Post by AeroCooper on Apr 6, 2014 12:40:33 GMT -5
Jonathan Richman vs. Commonwealth of Massachusetts
SINGER-SONGWRITER JONATHAN RICHMAN RECORDED “ROADRUNNER” WITH THE MODERN LOVERS IN 1972.
6 April 2014, Sunday /JAY DOBIS, DATÇA
It started in Joyce Linehan's kitchen in Dorchester, MA., when she convinced a Harvard professor, Elizabeth Warren, to run for the US Senate.
Now, Warren is on the Senate Banking Committee where she routinely shows up bank regulators as fools who allow bankers to steal billions of dollars from poor folk (i.e., you and me), never sending any of these criminals to prison, merely saying: “Tsk. Tsk.” What also sets Warren apart from far too many of her colleagues in Congress is that she does not believe that the planet Earth is only about 7,000 years old or that her great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents used to romp with dinosaurs; unfortunately, I am not kidding.
After guiding Warren to victory, Joyce took on a new challenge: Make the song “Roadrunner” by the Modern Lovers the official state rock song of Massachusetts. This song and this group have inspired many people to become musicians or songwriters and have inspired thousands to be better people. This is because the writer of the song “Roadrunner,” Jonathan Richman, has always championed honesty and sincerity.
Although you may not have heard of Jonathan, he has had hits in other countries, but not the US, where he might be best known for doing the soundtrack for and appearing in the film “There's Something About Mary.” John Cale (of the legendary Velvet Underground), Iggy Pop and David Bowie have all covered his song “Pablo Picasso," while the Sex Pistols did "Roadrunner" for the film “The Great Rock ‘N' Roll Swindle.” Others have also recorded "Roadrunner," such as the Greg Kihn Band and Joan Jett, while post-punk act Siouxsie and the Banshees recorded Jonathan's "She Cracked.” Many other bands and singers have covered his songs or written songs in tribute to him.
This is where I'll put in my disclaimer, which should also explain my rambling and reminiscing: Jonathan and I have been friends since we were five years old in Natick, a suburb of Boston, where I first heard him sing. He was dressed in a baseball uniform for our fourth grade class play and sang, “You Gotta Have Heart,” from the Broadway musical “Damn Yankees.” In some ways, this is a song he has lived up to his entire life. We were best friends all through elementary school, junior high and high school and are still friends today. In addition, he also wrote a song about me (actually about his father, his mother, his brother and me). The song is called “I See My Father, and I See What's Underneath.” In the studio, Jonathan decided to play saxophone on the song. If you have ever heard him play saxophone, you'll understand why this great song still remains unreleased.
In response to those who want to make “Roadrunner” the state rock song, a few misguided legislators in Massachusetts decided to try to make “Dream On” by Aerosmith the state song -- a song that has nothing to do with Massachusetts. This is utter nonsense.
In preparing to write this article, I perused the Wikipedia entry on Aerosmith. I have been an avid music collector my entire life, and have had somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 to 7,000 tapes, singles, vinyl LPs and CDs, and I am proud to say that I have never owned anything by Aerosmith. According to the entry, outside of music, members of Aerosmith tend to severely bang their heads on car doors, set fire to automobiles in gas stations and fall off stages and/or the wagon and into drug rehab. On the other hand, what does Jonathan do when he is not performing? He builds bread ovens, and my wife and I would like him to build us a bread oven in the backyard of our home in southwestern Turkey. What would you prefer: an authentic “Jonathan Richman Autographed-Model Bread-baking Oven” or a used Steve Tyler/Joe Perry (Aerosmith songwriters) coke spoon?
Perhaps I should add that this Aerosmith nonsense seems to have run out of steam, as no one showed up at the hearing to push for it, not even the song's sponsor.
“Roadrunner” is about riding in your car late at night in Massachusetts, and here are some of the lyrics: “One two three four five six/Roadrunner, roadrunner/Going faster miles an hour/Gonna drive past the Stop 'n' Shop/With the radio on
I'm in love with Massachusetts/And the neon when it's cold outside/And the highway when it's late at night/Got the radio on/I'm like the roadrunner
Alright/I'm in love with modern moonlight/128 when it's dark outside/I'm in love with Massachusetts” (Stop 'n' Shop is a supermarket chain, and there is one a five-minute walk from Jonathan's childhood home, while 128 (Rt. 128) is a major highway in Massachusetts).
Many years ago, my friend Jerry Leibowitz was the first manager of the Knitting Factory -- the hip club in New York City. Through him I became friends with members of a very good rock band with a critically well-received first album. Jerry and the band and I and many members of the music biz cognoscenti in NYC at the time were in a bar on Great Jones Street chatting. At 4 a.m. the bar locked its doors and let everyone stay. The drummer of the band pulled me aside and said: “I have to ask you something. I must know. Please tell me -- is Jonathan really, really sincere? Please tell me the truth.”
Throughout his career Jonathan has always stressed the necessity of honesty and sincerity. It has always struck me as a peculiarity of human nature that if in fact you are honest and sincere and tell people that, they immediately think you are being dishonest. If you tell people you never lie, they immediately think: “He must be a liar.” Many people want to believe that Jonathan is sincere, need to believe, but they think to themselves: “He is a rock musician, how is it possible? He must be cynical.” They want to believe, but...
The drummer looked very tense, anxiously awaiting my response as though his life depended on the answer. I told him: “Jonathan is completely, totally sincere. You can believe everything that he says.” He grabbed my hands and started shaking them, tears flowing from his eyes and snot running down his nose, saying, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Jay!” His eyes were filled with tears of joy.
In conclusion, Today's Zaman -- the leading daily English-language newspaper in Turkey -- whole-heartedly supports the selection of the song “Roadrunner” by the Modern Lovers as the state rock song of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
www.todayszaman.com/news-343832-jonathan-richman-vs-commonwealth-of-massachusetts.html