39. Sports by Huey Lewis and The News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7JVlpm0eRs&list=OLAK5uy_m_-Vy4Z_37aAqfRAwq0gYYnXhjc6reILA
"Heart and Soul" triggers lots of good memories of the beginning of my senior year--from August through October of 1983--which was actually a pretty damn good 3 months for me. It all went super-south in November, but for those 3 golden months, I was at the top of my game. And it's kind of amazing how much good music came out in those 3 months. Or maybe it was just that I was in such a damn good mood for all that time that the music just seemed so much better.
"I Want a New Drug," "The Heart of Rock 'n Roll," and "If This Is It" all charted during high school too, with the last song being the one I remember John singing during a summer evening of cruising Arimo with Hondo Joe in The Hulk, only John changed the lyrics to "If It's a Zit!" "Walking on a Thin Line" hit the charts, but topped out at #18. I think it's got a solid beat, good guitars, and pretty good lyrics, so I don't know why it didn't chart higher. Maybe it was just the case that after a year of hearing the other songs on the album, and after the album itself topped out the album sales, people weren't as interested in buying the single anymore.
When I got back from my mission, I raided my brother-in-law's record collection and made a tape of Sports, which I listened to a LOT in my black step-side Chevy pickup during that summer and through college. So the album also is associated with good memories of dating Julie in college and living with Hondo Joe during the summer of '88. That's why I enjoy many of the other songs on the album that didn't chart. "Bad Is Bad" is not bad. "You Crack Me Up" is a peppy tune that makes a good workout song. "Finally Found a Home" is listenable enough to not fast forward through the tape. "Honky Tonk Blues" is the weakest link on the album, being a remake of a Hank Williams' song. Still, it's a fast-paced song that shows Huey Lewis and The News aren't afraid to country things up a little, giving us a little more sense of the musical range that the band had.
But I have to admit that one of the main reasons this album is on my list is because of how much I like "Heart and Soul." Whenever I hear it, I get this mainline emotional connection to that period of time when I was so blissfully in love with the girl of my dreams. It was, in retrospect, quite sickening. I guess I should have seen the bad end coming from the good beginning.
However, musically speaking, I think the other reason I love this song so very, very much is because it is one of the greatest cowbell performances in all of rock and roll music! I mean, listen to how they make that cowbell sing! It's more subtle in some places than others, but the cowbell is woven throughout the song.
Why am I sure Huey used the cowbell in the song and not some other bell-like percussive instrument?
Because this song is actually a remake of a song released by Exile on their 1981 album Heart and Soul, which does heavily feature the cowbell in the chorus.
Apparently, 3/5ths of Exile think that Huey Lewis and The News' version of the song sounded exactly like theirs, and they are befuddled by the fact that they didn't have a bigger hit on their hands when they first released it in 1981. They even tried to stir up a controversy on this matter with the audience during a recent performance of the song back in 2016. And they do specifically mention Huey's use of the cowbell.
Here's the thing. Exile's version does share a lot of similarities with Huey Lewis and The News' version. I'll give them that. But Huey's use of the cowbell in the song is much more artistic with the way that it's mixed into the percussion track in lots of different ways. And multiple cowbells are used throughout the entire song, not just one cowbell on the chorus. So, no, Exile, Huey's harder rockin' version was a bigger hit because...and I can't emphasize this too much.. it's got MORE COWBELL!
End of controversy.
Anyway, this song takes me back to the glory days of double-dating with Hondo Joe back when we both had high hopes of getting the high-school sweetheart of our dreams. Yes. The good life was good then. But after Halloween, it all turned bad. And like Huey says, sometimes bad is bad.
Nardo
Back in the day, almost all of the new music I purchased (with the exception of 45 singles) was in the form of cassette tapes. But, for some reason, there were a few albums I bought new as vinyl records instead of cassettes. I have no idea why. Maybe the records were cheaper than the cassettes? Maybe I wanted the larger album cover picture? I have no recollection as to why I bought records instead of cassettes.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, two of the albums that I purchased on vinyl instead of cassette are on your album list in the 30s. I had "Sports" on record instead of cassette, and for some reason when I converted my music collection to cd in the early 90s, this is one of the albums I didn't get on cd. (Probably because I had the greatest hits on cd, and half of this album was already on that.)
So, I hadn't heard some of these songs in a long, long time. Damn, "You Crack Me Up" would make an excellent workout song...if I ever worked out again. And that base line from "Walking On a Thin Line" was enough to keep the song spinning in my mind for several days after re-listening to it.
My favorite album cut, though, is undoubtedly "Bad Is Bad." For one thing, it always reminds me of my favorite cousin, who plays guitar. (I've never actually heard him play, though, so I don't know if he sounds like a buzz saw buzzing or not.) I especially like the humor in the song, most notably eating only a dollars' worth of the $1.99 all you can eat, because sometimes bad is bad.
As far as the "controversy" of "Heart and Soul" goes, I had no idea until you wrote this that the song was originally done by Exile. And yes, the two versions are almost identical. So, why was the Huey Lewis & the News version a hit and the Exile version not? Huey Lewis & the News are a better band than Exile. It's really just that simple. (Maybe if the lead singer of Exile had a dimpled chin? Nope. Not even that would be enough.)