G-Lexington
Lex. Icon. Devil.
I'm cursed - or blessed - with both a major affinity for music, and with a "photographic memory" when it comes to music. In short, if I like a song, I'll remember it for days, weeks, months, years after hearing it only once or twice.
Even decades.
Having grown up in the 1980s, and having been a huge fan of MTV since its inception, I grew very fond of many of the new wave/post-punk bands and songs that came out in the early 80s. As I grew up, and I had more disposable income, I began buying copies of these songs wherever I could find them. This was all pre-iTunes, pre-internet days, so it usually meant either haunting the record stores, or hounding friends and neighbors for cassette copies of what they had. I got all the obvious stuff early - A Flock of Seagulls and whatnot - but I remembered a lot of more obscure tunes that I wanted as well. Sometimes, I'd only remember a line from the song, or just the band name. But I'd usually manage to trip over them one way or the other. I recall finding a beat-up 7" single of a song called "My Boyfriend" by the Cucumbers, which I had first heard on an HBO "educational" program called BrainGames. I found an old cutout CD at a store that featured the song "Wunderbar" by Tenpole Tudor.
And I remember my delight in finding, on O Records, the 7" single by the Flirts called "Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime)".
But as full as my collection got, there were two songs in the back of my brain that I still had yet to find.
One was a hideous song called "Jack & Jill" by a band called the Bones. The video looked like it was shot on a budget of $10. The band wore Hefty trashbags, and the set was just paint smeared all over the place. The female lead singer intoned (rather than sang) the lame lyrics about Jack and Jill. I don't even recall what the heck they did, but presumably it wasn't anything pleasant. Even at age 11, I thought the song was silly. But I havent' seen the song since, and it'd be nice to have a copy.
The other song was "Tailing You". I was pretty sure I knew what band it was - the Dirty Looks. I saw the video a couple times, and recalled a few things about it. The opening was the drummer in the (semi-)dark pounding out the beat. The chorus featured two guys singing "They're tailing you!" several times (I can still sing it). And the close of the song ended with them singing "They're tailing...", followed by just the beat for a bit, and then the yelled "YOU!" That's surprisingly a lot of info considering 1. I only saw the video maybe three times, and 2. that was 25 years ago.
But I couldn't find the song. I'd occasionally come across a Dirty Looks LP in shops. Most of them were by a metal band that obviously wasn't the band I had seen. I did see an album or two that SEEMED to be the right band - three guys in black suits - but none of them had the song "Tailing You" on it. I started to doubt my memory. Was it not the Dirty Looks? Was it not "Tailing You"?
Once the Internet Age dawned, I did more searching. I found one website that MENTIONED a video for a song called "Tailing You" by the Dirty Looks...but no more. A list of LPs by the band showed only two - and neither had the song on there. I had more or less lost hope.
Today, I was a bit bored, and typed "Dirty Looks" into allmusic. A new album appeared - a compilation. It seemed to just be the two LPs packaged together, but then I read "also includes B-sides, live tracks, and non-LP singles". I quickly scanned down the list of tracks.
Track 13 on CD One was listed as "Tailin' Love".
Could that be it?
On a whim, I decided to check my local record store. They had the CD in stock, and they allow customers to listen before they buy. I had them open the CD, I put it in the player, cued up track 13, and hit go.
From the first two seconds of the opening drum beat, I knew - I'd found it! I found the song!
I gladly shelled over the $12, and listened to the song on the way home, smiling.
As one author said, we are not dogs. When we find a mystery, we don't roll around in it - we try to solve it. And the mystery of "Tailing You" has now been solved, and a twenty-five year search has come to an end.
Up next - "Jack & Jill" by the Bones.
Lex
(Here's a sample of the song by the Dirty Looks.)
Even decades.
Having grown up in the 1980s, and having been a huge fan of MTV since its inception, I grew very fond of many of the new wave/post-punk bands and songs that came out in the early 80s. As I grew up, and I had more disposable income, I began buying copies of these songs wherever I could find them. This was all pre-iTunes, pre-internet days, so it usually meant either haunting the record stores, or hounding friends and neighbors for cassette copies of what they had. I got all the obvious stuff early - A Flock of Seagulls and whatnot - but I remembered a lot of more obscure tunes that I wanted as well. Sometimes, I'd only remember a line from the song, or just the band name. But I'd usually manage to trip over them one way or the other. I recall finding a beat-up 7" single of a song called "My Boyfriend" by the Cucumbers, which I had first heard on an HBO "educational" program called BrainGames. I found an old cutout CD at a store that featured the song "Wunderbar" by Tenpole Tudor.
And I remember my delight in finding, on O Records, the 7" single by the Flirts called "Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime)".
But as full as my collection got, there were two songs in the back of my brain that I still had yet to find.
One was a hideous song called "Jack & Jill" by a band called the Bones. The video looked like it was shot on a budget of $10. The band wore Hefty trashbags, and the set was just paint smeared all over the place. The female lead singer intoned (rather than sang) the lame lyrics about Jack and Jill. I don't even recall what the heck they did, but presumably it wasn't anything pleasant. Even at age 11, I thought the song was silly. But I havent' seen the song since, and it'd be nice to have a copy.
The other song was "Tailing You". I was pretty sure I knew what band it was - the Dirty Looks. I saw the video a couple times, and recalled a few things about it. The opening was the drummer in the (semi-)dark pounding out the beat. The chorus featured two guys singing "They're tailing you!" several times (I can still sing it). And the close of the song ended with them singing "They're tailing...", followed by just the beat for a bit, and then the yelled "YOU!" That's surprisingly a lot of info considering 1. I only saw the video maybe three times, and 2. that was 25 years ago.
But I couldn't find the song. I'd occasionally come across a Dirty Looks LP in shops. Most of them were by a metal band that obviously wasn't the band I had seen. I did see an album or two that SEEMED to be the right band - three guys in black suits - but none of them had the song "Tailing You" on it. I started to doubt my memory. Was it not the Dirty Looks? Was it not "Tailing You"?
Once the Internet Age dawned, I did more searching. I found one website that MENTIONED a video for a song called "Tailing You" by the Dirty Looks...but no more. A list of LPs by the band showed only two - and neither had the song on there. I had more or less lost hope.
Today, I was a bit bored, and typed "Dirty Looks" into allmusic. A new album appeared - a compilation. It seemed to just be the two LPs packaged together, but then I read "also includes B-sides, live tracks, and non-LP singles". I quickly scanned down the list of tracks.
Track 13 on CD One was listed as "Tailin' Love".
Could that be it?
On a whim, I decided to check my local record store. They had the CD in stock, and they allow customers to listen before they buy. I had them open the CD, I put it in the player, cued up track 13, and hit go.
From the first two seconds of the opening drum beat, I knew - I'd found it! I found the song!
I gladly shelled over the $12, and listened to the song on the way home, smiling.
As one author said, we are not dogs. When we find a mystery, we don't roll around in it - we try to solve it. And the mystery of "Tailing You" has now been solved, and a twenty-five year search has come to an end.
Up next - "Jack & Jill" by the Bones.
Lex
(Here's a sample of the song by the Dirty Looks.)