That's All We Need At Our Party

Sweet new 7" from Jonathan's Bandcamp site!

7" vinyl record featuring "That's All We Need At Our Party" b/w "Sad Trumpets Of Afternoon"

Check it out: https://jonathanrichman.bandcamp.com/album/thats-all-we-need-at-our-party

New Song!

Jonathan has been receiving such a positive response from this song he has been performing while on tour that we here at Blue Arrow Records decided to release it online! Check it out here!

http://jonathanrichman.bandcamp.com/releases

NEW JONATHAN 45 AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 15th

Blue Arrow Records is excited to announce

the release of this new 45 in limited edition of 100 splatter colored vinyl, hand numbered, as in the picture $15 for each (random colors will be shipped). They are also available in a beautiful translucent blue for $10. These are 2 new songs: SAD TRUMPETS OF AFTERNOON & THAT'S ALL WE NEED AT OUR PARTY. They will be available at www.bluearrowrecords.com on November 15, 2016!

Ask Jonathan Richman: Gram Parsons

Jonathan has been answering fan questions in the new Rough Trade magazine and here's a gem regarding Gram Parsons:

Hey Jonathan,

The whole crazy story about The Modern Lovers playing at a party to pay for the fine levied on Phil Kaufmann for burning Grams coffin (the only crime they could do him for). I'm sure there are lots of people who don't know about it, but how much is true and how much is myth?

Dave O’Grady
Dublin

--

Dear Dave,

Yah, we played at it. When the Modern Lovers were with Warner Bros. Records, the company tried to help us find a manager which they said we needed. Of the ones presented, my vote was for Eddie Ticknor. He already managed Emmy Lou Harris and Gram Parsons. As road manager for both singers, Eddie used Phil Kaufman. Phil had a house in Van Nuys where everyone would hang out and eat chili, including us and especially me who loved to eat stuff and got along great with Eddie, Phil and Gram. I got to know Emmy Lou well enough that if we’re at some big festival together, I still go over and say hello and chat a bit. Gram stayed in this little guesthouse that Phil had out in the back. I’d go out there and me and Gram would play guitar and he’d sing me songs. If he’d lived another six months, he’d probably sung backup on our records or something.

Phil and I have stayed friends from those days ‘til this. I keep in touch and whenever me and Tommy my drummer are in Nashville we try and see Uncle Phil. And if he burns up any more dead guys we’re right there to play.

Oh, if you’ve also read a story about Gram supposedly stepping in to save the Modern Lovers from being harassed at a show by a gang of thugs who somehow were supposed to have gotten into our dressing room, that one didn’t even come close to happening. Total horseshit. That audience had no interest in advancing towards us. They couldn’t wait to be away from us!

Lost Song: I Love Gail

I Love Gail

1979 March, 17 Leeds Polytechnic (UK)

Well now Gail, Gail, Gail

She's so nice
She's so nice
She's so nice

I love my pretty Gail
even when she gets scared and treats me cold as ice

Now Gail,
Now Gail,
Now don't keep my heart in jail

Well now I love Gail
She's a wonderful, wonderful girl

I love my pretty Gail
My favorite gal in the world

Well now I aint been to Harvard and I aint been to Yale
I love her more each dale, so I cannot fail

mmm...

I love Gail
Well, it's kind of like sister and brother

So far in this world
I love Gail more than any other

Well Gail I'll be your brother
until we're old and pale

Well I love Gail
She's so nice
She's so nice
She's so nice

I love pretty Gail
even when she gets scared and treats me cold as ice

Now I aint been to Harvard, and I aint been to Yale

---

Thanks to Paul for sharing!

Lost Song: They're Mistaken

They're Mistaken

1979 March, 17 Leeds Polytechnic (UK)

The people who think that I'll grow tired of her are mistaken
'Cause I won't grow tired of her

The people who think I'm going to get uninspired by her before long they're mistaken,
they'll be shaken

How they supposed to know that I've found my one?
How could they know that it's just begun?

So the people who think that I'll grow tired of her, they're just wrong, they're just mistaken

Well there's people who think that I'll lose interest in her
Well, they're wrong, they're mistaken

People who think that summer will become winter before long
They'll be shaken, they're just mistaken

How could they know what happened with her and me
They don't know we're as he and she
She's a mystery now and forever to be
So they're wrong, so they're mistaken

ditty...

Well they don't know that I've found my one and they're wrong, they're mistaken

Well there's people who think I'll grow tired of her, well they're wrong
because I won't grow tired of her

People who think I'll get uninspired by her before long
Well they're wrong because I won't get uninspired by her

They don't know that I've found my one
how could they know that it's only just begun

Well, she's like my sister so why should it ever be done?
And they're wrong, they're mistaken

---

Thanks to Paul for sharing!

Lost Song: Boston Boston USA

I would like to present a truly rare "lost song" from very early on in Jonathan Richman's career: "Boston Boston USA".

This was sparked by a comment left on a blog post a few months ago.
Back in the mid-70's Jonathan had done a pre-announced radio appearance on either WBCN or WBUR.
A song from this performance stood out to the commenter and he reached out to see if anyone else knew of it.

This song is an ode to Boston in the musical spirit of "Willie and the Hand Jive".
I could see this fitting in on an album like "Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers" which came out roughly two years later in 1976. Kind of like a sister to "Back in the USA" or "New England", as it has a primal, anthemic feel.

There is a mention of this song in the book "There's Something About Jonathan" starting at chapter 4 which I used for most of the information below.

In 1973, the Modern Lovers were busy recording for their tumultuous 1st album and had driven out to California. (This was after the infamous Bermuda trip). Ernie Brooks recalls them feeling very out of place there (too "sophisticated" for the west coast!), especially Jonathan who was not adjusting to the weather well.

I wonder if that is when (and the context by which) Jonathan wrote this song.

They played some shows on this trip, one of them at the Long Branch Saloon (they had played there previously, I'm not referring to this show) with a set-list that still included most of the old "punk" songs, but with a tamer sound.
As an opening song, accompanied only by bass (Ernie Brooks), "Boston, Boston, USA" was performed.

If a copy of this show exists (as the text from the book seems to indicate with it's detail), please let me know!

A few months later, on February 23 1974, back in Boston, at the "Boston Center For The Arts" the song was performed again, this time with a full band accompaniment.

A recording of this show exists but the sound quality is very poor.
To try to share a more audible copy of the song, I made an edited version using the Audacity software.
I increased the volume, and with the "EQ" tool I increased the "highs" a bunch, and slightly lowered the "lows".

Here is the recording: http://icecoldnugrape.com/bostonUsa_mod_1974Feb23BostonCtrForTheArts.mp3


I also tried scribing the lyrics down. It was quite a chore due to the sound quality of the recording!
Here's the best I could do, please comment if you have any corrections!


Well I know a girl from Mattapan
I go up the hills and down again
Well I like to walk up Blue Hill Ave
and run all around with the legs that I have

Ok, what you say, modern dance floor

Boston, USA (oh, yeah, yeah)
Boston, USA

I know a girl from Roslindale
Said Boston winters get cold as hell
I love to ride on the MBTA
Gonna run around Boston, USA

All right, here we go now

Boston, USA (oh, one more time)
Boston, USA

Well, now, Cleveland Circle, Mattapan
Norwood, Newton, Framingham,
Allston, Saugus, Jamaica Plain
I love Boston USA

(need help with this verse)
I know a girl from Cambridge, Mass
Make good sense from a place like that(?)
I want to fly in the open street (?)
(?)

Boston, USA
Boston, USA (one more time)
Boston, USA

Live Review by Lisa Persky, New York Rocker, December 1976

A review that is as idiosyncratic as the reviewee. I recommend using bloggers zoom function (or CTRL+ or similar) to raise font, sorry.