Say It Ain’t So: England’s “Most American” Rocker, Paul Rodgers, Sworn in as a Canadian Citizen

 Posted by
Oct 262011
 

Long considered (by myself, if no one else) perhaps England’s “most American” rocker, former Bad Company/Free vocalist Paul Rodgers was sworn in today as a Canadian citizen.  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

*PAUL RODGERS SWORN IN AS A CANADIAN CITIZEN*

October 26, 2011 – At a public ceremony in Surrey, B.C. last Friday October 21st  The legendary *Paul Rodgers* was sworn in as a Canadian Citizen.

A statement from Paul:

It may not be my native land but Canada is surely now my home.  While I’ll always be an Englishman, Canada has given me so much for which I am grateful.  My wife, your former Miss Canada Cynthia Kereluk, a new and extended family and the chance to be truly free in a country that with its quiet strength combines the best of so many worlds.

I’m proud to be a Canuck.

Thank you, Merci.

Paul Rodgers

I don’t know about you, but I’m hurt—and a bit pissed. Bad Co and Free were totally aimed at Americans! Any sales in the UK or Canada were a bonus. Bad Co so badly wanted to be American it wasn’t funny. I bet Rodgers was jealous of the English guys in Foreigner, who presented such a Corporate American Rock image that they could slip across our border without use of a passport. Play me one ragged Canadian chorus in any Bad Co song! Johnny didn’t travel to Toronto to become a shooting star, did he? Have you ever suspected the slightest sense of humor from any Bad Co recording? Canadians are funny, man! Everybody knows that. And what’s with the “Merci?” He’s gonna try to convince us he speaks French after 40 years touring the world with his brand of Goon Rock?

Surely Rodgers has been suffering through an identity crisis since his stirring induction speech for Bob Seger‘s entrance to Rock Town Hall’s Foyer of Fame. He thought he could replace Freddie Mercury in a reformed Queen. Wasn’t that like casting Clint Eastwood as the transvestite singer in The Crying Game? I know, Canada gave ’70s arena rockers around the world hockey sweaters, and as he mentions, he plucked his beautiful wife from their land, but still… I’m more Canadian than Rodgers. If Rodgers was going to defect he should have defected to the US of A.

Here’s hoping our Canadian correspondents will check in with their thoughts on this stunning news. I really don’t mean to take anything away from your great country. Everything Rodgers says about it is true. I just don’t like the fact that he chose you over us.

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1974

 Posted by
Feb 122011
 

The A.V. Club‘s website has started a new series of columns in which writers talk about their favorite year of music. The first one came out this week, with a very RTH-friendly choice.

There are a lot of years, I could choose as my favorite, but my first response is always 1974. That’s because of four albums: Randy Newman‘s Good Old Boys, Richard and Linda Thompson‘s I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, Big Star‘s Radio City and Steely Dan‘s Pretzel Logic. These albums all form a bedrock for a certain kind of music I really value. All those albums are weird pop of a sort: The musicianship is often understated (on the Dan album, it’s understated for them), but not boring; the lyrics are literate and intelligent, but they require a bit of work to penetrate. These albums don’t exactly set out to dazzle, but they create perfect senses of place and character. Each record slowly reveals something, the way a book or film might. As the cliche goes, they show, they don’t tell. You could call these albums “Rubber Soul for English majors.”

So, gut check time, and don’t think to much about it: What’s your favorite year in music and why?

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Sob Stories

 Posted by
Aug 022010
 


When doing some heavy soul reflection and consideration of one-hit wonders, such as Mr. Moderator’s Lemon Pipers “Green Tamborine,” I came across a sub-genre of 1970s one-hit wonders, songs which I would call the Necro-Pops. I would guess that this form has roots in the 1950s and 1960s car crash scenarios, such as “Tell Laura I Love Her” by Ray Peterson, “Leader of the Pack” by the Shangri-Las, and “Dead Man’s Curve” by Jan and Dean. And then there was the 1960s Bobby Goldsboro hit, “Honey,” as well as Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billy Joe,” which set the tone for the next decade.

Why did the 1970s have a slew of these strangely alluring but awful songs? All of them are over-the-top emotofests. Please consider the following evidence:

  • Terry Jacks – “Seasons in the Sun”
  • Michael Murphey – “Wildfire”
  • Gilbert O’Sullivan – “Alone Again”
  • Vicki Lawrence – “The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia”
  • Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods – “Billy, Don’t Be A Hero”

There is even a more upbeat version:

  • Paper Lace – “The Night Chicago Died”

Wouldn’t we agree that these are horrible songs? But every time I hear one of them, I shudder and keep listening, and am most likely able to sing along with them. Probably you are able to think of more of them (Lord have mercy). But why were they so popular in the 1970s? Was it a social phenomenon? Just an indicator of global bad taste? And why, to this day, when we hear them and sneer, do we also get choked up? I await your consideration.

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