Hey, guys and gals! I’ve got a super swell idea for a Thrifty Music edition — let’s put up some of the keenest, niftiest songs I’ve ever found in thrift stores and flea markets… so long as they’re songs that were obviously targeted exclusively at an extremely white listening audience! Then, after RTH members have had a chance to really swing to some of these neat-o numbers, we can all talk about our fave songs that are also, you know, very White and everything! Wouldn’t that be the coolest? Sure it would!

Yet another band reputation besmirched by a “tribute” from REM

To start with, here’s a ginchie number by a groovy combo called The Clique. You may know the tune as popularized and largely ruined by REM, but here’s the extremely white original. I’m talking of course about “Superman”.

Let me know if you want to hear the wonderfully-titled A-side

Next up, “It Just Won’t Be That Way”, by super-pale band The Critters, who enjoyed a modest hit back in, oh, 1967 or something with “Mr. Dieingly Sad” — one of my fave rave song titles ever. “IJWBTW” is the less-often heard B-side, about which I want impressions from Townsmen Mockcarr, Velv, Trolleyvox, Mod, and anybody else out there with an ear for nifty white pop hooks. I want reports!

Ow — my extremely white teeth hurt!

Third in line, a sickly sweet bubblegum confection by White Plains, entitled “My Baby Loves Lovin'” — yet another song title to die for. As much as I love and appreciate music from all kinds of people of all sorts of ethno-cultural backgrounds, every now and again, a steaming pile of whiteness is shoved under my nose, and I must admit I thrill to its mac-and-cheese, bologna sandwich pungency. This is one of the artefacts that does it to me. It’s simple. It’s silly. It’s catchy. It’s draped in 100% Rayon from head to toe, and I love it. I hope you will too.

The reason I like this song

NOT the reason I like this song

Lastly, the track that will get my posting privileges revoked for sure: “Where the Action Is”, by John Paul Young. This was actually originally the A-side to JPY’s one global super-mega-smash, “Love Is In the Air,” but it was eventually relegated to the flip when its authors/producers realized they’d miscalculated. Most of you already know that I am a total ass-lick fan-boy for the svengalis behind John Paul Young on all of his musical offerings — Harry Vanda and George Young. I had to include this silly, extremely white number because, even in 1978 or whenever this song was released, the Vanda/Young songwriting team just couldn’t help but offer up some choice, extremely white, Easybeats-like production and arrangement touches — especially those background vox in the chorus! (In fact, I coud swear that’s actually Harry and George singing back there.)

Anyhow, as always, I look forward to your comments.

Yours, etc.,

HVB

p.s.: I also get a big kick out of how John Paul Young says “alright, alright, ALRIGHT!” after every chorus. Just wanted to toss that into the whiteness equation.

Hail and well met, fellow seekers of the weird, the unusual and the dirt-cheap. Today’s post is a quick one, as it restates a case we discussed in the form of “Walkin’ the Dog” many months ago. This time, we’re going to take a closer look at a song from the Stones’ 12×5 album — “It’s All Over Now”. I’ve got this song in my crosshairs as a result of finding a copy of the original, done by The Valentinos, at a flea market this weekend. One spin of the original caused me to take a small sip of brandy, stroke my chin thoughtfully, and wonder: Didn’t anybody back in 1965 or whenever the Stones released this turd point out that the original was a damn sight better than the Stones’ cover?!

Seriously, are there any Townspeople who wouldn’t prefer this:

“It’s All Over Now”, The Valentinos

to this?:

(Yes, yes, I know; that Stones “video” is a helluva way to present my case in an unbiased fashion. It was actually the only studio version of the song I could find online — and if anything, it serves to help illustrate the central point of my case!)