In Philadelphia Soul Jim suggests that for today’s Song Lyric Sunday we should play something that features the Philadelphia Sound, or Philly Soul as I gather it is also known. This gave me a real problem. I looked up a list of musicians of this genre and the ones I recognised mostly fell into the bland and boring category for me. Sorry, Philly Soul lovers, but that’s the way it is to my ears: overproduced, overplayed, and for the most part just a bit dull – with a few notable exceptions. And when I read that this style had paved the way for disco I knew for sure it wasn’t my thing! But I chanced upon a page somewhere on the interweb that mentioned someone I do like, who made an album heavily influenced by this style with major contributions from luminaries of that world, and as it gave him two hit singles I thought I’d give them both a spin today. This first one was the title track of the album:

It is suggested that we give you the lyrics, but be warned – these ones go on a bit, even after I’ve abbreviated them:

They pulled in just behind the bridge
He lays her down, she frowns
“Gee, my life’s a funny thing, am I still too young?”
He kissed her then and there
She took his ring, took his babies
It took him minutes, took her nowhere
Heaven knows, she’d have taken anything, but

She wants a young American
(Young American, young American, she wants the young American)
(All right)
But she wants the young American

Scanning life through the picture window 
She finds the slinky vagabond
He coughs as he passes her Ford Mustang
But Heaven forbid, she’ll take anything
But the freak, and his type, all for nothing
Misses a step and cuts his hand, but
Showing nothing, he swoops like a song
She cries, “Where have all Papa’s heroes gone?”

She wants a young American
(Young American, young American, she wants the young American)
(All right)
Well she wants the young American

All the way from Washington
Her bread-winner begs off the bathroom floor
“We live for just these twenty years
Do we have to die for the fifty more?”

He wants the young American
(Young American, young American, he wants the young American)
(All right) all right
Well he wants the young American

Do you remember, your President Nixon?
Do you remember, the bills you have to pay?
Or even yesterday?

Have you been the un-American?
Just you and your idol sing falsetto
‘Bout leather, leather everywhere, and
Not a myth left from the ghetto
Well, well, well, would you carry a razor
In case, just in case of depression?
Sit on your hands on a bus of survivors
Blushing at all the Afro-Sheeners
Ain’t that close to love?
Well, ain’t that poster love?
Well, it ain’t that Barbie doll
Her heart’s have been broken just like you and

All night you want the young American
(Young American, young American, you want the young American)
(All right)
You want the young American

You ain’t a pimp and you ain’t a hustler (young American, young American)
A pimp’s got a Cadi and a lady got a Chrysler (you want the young American)
Black’s got respect, and white’s got his soul train (all right)
Mama’s got cramps, and look at your hands ache
(I heard the news today, oh boy)
I got a suite and you got defeat
Ain’t there a man who can say no more? (All night)
And, ain’t there a woman I can sock on the jaw?
And, ain’t there a child I can hold without judging? (young American, young American)
Ain’t there a pen that will write before they die? (You want the young American)
Ain’t you proud that you’ve still got faces? (All right)
Ain’t there one damn song that can make me
Break down and cry?

I want the young American
Young American, young American, I want the young American
(All right)

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: David Bowie

Young Americans lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc

See what I mean? Not so much a song, more a novella. Young Americans was David Bowie’s ninth album, released in March 1975 and peaking at #2 in the UK and #9 in the US. Looking back over his career I think I have always preferred his earlier albums, which included some classic tracks, and this was probably the point at which I began to see him as interesting but not essential to my music collection – apart from his 1983 album Let’s Dance, which is superb. This track was released as a single a couple of weeks ahead of the album, and reached #18 in the UK and #28 in the US. In the UK that was a fairly poor placing for him, after he had enjoyed a string of high chart placings between 1969 and 1973. Maybe I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t especially enamoured of this album? At the time it was noted as a departure from the glam rock style of previous albums, though it showcased his interest in soul and R&B. Commentators have described the record as blue-eyed soul; Bowie himself labelled the album’s sound “plastic soul”. That would seem to align with my view! One of the album credits was for a young backing singer by the name of Luther Vandross – I wonder what happened to him?

Only one other track from the album was released as a single. This one:

That came out in July 1975 and achieved a very similar result in the UK, where it got to #17. In the US, though, it really took off, and became his first #1 single there. A couple of pieces of trivia for you on this one. Firstly, the video shows Bowie at the beginning with a saxophone but he didn’t actually play the sax on this album, although he had done so on many of his previous records. I still think his best effort with the instrument is when he played as a guest on a track by Steeleye Span – brownie points if you know who I mean, and bucketloads of them if you can tell me the track and the album it is on. The second useless snippet is that one of the backing vocalists on this was Jean Millington, the bass player and co-founder (with her sister, June) of the all-female rock band Fanny, who I saw play live at my uni in 1973. One of the guys on my corridor acquired one of their promo stickers after the gig, and took great delight in affixing it to his girlfriend’s clothes – I’ll leave you to work out where it went, with the clue that the word means something different here from what Americans know it as…

That seems to be as good a place as any to draw this to a close. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I’ll see you again for Tuesday Tunes 🎶