Wednesday, 1/29

The second Loraine played the song, I knew I had heard it before.

I know I talked about music yesterday, so forgive me doing it again today. But there's a song out there that's the basis of that strange occurrence I mentioned. Loraine and her brother Joe share an affinity for long-forgotten music, and for Christmas each year Joe will send Loraine CDs and sound files of various obscure works he's discovered throughout the past year. One of those he sent her this Christmas was Was (Not Was)'s “What's Up Dog”. You'll know the album as the one that gave the world “Walk The Dinosaur”. I know it as the one that gave the world the forgotten classic “Spy in the House of Love”.

And then there was the song I didn't even know I had heard before.

The album is weird, as was Was (Not Was)'s entire career. The music is quirky, the lyrics sometimes downright bizarre, and if you listen to the entire thing at once you'll quite possibly shake your head in wonder at the whole project. But stuck in the middle of songs like “Somewhere There's a Street Named For My Dad” and 'Wedding Vows in Vegas” (guest lead vocal by Frank Sinatra Jr) lies a song that's insanely good...

“Anything Can Happen”.

It's a perfect 80s pop song, with a lush arrangement and a melody that sticks in your head. I'm not quite sure what it's doing on that album, but there it is. And when Loraine wanted to play me “a cool song I'd never heard”, I couldn't wait to hear it. But as soon as it started I realized that, waaaaay back at the start of my life here at this particular station, I had played it a few times.

I checked, and it was the follow-up single to “Walk the Dinosaur”. It only spent a few weeks on the chart, peaking at number 75, but for those few weeks I obviously gave it a couple of spins, and then promptly forgot about it for the next 35 years. But something about the tune obviously lodged itself deep in the hidden recesses of my brain, because as soon as the first few notes drifted from Loraine's computer speakers, I knew what it was.

Now you get to, too--

I don't recommend the whole album, unless you're a fan of quirk and/or have downed three or four gummies. But if you'd like to listen to a piece of pure pop perfection, there's one song on that disc definitely worth checking out.

(jim@wmqt.com)