Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XXVI--Graham Parker: You Can't Be Too Strong

Back in the days before music television channels, music videos were rare and the only places I recall seeing them was on an old NBC TV show called The Midnight Special (music acts galore every Friday at midnight) and in between movies on a fledgling network called HBO.  It was in between one such set of movies when I first discovered a song called "Local Girls," which caused me to seek out an album called Squeezing Out Sparks, and to eventually become a fan of one Graham Parker.

As time went on I would discover that Parker was considered a rock wunderkind by critics and there was much anticipation of great things to come from the angry young man from London.  While Squeezing Out Sparks would go on to make many album of the year lists in 1979 (and eventually was ranked #335 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time), it peaked at #40 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard 200 and would pretty much be the pinnacle both commercially and critically in Parker's career.  Although Parker records and tours to this day, he never achieved the commercial success that so many expected, myself included.

No matter.  Parker would provide me (at least until the early 90's when life and cash flow got in the way) and many others with much great music through the years.  And Squeezing Out Sparks is a timeless classic that still might make my top ten of all-time even some thirty-six years later.

"You Can't Be Too Strong" is one of rock's more controversial songs--it's seen by many as an anti-abortion song (though Parker refutes this).  I've always thought it was more a portrait of a young man whose pregnant girlfriend got an abortion and the only thing he knows is that he really cares about the young lady and is completely bewildered by the circumstances.  It's really quite a powerful song--for those familiar with Graham Parker, you'll know his vocal stylings are nothing short of amazing, falling somewhere between fellow Brits Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart.  "You Can't Be Too Strong" is full of pregnant pauses and staccato bursts from Parker's vocal cords as the lyrics roll off his tongue.  There's some nice acoustic guitar work, ditto the keyboards, and a resounding closing with Parker reeling off all sorts of things you can't be too much of:  too strong, too right, too wrong.

It also contains one of the great lines in rock lyric history:  "It must have felt strange to find me inside you, I hadn't intended to stay..."

Just a great ballad.

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee