Or maybe not--as I was doing my (half-assed) research for this week's tune, I discovered that the fictional hero of Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho, Patrick Bateman, is a Stephen Bishop fan. Never having read the novel or seen the film, I have no idea if this ups the coolness quotient of "On and On," though I doubt it.
While only having a modicum of commercial success, Bishop has pretty much made a career of his first album, Careless (if you ever read the liner notes, you'll find that Bishop has quite the self-deprecating wit, not often seen in pop stars), though he wrote the theme for the movie Tootsie, "It Might be You" (crap) and was nominated for an Academy Award for his song "Separate Lives" (crappier) from the film White Nights. His two other claims to fame are having dated actress Karen Allen (hubba, hubba) and having his guitar smashed by John Belushi in Animal House as he strummed the worst folk song ever written, "I Gave My Love a Cherry" (also known as, for some odd ass reason, "The Riddle Song").
His one big hit, though, released in 1977, was "On and On" which reached #11 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100. And who among us hasn't had his or her heart broken (segues are for amateurs)? Ostensibly, that's what the song is--a paean to how we all pick ourselves up after having our love left in the ash heap. Frankly, the lyrics are corny, though Bishop's knowing falsetto and lightly strummed guitar saves them from being a caricature. Truthfully, when Bishop sings, "I got the sun on my shoulders and my toes in the sand/My woman's left me for some other man/I don't care I'll just dream and stay tan/Toss up my heart to see where it lands" it literally makes the whole song for me. I mean, Christ, if you're gonna have your heart broken, at least have it be near a fucking beach, you know? Sun, sand, and surf will cure what ails you. As I noted last week, I'm from the Golden State and while you can take the boy out of California, you can't take California out of the boy.
And like so many others, I'll "...smile when I feel like dying...."
Enjoy:
Peace,
emaycee
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