Friday, March 17, 2017

Here's Your Chance To Make Me Feel Awkward - Jonathan Richman

Jonathan Richman

This blogpost today concerns, rocker Johnny!!! He never sucks, he's always great!

So you like the Velvet Underground they say. Well you should listen to Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers then. Jonathan himself was a big fan and he even used to sleep on Lou Reed's couch. Plus, John Cale of the VU produced their first album.  All right yeah! I'm in. Let's find some records.

That's how it started for me, and the first Modern Lovers album fits the bill. Okay, these guys are a little wacky, but there's some damn good rock riffs going on there ("Astral Plane" "She Cracked" etc.) Definitely something a Velvet Underground fan can appreciate.

 Okay, Let's try some more. Uh oh. What's this shit? "Hey There Little Insect," "I'm A Little Dinosaur", A non-ironic "cover" of "The Wheels On The Bus Go Round and Round."  What the hell is going on here? The edgy Boston rocker with a slight naive streak seems to have suddenly transformed into a guy you would hire for a kids' 6th birthday party.

 I won't pretend to really know what changed with Jonathan so early in his career. I've heard two theories. One was that once a musician finds himself a bit more popular with the ladies, the edge and anger are gone. The other theory is more fun, comes from Jonathan himself and can be heard here.  (explanation begins at about 1:20)

So it took me some time to get onto the Jojo happy wavelength. To be honest, I think the more my friends complained about hearing "-a-neat, a-neat, a-neat" the more entrenched I became. And it sure didn't hurt that his songs made the Irish girl smile, which at that time in my life was the most beautiful sight in the world for me. And that's enough 1996 reminiscing for right now.


And being that I think of myself as possessing a completely unique (and therefore often unappreciated) style of humor, no song could be more pertinent than this one.

She Doesn't Laugh At My Jokes - Jonathan Richman

And here's some of that earlier work

Buy Jonathan's music on Amazon

P.S.  Yes, this is the guy you saw on "Something About Mary"

3 comments:

  1. Jonathan is playing the Southgate House Revival on Thursday April 13. I have my ticket. Yes, there's a lot of fun in his music but he still gets into heavier emotions now and then, like a song about his mother's death which he often plays. Really looking forward to seeing him again. The last time was in '08. That's a long time in the wilderness.

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  2. I really love the Southgate House. Don't think I've been since it became "Revival" though. Hey, do you have a facebook page? I'd like to connect. If you do, and don't feel like posting it here you can send me a request. https://www.facebook.com/greg.mcgill.18

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    1. Private message will be sent soon via facebook.

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