I checked out after INTRODUCING but since seeing the fabulous documentary I may dip my toe into the later stuff.
Hi Tim - I'll run it by a chap who may well remember........ . (It's probably in Visconti's book too).
I really love those interpretations. Thanks But No Thanks lyrically sounds really creepy on the surface - about a young girl who has to turn down advances because her parents tell her to. I much prefer your take on this!
Fascinating breakdown. . . thanks! As for "Baby Can I Invade Your Country," I assumed it was a direct response to the 2nd Iraq war, with the line “countries, planets, stars, galaxies so far” mocking the doctrine of manifest destiny.
‘(Baby baby) Can I invade your country?’ is a fascinating one. I see the influence of the Iraq War and George W Bush’s politics on this one too. It feels like an update to ‘Reinforcements’. Both songs deal with relationships using military language, first as a soldier under siege on the front line, and now as the US army exerting dominance over a foreign state. It’s a shift in power dynamics. Read into that what you will! There are two versions, and both can fit the context of the band at that time. They’d achieved their long-sought creative freedom with ‘Lil Beethoven’, and so ‘Hello Young Lovers’ explores how to meet their ambition of becoming true greats. The non-album version starts with “I wait for your answer, and while I’m waiting, I may as well ask you what’s your favourite colour... what’s your favourite song...what’s your favourite Beatle”. These are all very simple questions representing Sparks probing the simplest elements of their own story, trying to understand how to tell it. Further in, the questions get more nuanced: “Has it always been Ringo? The apolitical one?”. It’s as if they’re learning about themselves as the song goes on. “I need the enjoyment of rapid deployment” isn’t just about sex (or war for that matter). It’s about wanting to act now on telling their great story, but then they realise that it might take longer than they thought: “Counties, planets, stars, galaxies so far”. It’s here that they first express the scale of what they’re about to embark on. It’s telling that the next song is ‘Rock Rock Rock’, which asks for patience from their audience while they develop this future idea. So instead of invading her country, the war is called off: “Your ladyship, your statesmanship has killed our hip relationship”. The ‘statesmanship’ represents how it would ruin the story if they were to cash in on their unique selling point of ‘genius band who are always in the shadows’. For the story to resonate they need to stay as underdogs right up to the inevitable happy ending. Their new goal is to develop that happy ending, and fate will decide how long it takes. https://youtu.be/Lad20_UCXNk The album version replaces the verses with the lyrics to ‘Star-Spangled Banner’. These were written by Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and poet who was negotiating for the release of American prisoners during the Battle of Baltimore (1812). He knew the British battle plans so was held overnight, watching Baltimore’s last line of defence be attacked from onboard a British Royal Navy boat. If the US endured the battering then the flag would still be flying, and so Key spent a long night listening to the battle, unable to see the flag in the darkness. But then by the dawn’s early light, he sees the flag is still flying. Sparks career had always been a battle, it was something that they wrestled with. This can be likened to the US fort being under attack from British guns. The flag still standing means they’ve held their ground, but Russell adds a new part to the anthem. “....and one more thing... can I invade your country?”. America not only survives but grows into a military superpower. This is symbolic of the power of what they now know they can deliver over the coming years.
From my favourite album of all time. I was very pleased to learn that Neil Gaiman also rates this song very highly. I don’t think this song has much to do (if anything) with songwriting. It is though a brilliant encapsulation of a relationship gone wrong. There are many songs about relationships in the canon and they are brilliantly concise. Which is amazing when you consider that Ron seems to be a man who has never had that type of long term relationship. Of course, that could all be a front and he may have had several marriages and 16 children. Ron is the Raymond Carver of pop music lyrics. Pineapple is a solo Russell piece and brilliantly bonkers. If it has any meaning, it might be about how people don’t necessarily like being told what is good for them.
Your interpretation of ‘Tits’ and mine don’t need to be mutually exclusive. It’s a beautifully told story about a relationship gone wrong, and it has unresolved questions as to whether it’s fatherhood, infidelity or alcoholism that’s to blame (maybe all three). It’s intriguing - like why’s he so reluctant to confront his drinking partner if he’s sleeping with his wife? All of that is self-contained, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if that was only half the story? My claim here is that most Sparks songs work as allegories for something relating to Sparks. In the context of this song alone it seems like a leap, but so often this meta way of looking at songs brings out something new and interesting.
I’m happy to be answering these. There’s so much that I want to write about how these songs and how they connect. To make sense of this I looked at how Sparks have used aliens before. The first reference that comes to mind is ‘I Married a Martian’ from 1981’s ‘Whomp that Sucker’. It’s the album where Sparks make their return to rock, and this song works as an allegory for them adopting and then ditching dance music. The alien “has a European flair”, like the music of Georgio Moroder, and it “takes human form”, which is what Sparks did to disco by being the first to attempt this music with a rock sensibility. He says “She only loved me ‘cause I was the first guy she saw”, which fits my interpretation of ‘Beat the clock’ being a race to do this first (as I wrote about here - https://www.sparks-onefortheages.com/post/what-number-1-in-heaven-by-sparks-is-really-about). The Martian in the song sleeps around and then grows into something huge and ugly. Think of all the bands that emerged into popularity after ‘N1IH’ - Soft Cell, Heaven 17, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Buggles, Yello. It seems they didn’t like some of what they saw: “I married a Martian I think I see changes I know I see changes She doesn't look like our kind Her arms, her legs, Were growing and growing Her form, once thin, Was changing, was changing I can't describe The changes, so gruesome She looked, she seemed So Martian” They’re now alienated by what they pioneered, but they’re not through with it. They return to a more straight-pop sound on 1983’s ‘In Outer Space’, and had a lot of poppy subject-matter to go with it (‘Popularity’, ‘Cool Places’, “Praying for a party’). They’ve become the martians on ‘A fun bunch of guys from outer space’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uUKLsi_c7Q It’s about trying to fit into the music-scene around them. They’re “here to infiltrate and get a tan” - with Ron’s pale complexion being another recurring theme beyond this. Sparks are a band who can write about dark themes with humour, so “On the planet where we're from War is even fun”. They’re dumbing down their wordiness so “We speak English real good”. They’re watching what others do and copying that - “On our TV's in the sky, Your reruns come in fine”. They don’t mind it being second-hand. They’re also looking out for something on TV on ‘There’s no such thing as aliens’. “Look at your watch, look at your TV in despair Look at your watch, look at your TV, it’s not fair” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWv4LN6NOhU They look out the door. They look out the window. The whole song is them looking out for something that they know isn’t there, and based on these older songs it could a new pop genre to latch their songwriting to. It represents a decision to stop looking outward for new sounds, but to hone what they do. This continues on the next song. One of the many themes of ‘As I sit down to play the organ at the Notre Dame Cathedral’ is repetition - the organist does the same thing each day with a different tourist, and the theme continues beyond the album. They re-emerged to play their entire back-catalogue on the 21x21 shows, played Kimono My House with an orchestra, reused the same sonic palette on Exotic Creatures, and stripped down to bare bones on the ’Two Hands One Mouth’ shows. I take ‘There’s no such thing as aliens’ to define a rule they’ set for themselves. Elsewhere on the album they set other rules - to stop looking to the past on ‘Perfume’, to embrace what they saw as failure in ‘the very next fight’, to show patience on ‘Here Kitty’. Even more than ‘Lil Beethoven’, ‘Hello Young Lovers’ serves as a manifesto what Sparks have done in the last two decades. I still have so much more to write about this!
I spoke too soon in my previous post, I've got one more 'final request', if you're game: "So Tell Me Mrs. Lincoln, Aside From That How Was the Play?"
Keep the “final requests” coming . Here’s a theory on ‘So tell me Mrs. Lincoln aside from that how was the play?’. Lyrics: Sparks – So Tell Me Mrs. Lincoln Aside from That How Was the Play? Lyrics | Genius Lyrics . Its from the point of view of somebody who is stuck in a long and one-sided conversation, desperate to move away. “Only the subtext, never the text, wish I could push the button for next. Only the surface, never the heart. When will the conflab finally start?”. He nods along politely like a bobble-head doll, but is desperate for the other guy to take the hint (with glances at his watch, re-tieing of shoelaces, etc) and end the conversation. Much like ‘...Carnegie Hall’, the title is an old joke. The President has been assassinated, so you wouldn’t ask the First Lady if she enjoyed the play. It’s about missing the point, and from that we can assume that this same thing applies to the rambling character in the song. But if he’s missing the point somehow then why not correct him if he’s so wrong? Why doesn’t he explain the point? It fits that this person could be a SPARKS fan discussing their music and completely misunderstanding it. Ron might want to preserve it’s mystery so wouldn’t set the person right. Only he knows “What lies underneath it all” and he isn’t sharing. This switches to “What lies underneath, ignored?” for the closing line, which might suggest it’s not just the song that the fan has misunderstood, but maybe the band. Believe me, the potential irony of writing this isn’t lost on me given I might have missed the point as much as the fan in the song .
If you’ve enjoyed my posts on here and want something more in-depth then here’s my latest blog post about the transformation Sparks made for 1994’s ‘Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins”, and how the lyrics covertly reflect that. https://www.sparks-onefortheages.co...guide-to-gratuitous-sax-and-senseless-violins
Welcome to the forum.... I can't say much about Sparks, I only ever heard When I'm With You, it was ok, but didn't inspire me to look into them further. I'll check out some of these tracks when I get a chance.
"No. 1 in Heaven" is a great album, as well as Sparks themselves, it's actually one of best things Giorgio Moroder ever did too - and that's saying something. Great sounds and sounds great.
Thanks! This forum has been so welcoming. It’s nice to find a non-toxic part of the internet to chat about music. As for ‘When I’m with you’, that song did nothing for me, even years into my Sparks obsession, but I now love it. There are lots of good introductions to the band (depending on your music tastes) but one thing they all have in common is that these songs reward repeated listening and don’t work as well when listened to passively. i completely agree! It amazes me that this album didn’t hit big given hours much Moroder defined the pop hits of that era.
Do yourself a favor and see the documentary The Sparks Brothers. Released in 2021, it provides an excellent overview of Sparks' five decades of wacky music making merriment. [trailer]
It’s a brilliant thing, and even if you didn’t take to their music then you’d come away from this film with nothing but respect and admiration for the brothers.
I showed it to a friend who had no interest in Sparks and he thoroughly enjoyed it. We've talked a couple of times since about Sparks and I was really surprised by how much he loved the doc and how inspirational he found them as artists for their dedication to their vision. Not enough music though, I found. As soon as a 'banger' started I'd say "Oh, this one's great!" and then it would fade out. He is interested in hearing their stuff more though so I'm going to 'hook him up'.
It makes me wonder how many Sparks virgins added the band to their playlists after seeing the documentary. It can be a problem knowing where to start when it comes to a band who’ve worked solidly for five decades.
I've got to think that it's brought in a number of new fans. It's lovely to see Sparks - a band I first fell in love with in 1988 at a time (Interior Design) when they seemed entirely unpopular - getting their due respect at last.
Respect - I can’t imagine many people got on board for ‘Interior Design’. Now the documentary is out I can finally talk to people about Sparks without getting blank looks, and I hope they turn into household names in years to come.
I got into them slightly prior to Interior Design but that was the first 'new' album I bought by them. Then it all went sort of dark outside of National Crime Awareness Week until Gratuitous Sax suddenly appeared in 1994. I thought Sparks had quit until I heard "My Way". Since then it's been a slow steady progression, especially since Li'l Beethoven.
