The Bangles: "Going Down to Liverpool"

18 June 1986

"I love The Bangles: they hardly do anything and yet they're hugely successful."

— Duncan Wright

As a boy growing up in the eighties it seemed like The Bangles were a very big deal. I never gave any consideration to them being the 'future of rock' or any of that hooey. It didn't matter that they were an all-female foursome and that they played their own instruments. We couldn't have given less of a toss that they "didn't write their own hits" possibly because they were clever enough not to take on overly familiar material from the outside. The fact that their songs were simple and straightforward made it easier to like them. They did what they did and it sounded great and that was good enough. In retrospect, they share with INXS the quality of being the high school garage band that made it. (I was too young to fancy any of them but I would soon enough)

I visited Liverpool over the Easter holidays in 1989. It was just a day trip and we headed back to our Chester B&B that night so my Merseyside experience wasn't vast. Still, it's a day that stands out though more for what we didn't do and see. We didn't get close to Anfield, no one spoke with one of those brilliant Scouse accents (the kind that helped make Craig Charles of Red Dwarf and George Christopher (Ziggy on Grange Hill), two of my favourite TV characters) and there was almost no trace of The Beatles, which was the main reason my mum wanted to go there. The Cavern Club was a car park, the National Trust was still years away from making the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney into landmarks and if anyone was doing Fab Four tours of the city then we sure knew nothing of it. North Americans may have flocked to Liverpool but there was nothing for them, the nostalgia industry still being a few years off.

Liverpool has been well known to North Americans ever since The Beatles became huge in 1964 but this fascination wasn't shared by the British and, indeed, Liverpudlians. What is just another gloomy industrial/port city is a mecca of rock music and where the sixties blossomed. While the average British citizen wouldn't think to take a trip there, (though considering how fond they are of Blackpool, Skegness and Southend, I'm not so sure Liverpool is such a foul place) it was a place that many on the other side of the Atlantic dreamed of.

I've written about previous Singles of the Fortnight that are too repetitive and that could have used, say, a chord change or some lyrical introspection. Simple Minds' "Waterfront", for example, has the line "Get in, get out of the rain / I'm gonna move on up to the waterfront" which sounds great but means nothing in the context of such a trite song. Where, Mr. Kerr, does this desire for a cozy home by the seaside come from? What are your plans for residing so close to said waterfront? As I wrote, I'm sure the chorus went over like gangbusters when played live but that doesn't hide how feeble the overall song is.

Similarly, there's not much to "Going Down to Liverpool" but I think that's a point in its favour. The subject of the song has nothing and is off Merseyside to do nothing: there's not a whole lot else that needs saying. The "green and pleasant land" of Wordsworth and John Constable paintings has nothing to offer but then neither does Liverpool itself. There's no dream to follow and no nightmare being left behind. Why go there? Well, it could be the vibrant music scene, it could be the tremendous football side, it could be the appeal of being in a Labour Party stronghold or it could be just the place to blend in with other layabouts on the dole. It doesn't matter but if it does then The Bangles give it a little more meaning. As Americans, I'm not overly sure they understand just what they're singing about but that's for the best since they bring it all back to The Beatles. Why not flock to Liverpool where John, Paul, George and Ringo cut their crooked teeth?

"Going Down to Liverpool" was written in the early part of the decade by Kimberley Rew, leader of what would become Katrina & The Waves, a band I never knew until fairly recently was mostly British. Rew has made a bundle from penning "Walking on Sunshine" (the one everyone remembers, not the one I reviewed by Rockers Revenge even though it was initially the bigger hit) but he's probably done okay from this as well. It wasn't a huge hit but it crops up on their many best of / greatest hits albums over the years so I'm sure the royalties are no small beer. (Rew is well represented in this singles review page with ver Waves also up for consideration with "Sun Street": "Yuk!" exclaims Duncan Wright) Their attempts at recording it are perfectly acceptable but they only show that it was meant to be a Bangles song. A tighter, crunchier performance, a slightly mumbled lead vocal from drummer Debbi Peterson mixed with the floaty backing vocals of Susanna Hoffs and a sunnier production make this an easy choice in the 'cover versions that are better than the originals' stakes. The Bangles hardly did anything: they never needed to.

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Also Reviewed This Fortnight

James: "So Many Ways"

I love James: they do so much and yet they're hugely unsuccessful. They write their own small time indie "hits", they always play well live and when they do play they look soooo "intense". The four piece James quietly made some respectable singles and EPs but must have seemed like an also ran in perpetuity. (Even when they began scoring Top 20 hits there was always something of the afterthought to them) A fascinating record that sows the seeds of their eventual status as the finest singles group of the nineties, "So Many Ways" is that prototypical eighties low key independent number which provokes nodding of heads as it's playing but is forgotten about as soon as it finishes. They'd need a few more years to hone their sound into something memorable enough for the kids to start seeking them out but they were getting there.