30 in 30, 9/13/11 - "I Never Loved Eva Braun", Boomtown Rats

I likely discovered the Boomtown Rats in 1979, during my first year of high school, courtesy of my friend and neighbor Roger Woodfill (he was six years older than I, and exposed me to a LOT of music I might not have heard otherwise, and he took me to a million Dodger games that I certainly wouldn't have been able to attend otherwise, and he had the Playboy calendar on his wall, too, so there was that).

Now somewhere around this time with L.A. radio - and I think it happened over a couple of years - the rock stations (Zeppelin, Doors, Hendrix, Beatles, etc.) were starting to branch out just a little bit, and playing some things that were not necessarily in their wheelhouse, stuff that might be considered 'new wave' or 'punk' (probably in an attempt to cash in on these emerging trends). So on KMET I was starting to hear things like Mirror Stars by the Fabulous Poodles; Rat Trap by the Boomtown Rats; Just What I Needed by Cars; and of course the Stray Cats (and I can remember people going APOPLECTIC that KMET was playing Stray Cats, this 'new wave shit', which in retrospect I think is funny since Stray Cats were actually a real rock and roll band, just more in the mold of a Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, early Elvis, etc; also funny to me - if you put on a classic rock station now (and I try to stay as far away from them as I can to avoid the inevitable Journey-Foreigner-Loverboy conflagration) you will HEAR the Cars, but when they were first on the rock airwaves in L.A. in 1978 they, too, were treated with a great deal of suspicion and derision).

At any rate, I took a shine to these Irish boys and went out and bought A Tonic for the Troops which included this little gem (among many others), and I went ahead and added the lyrics below because, to be perfectly honest, this was a whole new type of narrative in a song for me, which is why I never forgot it (and please note the Leader of the Pack-esque call and response in the vocal)...

(Note - there are some violent images in the video; I include it here just for the sonic portion.)

I Never Loved Eva Braun

Are you really going out with Adolf?

I never loved Eva Braun (oh no?)
No, a thousand people say I did (oh yeah?)
Yeah, she was just some girl who was on the make (Yes, we see)
Boy she wanted to be so big.
And in the end it got to be a drag,
She's doing her exercises every day
No matter what people say,
I never loved Eva Braun.
I never heard all the screams (oh no?)
I never saw the blood and dirt and gore (oh yeah?)
That wasn't part of the dream, (yes, we see)
Of maps and generals and uniforms.
I'd always like the big parade,
I always wanted to be adored,
In '33 I knew I had it made,
I never loved....

Eva Braun wasn't history,
She wasn't even part of my destiny
She never really fitted in the scheme of things
She was a triumph of my will,
Oh yeah!

I saw the blondies and the blue eyes, (oh yeah?)
I saw the millions mouthing me, (oh yeah?)
But underneath I was really gentle, (oh yeah?)
D'ja ever see me touch a scrap of meat?
O yeah I conquered all those countries
They were weak an' I was strong
A little too ambitious maybe,
But I never loved Eva Braun.
Gee!

Bob Geldof

IBL:mm