But I can't be late, 'cause then I guess I just won't get paid [as if!]....
My introduction to this week's tune was one late, lonely night while watching MTV shortly after the song was released. I was still with Camelot Music and, as always, was listening for anything that might be the next big hit. While this song wasn't it, it certainly had a nice little run for a nice little band....
Before I did my half-assed research this week, I had absolutely no idea that Del Amitri hailed from Scotland (Glasgow to be exact), thinking that they were an American band, as we egotistical Yanks are wont to do. They got their start in 1980 and paid their dues for a few years before releasing their debut album in 1985. The band would go on to a modicum of success in the U.K., selling over six million records and having four of their albums hit the top six on the U.K. charts by 2002. The band went on a lengthy hiatus after that, before reuniting in 2013. They've remained together in a few different incarnations ever since. For their career, Del Amitri has released seven studio albums (five of which hit the top ten in the U.K.), and twenty-one singles (fifteen of which landed in the top forty in England, with three of those cracking the top forty here in the U.S.). The band recorded their latest studio album in 2021 and toured the U.K. just last year.
Fun Fact: The band's name came from lead singer Justin Currie, who'd seen a movie directed by a man named Dmitri and suggested that for its name. Over time it was either misheard or bastardized into Del Amitri, which has no meaning.
"Always the Last to Know" was the first single from their rather transformationally named 1992 album, Change Everything. The single would reach #30 (with a bullet!) in the U.S., and #13 in the U.K., while the album would soar to #2 in Great Britain, and peak at a whopping #178 in America (which is one more #178 charted album than I have, by the way).
Like many people, I like a good story about vengeance...and "Always the Last to Know" is a good story about vengeance. Our hero starts out bemoaning that he's always the last to know that his ex-girlfriend is happy, sad, was cheating on him, etc., etc., until the very end when he wonders if she's happy now or if her new boyfriend is cheating on her just like...our hero did. Man, talk about twisting that knife a bit after having stuck it in--boom, boom, pow (to steal a phrase). Lead singer Currie delivers an impassioned vocal without getting whiny--he presents our hero as just a guy looking for a trustworthy soul mate. The band is solid behind him, with some driving drums and some keyed-up guitars bouncing their wall of sound around. Look, this one isn't going to make anyone forget "Let It Be," but it's a nice little single from a nice little band out of Glasgow, and sometimes that's more than enough for rock and roll.
Lyric Sheet: "But now you're living up behind the hill/And though we share the same city and feel the same sun/When your winter comes/I'll be the last to know..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
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