Monday, September 19, 2011

30 in 30, 9/15/11 - "Whatever You Want,Babe", Nazareth

What can I say. This was from No Mean City, 1979. I heard it a couple of times on FM radio and then it was gone; to say it was even a minor hit in L.A. would likely be overstating it. But it always stayed in my mind and then, a few years ago, it occurred to me that SOMEBODY had likely put it on youtube - and so they had. To be honest, I don't even think of it as a guilty pleasure - I still like it after not hearing it for nearly thirty years (and, no, I don't have any Nazareth CDs). At any rate, these guys put out a FUCK of a lot of records, I'm not going to kid you. Their cover of "Love Hurts" was pretty much their only big deal American hit.

But in the end, the bottom line is how could I, personally, not get SOME enjoyment out of a band named Nazareth? (Plus, it's a love song - could these guys be ANY more sensitive? I think not...)

Whatever You Want, Babe...


IBL:mm

5 comments:

  1. I always thought "Love Hurts" was their song. My personal favorite was always "Telegraph" from the Close Enough for Rock and Roll album- the ending lyrics of that song "Here we are again, singing the same old song..." enter my mind at the oddest times still to this day.

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  2. John - Telegraph or Telegram? Hmmm. Isn't that the one that has So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star dropped into the middle of it, just a line or two?

    w/r/t Love Hurts, I thought maybe Everly Bros. did it first, so went and confirmed that (1960). Orbison had a hit in the 60s, also, and then Gram Parsons and Emmylou with the version I am (now) most familiar with from 1973.

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  3. Yes, Telegraph does have that bit in the middle of it. And thanks for the info re "Love Hurts," I'll have to give the other version a hearing.

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  4. And, of course, Patti Smith had a hit with a cover of So You Wanna Be a Rock and Roll Star, and now we are back to BOC...

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  5. Patti's covers are always interesting and I especially enjoyed her album "Twelve"- which should have had a BOC cover on it! In fact, I would have loved to hear her do "OD'd on Life."

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Civility.