I've got to admit (my lateness is) getting better, getting a little better all the time (it can't get no worse)....
My introduction to this week's tune came courtesy of a young man (now pretty much my age if he's still among the living) named Jeff who worked at the store in Huntsville, Alabama where I trained to be a manager for Camelot Music. Jeff was a drummer in a punk band and wasn't all that thrilled with most of the albums we had open for instore play, but he did love a Kinks live album called One for the Road (released on my twenty-first birthday no less) and played it whenever he got a chance to put on a record. It was chock full of Kinks' hits, all played with the gusto you'd hope for while seeing them live. Among those hits was our song of the week, which I fell in love with almost immediately in the late summer of 1980....
I wrote about the Kinks in Jukebox Vol. CCX, and as the band has still not reunited since their breakup in 1997 and no one from the band has headed for The Great Rock and Roll Concert in the Sky (thankfully) I'm just going to let that bio stand. I will note, though, that over the past few years my appreciation for the Kinks has done nothing but grow (largely due to finding their brilliant album Muswell Hillbillies at a library sale for a dollar), and I still think that while I wouldn't say they were underappreciated, they certainly haven't received the recognition they should have.
"Catch Me Now I'm Falling" was the second single released from their 1979 album, the rather bargain basement entitled Low Budget. The song did not chart, while the album reached #11 on the Billboard 200.
Fun Fact: I was actually reintroduced to this week's tune when I found One for the Road for a dollar at our library's annual sale (I have some seriously good luck at library sales) a few years back. I'm not usually a big fan of live albums, but I have to admit it was every bit as good as it was when I first heard it in 1980.
Until my reintroduction to "Catch Me Now I'm Falling," I'd always thought the song was a call from a guy looking for a helping hand from those he'd helped before. Little did I know the song was actually a diatribe against those allies of America who were helped by the U.S. in their time of need yet abandoned her in the late seventies when times were a little tough (most notably during the Iran Hostage Crisis of '79-'81). That being said, it's still a hell of a rock and roll record, with lots of killer guitar from Dave Davies, inspired lyrics and vocals from Ray Davies, and a plethora of powerful instrumental breaks. There's a ton of repetition in the lyrics, but it really works. You can also see why it was included on a live album--this one is made for the concert show with the flashing lights and the exploding amps. All in all, just a stellar effort from a band at the height of its musical prowess.
Lyric Sheet: "Now I'm calling on citizens from all over the world/This is Captain America calling/I bailed you out when you were down on your knees/So will you catch me now I'm falling..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
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