Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Blog writer relives childhood... again


Sorry! I seem to be stuck in nostalgia mode.
It's just that I am listening to glam rock in preparation for a CD mix I plan to make to celebrate my birthday (did I mention it's May 3?) and these songs keep drawing me back to the past.
I am awaiting a package from Amazon, which will contain a pair of glam rock CDs to assist my efforts. One of the CDs is "Kimono My House," the 1974 masterpiece by brothers Ron and Russell Mael, a.k.a. Sparks.
This album was ridiculously (redonkulously?) influential, preceding the British new wave and new romantic movements by at least seven years.
I remember as a kid thinking Sparks were the dream group... funny, quirky and catchy as hell. Plus, Ron Mael looked weird with his Chaplinesque moustache and short hair. I looked weird, too. So perhaps there was some hope for me yet.
Well, I have been unable to remain patient for the Amazon package to arrive, so yesterday I dug around in the basement for an Island Records compilation tape I had in high school.
I miraculously found the tape and there it was -- "This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both of Us" by Sparks. The song opened "Kimono My House" and catapulted Los Angeles-based Sparks to British fame.
I played that song five times in a row, every time attempting to sing along to Russell Mael's warbly, high-pitched vocals.
Thank goodness nobody else was around.

This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us:

Zoo time is she and you time

The mammals are your favourite type, and you want her tonight
Heartbeat, increasing heartbeat
You hear the thunder of stampeding rhinos, elephants and tacky tigers
This town ain't big enough for both of us
And it ain't me who's gonna leave
Flying, domestic flying
And when the stewardess is near do not show any fear
Heartbeat, increasing heartbeat
You are a khaki-coloured bombardier, it's Hiroshima that you're nearing
This town ain't big enough for both of us
And it ain't me who's gonna leave
Daily, except for Sunday
You dawdle in to the cafe where you meet her each day
Heartbeat, increasing heartbeat
As twenty cannibals have hold of you, they need their protein just like you do
This town ain't big enough for both of us
And it ain't me who's gonna leave
Shower, another shower
You've got to look your best for her and be clean everywhere
Heartbeat, increasing heartbeat
The rain is pouring on the foreign town, the bullets cannot cut you down
This town ain't big enough for both of us
And it ain't me who's gonna leave
Census, the latest census
There'll be more girls who live in town though not enough to go round
Heartbeat, increasing heartbeat
You know that:
This town isn't big enough, not big enough for both of us

This town isn't big enough, not big enough for both of us
And I ain't gonna leave

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