— William Shaw
It's less than a year since a quirky British pop act took on the American road trip song and we already have a copy cat. Paddy McAloon wrote "Faron Young" as a take on using US cultural references to inform the working classes of the UK. As previously blogged a few months' back, how is a British truck driver expected to find a connection to his roots and his occupation via the medium of a country and western ballad? How are we to presuppose that even Americans have this type of association?
"Faron Young" is an excellent song (though probably still the weakest of the four taken from their masterwork Steve McQueen) but its message is muddied by seemingly paying too much of a debt to Americana, even while acknowledging that McAloon knows little about it. It may question country music as a relevant cultural touchstone in Britain but it doesn't make a mockery of it nor do they even give it a fond and gentle send up. There may be humour hidden in there somewhere but it's not especially easy to find. Good thing It's Immaterial were around to give the British car song some much needed levity and irony.
"Driving Away from Home (Jim's Tune)" isn't about truck drivers but it is a road song and one as distinctly British as "Faron Young" — if not more so, given that it refuses to get caught up in all things America. Having rejected an early attempt at recording the song in Wisconsin with Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads due to not being keen to do a "pastiche of a country and western track", It's Immaterial's John Campbell and Jarvis Whitehead returned to Britain to do it in a much more modern style. While a fifties, "Ghost Riders in the Sky" feel is present, it shares space with an impressionistic, synth sound. And this was more than three years before Depeche Mode did their part in merging Hank Williams with Gary Numan.
William Shaw has "Driving Away from Home" as his Single of the Fortnight but he kind of undersells it a little. While rationally speaking the entire concept of going on a road trip and suggesting places they go to (which keep getting farther and father away, though the video takes it to even more exotic locales with images of Tokyo, Shanghai, Bangkok and Canberra to close it out) with oddball asides isn't exactly conventional pop song material, it works as a performance. Mostly because it's sung from the perspective of a passenger who really doesn't give a toss about the concerns of whoever's driving.
Campbell tells Tom Hibbert in the 23 April edition of Smash Hits that he never does "any of the driving". (Significantly, he's the only member of the foursome in the promo not to appear behind the wheel) He doesn't have the responsibility of being in control of a car and so he has license to throw out suggestions for where they'd like to go. Accounts of the song describe him as giving directions but he keeps changing his mind about where they should go, so he may just be stressing out his poor chauffeur. First, he has them go around Merseyside before he points out that they could head down to Manchester ("that's my birthplace, you know"). But, hey, why don't we go someplace a bit farther away? Newcastle perhaps? Maybe Glasgow? It'll be a sinch ("all you've got to do is put your foot down hard on the floor", "I mean, after all it's just a road").
My tone here may make it sound like I dislike the song or find Campbell's attitude off-putting or something but nothing could be further from the truth. "Driving Away from Home" is a superlative single, unique and exceptionally crafted. Campbell sits back and relaxes with his carefree narrative (he is even seen chuckling to himself in the terrific video) into a song that drivers might find irritating while being played on the car stereo but which ought to be sung along with by those of us backseat drivers. I say "us" as a non-driver myself, appreciating that at last there's a road song for life's shotgun riders. The people who help with directions, talk endlessly while our companions are focused on driving, might chip in with gas money (if we feel like it) and are convinced that the road trip wouldn't be the same without us. It struck enough of a chord with the public to give "Itsy" their lone hit single and one that is fondly remembered to this day — by driver and passenger alike.
"Faron Young" is an excellent song (though probably still the weakest of the four taken from their masterwork Steve McQueen) but its message is muddied by seemingly paying too much of a debt to Americana, even while acknowledging that McAloon knows little about it. It may question country music as a relevant cultural touchstone in Britain but it doesn't make a mockery of it nor do they even give it a fond and gentle send up. There may be humour hidden in there somewhere but it's not especially easy to find. Good thing It's Immaterial were around to give the British car song some much needed levity and irony.
"Driving Away from Home (Jim's Tune)" isn't about truck drivers but it is a road song and one as distinctly British as "Faron Young" — if not more so, given that it refuses to get caught up in all things America. Having rejected an early attempt at recording the song in Wisconsin with Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads due to not being keen to do a "pastiche of a country and western track", It's Immaterial's John Campbell and Jarvis Whitehead returned to Britain to do it in a much more modern style. While a fifties, "Ghost Riders in the Sky" feel is present, it shares space with an impressionistic, synth sound. And this was more than three years before Depeche Mode did their part in merging Hank Williams with Gary Numan.
William Shaw has "Driving Away from Home" as his Single of the Fortnight but he kind of undersells it a little. While rationally speaking the entire concept of going on a road trip and suggesting places they go to (which keep getting farther and father away, though the video takes it to even more exotic locales with images of Tokyo, Shanghai, Bangkok and Canberra to close it out) with oddball asides isn't exactly conventional pop song material, it works as a performance. Mostly because it's sung from the perspective of a passenger who really doesn't give a toss about the concerns of whoever's driving.
Campbell tells Tom Hibbert in the 23 April edition of Smash Hits that he never does "any of the driving". (Significantly, he's the only member of the foursome in the promo not to appear behind the wheel) He doesn't have the responsibility of being in control of a car and so he has license to throw out suggestions for where they'd like to go. Accounts of the song describe him as giving directions but he keeps changing his mind about where they should go, so he may just be stressing out his poor chauffeur. First, he has them go around Merseyside before he points out that they could head down to Manchester ("that's my birthplace, you know"). But, hey, why don't we go someplace a bit farther away? Newcastle perhaps? Maybe Glasgow? It'll be a sinch ("all you've got to do is put your foot down hard on the floor", "I mean, after all it's just a road").
My tone here may make it sound like I dislike the song or find Campbell's attitude off-putting or something but nothing could be further from the truth. "Driving Away from Home" is a superlative single, unique and exceptionally crafted. Campbell sits back and relaxes with his carefree narrative (he is even seen chuckling to himself in the terrific video) into a song that drivers might find irritating while being played on the car stereo but which ought to be sung along with by those of us backseat drivers. I say "us" as a non-driver myself, appreciating that at last there's a road song for life's shotgun riders. The people who help with directions, talk endlessly while our companions are focused on driving, might chip in with gas money (if we feel like it) and are convinced that the road trip wouldn't be the same without us. It struck enough of a chord with the public to give "Itsy" their lone hit single and one that is fondly remembered to this day — by driver and passenger alike.
~~~~~
Also of some cop
Big Audio Dynamite: "E=MC2"
"...I bet The Clash feel really stupid now," concludes Shaw's review. It's possible but I'm sure their fans were simply outraged as always. They had a great debut album but then followed it up with the rockist Give 'Em Enough Rope (produced by an American heavy metal musician, which would not do at all). London Calling was probably acceptable (ignoring much of the filler on disc 2) but then the wildly all over the place Sandinista! only pissed them off further and then they went all pop on Combat Rock and the (supposed) Only Band That Mattered had finally gone too far. But they never got over it. Mick Jones' comeback with B.A.D. couldn't hope to match up to what his previous organization did at their best but this was probably still the finest Clash-related single since "The Magnificent Seven". A nice complement to what fellow erstwhile punk John Lydon had been up to with PiL, "E=MC2" is filled with energy straight out of the spirit of '76 but with synths and hooks and Donald Sutherland in the vid and everything. Jones has the last laugh — if not at the expense of The Clash then at least at their hardcore fans.
"...I bet The Clash feel really stupid now," concludes Shaw's review. It's possible but I'm sure their fans were simply outraged as always. They had a great debut album but then followed it up with the rockist Give 'Em Enough Rope (produced by an American heavy metal musician, which would not do at all). London Calling was probably acceptable (ignoring much of the filler on disc 2) but then the wildly all over the place Sandinista! only pissed them off further and then they went all pop on Combat Rock and the (supposed) Only Band That Mattered had finally gone too far. But they never got over it. Mick Jones' comeback with B.A.D. couldn't hope to match up to what his previous organization did at their best but this was probably still the finest Clash-related single since "The Magnificent Seven". A nice complement to what fellow erstwhile punk John Lydon had been up to with PiL, "E=MC2" is filled with energy straight out of the spirit of '76 but with synths and hooks and Donald Sutherland in the vid and everything. Jones has the last laugh — if not at the expense of The Clash then at least at their hardcore fans.
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