads. If you embed the video, it is likely ad-free, but if the person has to get onto YouTube itself, there are ads … unless like me they use a strong ad-blocker. That’s the only thing I can think of.

        Ahhhh … that sounds so similar to Trump, who demanded fealty from all his minions and supported only those members of Congress who fawned over him, and today that is all that remains of the Republican Party. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has some good people in Congress, but none that could likely win an election for president.

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      • That’s a possibility, as embedding does remove the ads. When I tested this one I had to wait for the ads before the link played.

        There are distinct similarities, but at least Johnson hasn’t incited a riot. Yet…

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      • I think Johnson doesn’t have it in him to do that … I think that he is a more intelligent and more humane example of the human species than Trump, and while I’m sure he will do what he can to keep his position, I just don’t see him inciting people to destroy the entire foundation of government.

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      • It’s not difficult to be more intelligent than Trump, but I’m not so sure Johnson is more humane: they are both narcissistic sociopaths. Johnson was quoted last week as saying it would take a Panzer division to get him out of Downing Street, so maybe he’s moving that way…

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    • They are similar in many ways, in particular their ability to lie profusely and con people into voting for them. Many here share your puzzlement at both of them being elected. And both have proved themselves totally unsuited to their roles.

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  8. Clive, maybe we should dig out Lesley Gore’s song and have Boris singing “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to, cry if I want to, cry if I want to. You would cry to if it happened to you.” Keith

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  9. “I didn’t know it was a party.”🤣 That sounds like something a caught teen might say—not an adult with proper time to develop a credible excuse. My favorites this week were Springsteen and World Party. I don’t remember the song, but I like the groove of this song. I also was not a fan of the Beastie Boys, but this one kind of grew on me back in the day.

    You and I have dissimilar tastes when it comes to country, especially the twangy sound of Party Girl. Today’s country (which probably isn’t country, haha) is a much more preferred sound for me.

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    • It’s so very typical of him and his government. They keep getting found out but just try to lie their way out of things. No one believes a word he says now, if they were ever stupid enough to believe him in the first place.

      I’m glad you enjoyed some of them, especially World Party. I have all of their albums and think they were very underrated. The Beastie Boys is a one off for me too, but essential for me to lead into the Johnson parody.

      That twangy sound is one of the things I like about the version of country I enjoy, going way back to the Byrds and the Eagles. Agreeing to differ is fine 😊

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      • What one person likes regarding music is no different for me than why someone prefers certain food items. We’re not the same, and life’s more interesting that way. I found your comment about the Byrds and the Eagles particularly interesting. I’d put the Eagles in my top five favorite bands of all-time list, and yet I readily admit that some of their music has that twangy sound (the same one that puts me off about Party Girl), so what’s up with that? I’m guessing their incredible harmonies supersedes everything else for me.

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      • It’s a hard one to explain, isn’t it. Why do we like some music, but not other types. Better just to enjoy listening to what we like without trying to dissect it!

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  10. Really enjoyed the party. Just loved the Beastie Boys video. Also I’m beginning to think Boris has some talent after all. Really clever video from Politics Joe! They could have done a Boris rendition of ‘It’s my party and I’ll lie if I want to’. Haven’t heard that Beatles one for ages. Also enjoyed Dire Straits. I’m now going to return to my recording of the Brit Awards… So far underwhelming.

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    • Thanks, Paul, I’m glad you enjoyed them. That Beastie Boys one looked a fun one to be involved in. I’m not sure that Boris has any talent apart from providing material for parodies. There are several others on YouTube but this is the best one I’ve seen, by miles.

      Not one of the Beatles’ best known songs, I think, which can also be said of the Dire Straits one.

      Enjoy – if that’s the right word – the Brit awards. I’ve long since given up on them as having any relation to music I enjoy.

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    • Thanks, Darlene. Funnily enough he didn’t do much for me, but this one was a real surprise when it came out and I’ve always liked it. Dire Straits have been a favourite since they started. A guy I worked with was also a fan, and I can recall us doing an air guitar duet on Sultans Of Swing at the office Christmas party that year 😊

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  14. that was a fun video to start things off; I’m not that familiar with the Beastie Boys, but that wasn’t too bad. that’s pretty disgusting about the whipped cream – the poor mom at the end…

    great job with the parody; how did he ever get elected?

    Garden Party has always been one of my favorite songs; happy to listen to it again…

    not that familiar with Nanci, not too bad…

    the Beatles song was not familiar either, but of course it’s good…

    I’m surprised I was not familiar with the Springsteen song, but it’s another winner…

    I don’t know much about Kacey, but she has such a great voice…

    that Dire Straits video was kind of fun, and yes, it could be some combo of both FCCs…

    the Joker and the Fool – are you referring to our ex Pres and your current PM?

    great set of songs, but how could it not be with such a theme…

    and when I think of party songs, I have to share this one – it’s got Bruce in it!

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    • As I said in the piece, I’m not a Beastie Boys fan but I’ve always liked that song, and the video is very funny. It takes sour cream to a whole new level, doesn’t it. The parody is superb. In answer to your question, he used the Trump playbook: lies and con tricks fooling the gullible masses.

      I’ve always like Garden Part too. It kinda came out of nowhere, didn’t it.

      Nanci is one of my favourites, and I quite like that song.

      The Beatles one was an album track in the UK but not for many years past their heyday over there. I blame the record company!

      The Springsteen one was another late arrival, but one of a number of good songs that were left off the original album but included in that compilation.

      Kacey Musgraves has a great voice. You should check out more of her music if you liked this one.

      I think the Dire Straits video was probably a church group high on their religion rather than anything else, but it’s a possibility, I think.

      As for that last one, Johnson fits both parts but I don’t recall 45 making too many jokes – apart from being one. A prophetic little song, from 35 years ago. Great little band, too.

      Your recommendation just came through as an image, not a link, but I knew it: I almost included that Southside Johnny one but the video quality wasn’t great, so I went for Bruce on his own instead.

      Glad you enjoyed them, Jim.

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